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
Currency Converter
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.

About the Authors



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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