We have not had that may injuries this trip.  The usual scrapes that often take a long time to heal if they are on the feet, as they often are.  Sue even had to take antibiotics for a toe issue that got quite infected.  Josh on the other had did get stung by a ray not once but twice.  These stings are very painful as the tail of the ray has a barbed hook that jabs you if you happen to step on them.  The word at the beach is “shuffle your feet”!  The remedy for a ray sting is get hot water – VERY hot water , on the wound right away and keep it there for as long as you can stand.  The picture shows Josh getting the hot water treatment but by now the beers that you get in sympathy have numbed the pain.

Josh with his foot in a buck of hot water.

We have had the odd bit of crazy weather in Mexico but the storm in La Manzanilla tops them all.   Water has been warmer than usual and the ITC zone has been spinning disturbances off for the last month.  The latest, moved through our area while we were visiting La Manzanilla and it was quite a light show.  I was hoping that the steel boat anchored close to us would draw any lightening strike first!   The local cell tower was close as well so I suppose that would get hit first.  It took a couple of hours for the front to move through and though the rainfall was less than when we were in Melaque the electricity was astounding.  I have never seen the like of this in my life.

We are in the middle of the sunny Mexican holiday season where it never rains, right?  Well we had a couple days of cloudy wet weather but one day was a full on tropical downpour .  Streets turned to mud, the Melaque lagoon burst and the beaches were deserted.  I took a quick video from the boat.

Melaque 2015

Rob and my sister, Laurie have a house in Melaque, so this  was our next stop for a week or two while we catch up with family.  Brother Peter and his wife Heather travelled south from Calgary which was great fun.   The Bay gives you great protection from the wind but swell has been known to challenge even the best at dinghy landing.

The point that protects Melaque Bay

Adesso anchoring infant of Melaque.

We were lucky this year with mostly easy landings though when the Tohatsu outboard was being repaired  we got wet a number of times- mostly at night when the swells were hard to see.

Always lots of room on the jeep

Rob took us on a number of Jeep adventures, travelling into town was a regular occurrence with the horn always bringing smiles to kids faces.  Of course a little back-roading took us into agriculture area behind the town with proved to be enlightening though we always seemed to be covered in mud!  Rob found this Veep is the US, a 1951 Jeep body that was put on a VW beetle under carriage that turns heads where ever it goes.

Josh and Rob catching more fish

Rob Josh and Peter were always game to fish, they had some success.  Here is a pic of Josh with another Durado , we have bee eating well from the sea!

The week with family went quickly with trips to La Manzanilla, Barra de Navidad, Costacomante, the local Melanie tienge (street market), beers at Alexe’s on the beach and …….   It was so fun to have most of the Bannister together for a week but alas all good things come to pass.  We have truly enjoyed getting to know this town and area.