Feliz Semana Santa everyone ! If you are the type of person who loves solitary walks down endless beaches, surrounded by the smells, sounds and sight of undisturbed nature, then Semana Santa and Mexico are not for you ! Semana Santa (or Easter) is THE time of year for Mexican families to pile up all their camping gear, children, boogie boards, floaty toys and kitchen sinks and head to the closest beach. Well, did they ever descend on the small coastal community of Calleta de Campos. As we rounded the point to enter the bay we were exposed to the perfect viewpoint of approximately 2000 people living, eating and partying pretty much right on top of each other. The shore pound wave was littered with smiling faces and happy people were buzzing all around on banana boat rides and jet skis. Music blared from every tent, car window and store front, creating a cacophony that would make most cringe. Well, we best go and see what it was all about, eh ?

On shore, thousands enjoyed the sun, ate fresh taco’s, consumed prodigious amounts of alcohol and celebrated the celebration. Yes, while this created what appeared to be absolute mayhem, everyone was smiling and loving every time the quad bikes tore around some sleeping couple, or a panga almost took out twenty bathers on it’s way onto shore. The unfortunate downside of all this parting was the inevitable trash. On our way back to the boat, after sitting watching the fiesta in the town square, one could not help but notice the huge piles of debris along the high tide line and washing back and forth in the waves. Styrofoam plates, beer cans, potato chip bags, candy wrappers, exploded floating toys, sandals, you name it… One can only wonder what the cumulative total of garbage entering the ocean, on just this one weekend, throughout Mexico is. A very very scary figure I am sure. Despite, there being a beer or snack hawker every 10 steps on the beach, it was very hard to find a garbage bin (let alone a recycling bin) anywhere on the beach. We had to walk all the way up the hill into town to dispose of our weekly garbage.

So what about Rio Nexpa in the title ? Rio Nexpa is probably one of the premier surfing locations on the west coast of Mexico and with a good swell forecast, there was nothing more to discuss on SV Khulula. Nexpa is just 3nm west of Calleta, so every morning for the past three days, just as the sun peaks its’ head over the horizon and the beach revelers start to consider bed, we have been pulling up anchor and motoring down to the point. A long left hand point break, that winds it’s way down a sand and cobble stone point, Nexpa is a fantastic wave when it is on. At 1.5 to 2 times overhead, we knew we had scored and planned right for once. An unreal wave, that is not too serious but has enough juice to keep you wary of the infrequent clean-up sets. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who had figured it out and each morning for about an hour the crowd would swell to 60+ people. We could d nothing but laugh as 8 people would drop in on each wave. However, at around 10am, everyone would head in for breakfast and the crew of Khulula would be left to surf double-overhead, glassy Rio Nexpa with just a few people out. Feliz Semana Santa indeed…