Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Thanks, here's another. My wife and I

were sitting in a couple of beach chairs with some margaritas on the beach in a small town called Chamalia south of Puerta Vallarta when a bunch of Mexicans came running up and started yelling at us. They were pointing at our dinghy and talking way faster then either of us could understand when a woman jumped forward who could speak English. She told us that the people wanted to use our dinghy to rescue the 2 boys that had been swept out to sea by the river. The Palapa we were sitting at was right next to a pretty good flowing river and a boy about 10 slipped and fell in and was swept right out. Another older boy jumped in to help and he went right out with him but he was a pretty good swimmer and was holding the first kid up. I jumped up and a Mexican fellow pulled off his pants and in his BVD's helped me drag the dinghy down to the water. We both jumped in and got the wheels up and the outboard down and off we went through the waves. We pulled up next to the kids just about the time the older boy was starting to panic a bit. I could see it in his eyes. I shut off the engine and slid right up to them. Actually, I almost ran over them but I didn't get any complaints. The Mexican guy grabbed the older boy and I grabbed the younger one and drug him on board. I had him slung over the boat with his chest on the seat spitting out water and snot. I said "you OK?" and he nodded yes so I said "give me five". What I really said was "Vanga De, Cinco" which is truly screwed up Spanish but the kid understood. He held up his hand like a wet noodle and just smiled. We took them back to the beach where his family took him back their car and off they went. The Mexican put back on his paints and Denny and I set down and finished our Margaritas. All and all, a pretty good afternoon.

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