Thirty Days in Tenacatita !?!?

Well, now that I have been there, I want to spend a month in Tenacatita!  It took such a huge amount of energy to get off the dock in Puerto Vallarta, that once we got to Tenacatita (a 19-hour trip) all I wanted to do was stay and relax.  It is a tiny little village in a beautiful bay.  There is nothing one has to do in Tenacatita except relax and enjoy the scenery.

When we were there, there were anywhere from five to ten other boats anchored.  The big power boats brought all their toys- jet skis, small fishing boats, etc.- but, the sailors took a much more relaxed approach to life.  Judging from the conversations on the VHF, the biggest thing going on was an excursion to shore to play bocci ball.

The first day we got there (which we thought would be our only day), we took a dinghy ride up the jungle river. It was a rough start, as we had to get out and pull the dinghy over the shallow mouth of the river.  Once we got started though, we were treated to an interesting jungle ride surrounded by mangroves and brilliant red crabs crawling among them.  The tour ended at "Restaurant Row" in Tenacatita.

We had been advised to go to the restaurant Fiesta Mexicana, as no one had ever gotten sick from their food.  The menu looked wonderful, but Mark had only brought along 100 pesos- the equivalent of 10 US Dollars.  That turned out to be just enough for everyone to have one beverage and two quesadillas.

The next day was Thanksgiving, and so after briefly leaving Tenacatita Bay, we turned around to celebrate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with two other boats.  We spent the day at the beach and swimming off the stern of our boat.  That was our second day in Tenacatita.

On Friday, we planned to continue down south so that we could get Kay to Zihua in time for her flight.  Barra de Navidad is just 12 miles south of Tenacatita- a three hour sail.  As we left the bay (again), the main sail, which has in-mast furling, got stuck in the mast.  We figured we could make it to Barra with the engine and the genoa sail, and deal with the main sail another time.

Barra de Navidad is a beautiful place.  We wandered the streets and bought some gifts and found a pizza place for dinner.  When we got back to the boat, Mark was concerned about our battery power.  Our brand new batteries did not seem to be holding a charge as well as they should.  This, plus the main sail, sent us back to Tenacatita!  Both Mark and I thought it was a good idea to head back because John from s/v Scarlett O'Hara was anchored there, and he is a marine electrician.  If we didn't talk with him, we had no idea where or when we would find another marine electrician, and earlier John had offered to help.

So, back to Tenacatita we went in the dark of night.  We would not advise anybody to try to leave the shallow waters of Barra de Navidad in the dark, but we had to do it.  With Kay's flight just days away, we had to get back to Tenacatita and resolve our problems as soon as possible.  Fortunately we had a full moon, a high tide, and a GPS bread-crumb-trail of our entrance into Barra, so our exit was incident-free.

Robert, Kay and I spent Saturday morning exploring Tenacatita Bay by dinghy.  We rode along the shore line looking at the different rock formations, birds and plant life of the bay.  Meanwhile, Mark and John were back on the boat figuring out the batteries.  John figured out that our batteries were fine, but our battery indicator was inaccurate.  After John left, Mark dove under the boat to look at the prop and rudder (we thought we caught something when we left Barra), but he found nothing.  Next, we tugged and pulled on the main sail and got it freed!

Another great day in Tenacatita!  Mark checked three projects off the list, and we got to explore via dinghy!  Why would anyone ever leave Tenacatita?  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  Sunday came, and we made the six hour trip down to Manzanillo.

I have a new appreciation for the sailors who want to spend thirty days in Tenacatita.  I spent four days there, and I would have gladly stayed another twenty six!