Susan, Sequoia, and Todd go sailing

OK, we admit that we were a bit disappointed when we first pulled into Bahia Tenacatita. Sure, it’s pretty, but we’ve seen a lot of palm trees and sandy beaches in Mexico. The problem was, our friends on Imagine had been in Tenacatita in January, and they reported that the sea was “like bath water”. We were ready for that! So when we dropped anchor and tested the water, finding it to be about 68 degrees F, well… I think my exact words were, “What the hell kind of baths are they taking on Imagine? Are we talking ice baths?”

On top of that, the nearest place to buy groceries was a long dinghy ride away. Sure, it was through some cool mangroves, with beautiful herons and jumping fish, but we didn’t even see any crocs on the way. Sheesh! And the lack of internet access? Don’t even get me started!

I think we first started to warm up to the place when we parked ourselves in the palapa and discovered they had 12 peso beers, which you could sip while you took in the view of the anchorage. Plus, the swell was up, so watching people land their dinghies in the surf was very entertaining! We decided that maybe we could stay a few days…

One afternoon it turned out they were releasing baby turtles near the hotel down the beach. We each got a turtle and were told we should set it on the sand, and then let it make its way to the ocean. We were specifically instructed not to touch the turtles after we’d placed them on the beach.

Not only were the turtles adorable, but it was a great study in human behavior. We all tried to follow the rules and not help them along, but that lasted about, well 30 seconds for Koiya, two minutes for me. Koiya was soon in the water, swimming the little guys out beyond the surf.

Things also continued to improve with the arrival of our friends on Passat II, as well as new friends on Sassona, with two girls (Jordyn, 10 and Genoa, 14). We arranged a dinghy brigade to cross the bay (about 3 miles) to visit the cute little town of La Manzanilla, where we saw some big crocs!

We also got to stock up on fruits and veggies. It’s amazing how just having a few fresh foods on board makes life on the boat so much more pleasant!

We also did a group excursion back through the mangroves to a snorkeling beach. The visibility wasn’t great, and the water was still chilly, but Koiya loved it because there was a big school of puffer fish that she could dive down and pet.

Plus, we got to taste (and buy) raicilla, which is a smokey liquor made from the agave. They bill it as being of better quality and more authentic than tequila. Yeah, whatever… it tastes good!

It was great for Koiya to have other kids to play with, and the added bonus was that she’d go over to other boats and hang out sometimes. On one such occasion, Todd dinghied her over to Sassona. When he returned, he had that special gleam in his eye. “Hey Toro,” I purred, “I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking the exact same thing.” “That’s right,” he replied, the trill in his voice conveying his excitement. “The girl’s away, and we’re alone. You know what that means… It’s open season on the Snicker’s bars!” (I didn’t tell him I’d already hit the dark chocolate!)

In the end, we had a hard time leaving Tenacatita! We used the excuse of the Rubber Ducky Race to stay and extra day. And guess whose ducks came in Second and Third? We were proud to stand up on the winner’s podium (and to win back a bit more than the six bucks we’d placed in bets). It was enough to win over even the most jaded cruisers. In fact, we’re looking forward to stopping in Tenacatita again on our way back north!

See all of our Tenacatita pics here:

20080310Tenacatita

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.