Blogger BeeBee: Bee-ing in Mexico

We have arrived in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It was a fantastic sail from Cozumel with winds of 20 knots and a current in our favor, meaning we hauled ass! We hit 8 knots!! This thrill was instantly shattered when we got nearer to the Isla Mujeres anchorage and I had navigated us right over a coral ridden shoal. With depths dropping and all our sails up I quickly screamed at Spencer to start the engine....this was clearly, somehow, now his fault. The engine wouldn't start, however, so he ran to the front and started to direct me, "A little more starboard. Nope back that way. How deep are you?!?!?" Luckily we made it through without hitting anything and Rueban (our 1972 SABB engine) started up as soon as the last coral head passed under our keel (of course), but tensions were a bit high when we motored into the anchorage. That being said, we have been in Mexico for 2 weeks now and the plan was not to check in. Even with trash overflowing, booze at a dangerously low level, and dinners being dwindled to rice one night and beans the next, we were going to fly under the radar and just cross back to the states. That all changed, of course, when we anchored up. We dropped the hook next to a boat, Cadence, we had seen before in Caye Caulker. They looked young and, if you've ever been a part of the cruising world you know, young people are few and far between, so we were hoping to make new friends (sounds a bit creepy when I actually write it out like that). Anyway, we were sitting in the cockpit looking around when Cadence dinghies by with all the officials on board, making sure to come right next to us and wave. DAMMIT! Gigs up, we need to check in.

Having a blast sailing to Isla Mujeres, Mexico

This isn't a hard process, but I'll be honest, we've traveled through Mexico before, on our driving trip and I'm not a big fan. Well, more accurately, Mexico is not a fan of me. I just seem to have this face, in Mexico, that they want to punch. No lie, I can come up with the biggest smile and most polite demeanor and I can instantly see their shoulders slump forward, head lull a bit, eyes rolling to one side or the other while they look for anyone....anyone! else to deal with this overexcited ginger girl. I tried playing it cool, I tried talking less, I have tried everything, but I'm just not likable in Mexico. So we decided not to risk the bribery and get an agent to check us in. We still had to sign papers and such which resulted in more eye rolling, heads lulling and all officials wishing I would've just bandit anchored and gotten the hell back to Florida, but a process that would have normally taken us all day and resulted in multiple bribes, took us 30 minutes!! The best part of all was that while our agent was running around town, we were exploring our new favorite town in Mexico, Isla Mujeres!