27 Years in Prison

Good news! We have been on our anchorage for 3,5 weeks now and we are holding solid, I think the sea bed has finally made peace with us being here. We have started to discuss our possible departure maybe in 7-10 days we will see how we feel and how the weather plays out. As we do still have some adventures to go on.

Mr Oxley has been repaired, however the sailmaker was doubtful that he would ever be the same or even the same shape for that matter, she did tell us this in advance, but we were willing to take our chances on the repair. Well I guess we will just have to see when it is time to hoist him up again.

We have truly been enjoying our beautiful clear anchorage, where an almost daily swim has become the norm, the water is an amazing temperature and crystal clear. This gives us some good exercise, especially on the days that we do not go to land, we are certainly not short on fantastic sunsets, that I don’t think I will ever tire of.

The beaches are gorgeous long and clean with perfect white sand and always a variety of watering holes and restaurants. Isla Mujeres has many beautiful beaches and on this little island there are 3 Blue Flag beaches, which certifies compliance with international criteria for water quality, safety, services and environmental management and it is very noticeable.

The streets of Isla Mujeres are full of life and busy with tourists and locals alike, cute little streets packed with shops, restaurants and an abundance of watering holes that offer 2 for 1 margaritas….can’t be doing too many of those as they are crazy strong. We have learnt now that an offer of Mexican water is in fact Tequila.

On one of our many days ashore we met John who is a solo sailor, though technically not completely solo as he has 3 very large beautiful cats as crew, who clearly seem to run the ship. Shortly after having a drink and a chat, he announces he has been in prison for 27 years ………… so what now? Do we STAY or do we RUN…….I mean 27 years is a long time, after a bit of an awkward silence, we realise that he worked in the american correctional service and was not the actual the prisoner, phew, bit of a weird opening line to say the least, however, he turned out to be a really nice guy to hang out with and really sweet actually. We have had some drinks and a couple very pleasant meals since. Infact at a time he was the correctional officer in charge of Mark David Chapman the guy who assasinated John Lennon. He is now though a happily retired sailor. While Chapman remains behind bars. Not everyone was on board with this friendship, Makyla was not very happy, as between solo sailing with 3 cats and being in prison for 27 years, was screaming red flags for her, needless to say she messaged me first thing in the morning to make sure all was well.

My highlight of this week is certainly the very beautiful catholic chapel on the Island which is absolutley not ornate but infact very plain for a catholic church, for me one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and I have seen many. Images are surrounded by natural sea shells and sand, tiny little stained glass images and a view that will either distract you from the service or bring you closer.

Grocery shopping has become a bit of a challenge again, typical small island problems, so we are total vegetarians at the moment as the animal protein on the island just does not look good, infact it is enough to put you off for life, veggies are in abundance but often look rather sad, thankfully the fruit and avos are awesome. Fortunately we are ok with that as we have been eating about 85% vegetarian for quite a long time now and only eat fish when we catch it or if it is really good looking and fresh. Unfortunately there has been non that I have seen on the island yet. Thankfully I still have some in the freezer.