“Sayonara Sayulita...”

Well, 5ft at 17 seconds turns out to be much too large for Tyler. I never caught a single wave while in Sayulita, not without great effort however. There are two waves in Sayulita, both coming off of a rock reef in the middle. You have the left point which is generally bigger, but cleaner, and can be ridden all the way to the beach. Then you have the right, which gets a bit messy, and you also have a throng of beginners to avoid on the inside. I usually surf the left point, even though right waves are easier for me to ride because I’m a regular foot, not goofy. The problem with a point break is that there is one takeoff spot, and that wave goes all the way in. There are usually at least 20 others vying for the same wave, with the best huddled right off the peak, and the others, including myself, perched like vultures waiting for any scraps that may be left behind. This leaves you sitting out in the water for great lengths with nothing to show, but to enjoy the show. 5ft at 17 seconds turned into some sets at about 12 feet, with most in the 6 to 8 foot range. I had the pleasure of watching one young kid get barrelled from down the line on the same wave. I also saw him get swallowed up and spit out.
After two nights and one day in Sayulita, we headed south towards Manzanillo. After a couple of hours of driving we pulled up to a beach next to a golf course where we could have camped for free, at Playa de Cocos. There wasn’t much to do there, and the waves were no good, so instead we decided to just have lunch and keep going past Manzanillo. We ended up camping on the beach for free in the middle of nowhere. This was not before getting the car stuck in the sand with about an hour of sunlight left, right up to the undercarriage. After some frantic digging, we took apart a fence made of palm tree planks to put under the tires, and I also deflated the tires to get more grip. I tried pushing but Denielle kept stalling the car, so we switched, and with Denielle’s mighty pythons, we got the car back on the road. After a short re-inflation with our tire kit, we set up the tent, and I managed to get in the water and catch one wave before it got dark. We then had a nice fire that I managed to start with a single match, using only driftwood found on the beach. We also managed to get about 8 thousand bug bites which we’ve been itching all day today.
In the morning I tried surfing again, while Denielle relaxed on the beach. On my way out I saw a gray whale breach, and several stingrays jumping out of the water. Very strong longshore currents prevailed and I managed to paddle for a couple of hours just to keep position, the wrong position, while not catching anything. I should say I did catch 2 waves backwards, despite my best efforts, which resulted in 15 second hold downs. I need to work on holding my breath. We packed up the car after talking to a man from Vancouver that had permanently retired there. We were going to visit some nearby waterfalls, but being Sunday, we did not want to fight with the crowds, so continued south towards Playa Azul.
This journey was only 285 km but managed to take just over 5 hours. This did include a stop at a beach along the way for leftover pasta with avocado from the night before, where lots of black vultures awaited. If anyone has ever driven from Nanaimo to Tofino, then that would be a good indication of the type of road we travelled today. Decrease the speed and increase the number of turns by about 2000% and you get the road we travelled on today. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun riding the serpentine Mexico 200, but took a lot of concentration. And with the temperature reaching 33 degrees, some sweaty palms and white knuckles ensued. At one stretch we appeared to find the place that donkeys go to die. Within 500 m of road we encountered 4 separate dead donkeys. Denielle thinks that they fell off of a truck going up the curvy road, one at a time. That brings us to now. We’re spending two nights here to get our bearings and relax before pushing south. I’ve already taken the opportunity to wash my underwear in the sink, and have now had the spiciest enchilada known to man. I haven’t studied the map well yet, b