Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Boating from Chacala Beach to Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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Those who follow our travels know that we love Chacala Beach. Over the years, we have been there dozens of times. For a long time, Billy has wanted to take a lancha to another location just for the experience of it.

Well... he didn't have to wait more than a second or two when he mentioned the idea to a couple of friends who were with us... and off we went!

Map of our boat journey

This was our route, from the little bay that Chacala sits on, out into the wide blue sea and then arriving in Sayulita, a very popular international surfing beach.

Lanches at the harbor

A few days ahead of time, Billy went to the harbor to make arrangements with Juan, our boat captain, and negotiated a price.

He settled on 3,500P (about $175USD) which would give us the ability to easily tip him another 500P (about $25USD) when the trip was over.

As you can see here, the lanchas are not very big, but they are seaworthy.

We planned to leave on our last morning in Chacala, and spend a few nights in Sayulita.

Waiting to board the lancha

Here we are with two of our friends waiting to board the tiny vessel. Fortunately, our captain was on Gringo time, not Mexican time, and we were able to leave right away.

Even though we were promised calm seas by the weather report, Billy had suggested we put our gear into plastic bags for protection against a rogue wave.

As we found out later, that turned out to be great advice!

Captain Juan of the lancha

Captain Juan is an affable guy and a well seasoned sailor.

You can see Chacala beach behind him, and a catamaran anchored in the small bay.

Making our journey out of the cove

It's a beautiful day and the waves are calm.

Here we are, making our way out of the cove.

Wonderful day for a lancha ride

The clouds are building up but they are wispy and high so we don't anticipate any trouble.

Billy made a video of our trip, which you can view here.

All of us on the lancha

I was sitting in the front and the breeze was strong. The only way I could keep my hat on was to wear it sideways so the wind wouldn't go up under the bill of the cap and take it out to sea.

What a handsome group, eh?

Our gear wrapped in plastic bags

You can see our gear wrapped in plastic bags to protect our computers and other digital items. Not to mention our clothing.

The seas were calm and all of us were pleased. We'd hate to have to swim to shore and lose our stuff to boot!

Our destination is out there somewhere around the bend

Listening to the buzz of the motor, with the wind in our faces we daydreamed for the hour-and-a-half ride it took us to get to Sayulita.

Surprisingly for me, there seemed to be one jutting piece of land after another.

I kept thinking "Oh, ok... just around this bend. Er... maybe the next one. Um... Nope? Where the heck IS this place!"

Yes, even on mild seas such as this, my Dramamine was working for me.

To be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with that stuff.

I am most grateful to have it work for me, yet it takes me a day or so to get it out of my system. Since Dramamine and Scopolamine work with the balance of the inner ear, it also somehow affects short term memory.

What's my name? Where am I? Did I just say that already?

Such is the life of a World Traveler.

Billy with his REL Tee shirt on

You will rarely see Billy without one of our Retire Early Lifestyle tee shirts on. He loves being a walking billboard for our site.

More often than you would ever guess, he gets stopped at restaurants, on the street, at the beach, at a coffee shop - just about anywhere - with people asking about our shirt, or asking for one!

We have ball caps too, and Billy will give these away as well.

People love them!

Maybe around THIS bend!

Bend after bend we passed, but for some reason I never quit asking that same question!

Here?

Here?

Maybe here?

Are we there yet?

Gawd. Like a kid.

Heading into Sayulita

Por fin!!! (Pronounced pour-FEEN!! and means Finally!!)

After over an hour sitting on a life vest as a bum-pillow, I was ready to get off at the beach.

We were to have a wet landing, so I had taken my tennis shoes off and put on my flip flops. I had my shoe strings tied together and carried them like a totebag.

All of us were smiling and were filled with delicious anticipation.

Beer on the beach

The beer on the beach was our reward later on.

Billy has no photos of what happened next, so you'll just have to take our word for it.

The experienced Captain had called ahead to make sure we could land. This is a daily event there at Sayulita beach, and Captain Juan was given the go ahead.

However.

When we arrived - ON THE BEACH ITSELF - a man in a uniform and wearing a badge gave our Captain grief.

NO.

We could not land there.
I don't care if they are paying customers, you cannot land here.

I don't know what you are going to do, but you must turn around.

WHAT!?

Meanwhile... we are at the shoreline, the Captain is waist high in the sea and the WAVES are jostling and pounding our little boat as we are getting pulled out back to sea.

My Dramamine was failing me now, and the waves were continuously pouring into our little lancha, drenching us and our plastic-wrapped gear. That plastic turned out to be a GREAT idea.

Another small lancha with tourists who had paid for a fishing tour were yards and yards away from us. Captain Juan discussed the situation with the other Captain, and  made arrangements for us to quickly board their boat, as they landed on shore with their paying customers.

?!?

This boat could land with their paying customers but our boat with paying customers (that would be us) could not.

Go figure.

We don't know if you have ever de-boarded and re-boarded a boat while in the sea before, but think: bouncing wet carnival ride.

Besides the danger of falling into the sea, all of our gear had to be transferred plus 4 passengers.

Oh Mi Dios.

The tourists in the other boat were kind, charming, funny and generous. AND they spoke English!

We boarded the fishing boat avoiding fish guts and blood best we could... and landed on shore with a story to tell. We tipped the other Captain for his service and generous help.

Later that day, our friend who is fluent in Spanish went back to the shore and spoke with the fishermen there.

NO ONE knew who that man was!

No kidding.

Someone was out - in a uniform and badge - having some mischief with us!

Just another day in the life of Billy and Akaisha.

To see pictorials and read stories about Chacala Beach, CLICK HERE

To see pictorials and read stories about Mexico, CLICK HERE

VIDEOS, VIDEOS, VIDEOS! See Mexico for yourself! Beaches, Bars, Babes, Great Food, Live Music.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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