Not one to mess around I was moving as the sun was rising over the hills. It was a mellow day on the water with a following long period swell. I was teased into raising the main and jib for a sprightly 7.3 knot sail. Which lasted until the end of the bay. Blerg. It was fun while it lasted. Then on came the motor and I puttered along down to Tenacatita. It was nice to be anchored by 2:30pm.
Brad (SV Perspective) stopped by and told me about a soft shackle training that Risto (SV Silver Wings) was putting on at 4:00pm. Nice. Plans set, I finished up the post sailing chores and paddled into the restaurant palapa. I will admit that I got distracted after about thirty minutes and spent more time talking to friends than working on increasing my skills. It was good to have time to catch up.
Brad (SV Perspective), Paul (SV Three Quarter Time), and Risto (SV Silver Wings)
Sunday morning it was time for some exercise, starting with a kayak to shore for a walk the length of the beach and to check out the resort. I took some time to rest and reflect in the shade of the cliff before wandering along the edge of the resort. Kind of a typical Mexican resort, however still worth the look see. Back to the kayak I paddled out around the anchorage and the 37 boats. Wow is this place crowded. About half way around stopped to talk to Peter (SV Dawn Treader) who I had met in Chamela one afternoon. While chatting Brad came by on his paddle board, a bit later we said goodbye to Peter and caught up with the Silver Wings crew and Sarah. More drifting than paddling for the next hour plus while we hopped from boat to boat saying hello.
In the afternoon I took leave to shore for a game of bocce ball playing with Robert’s (the “mayor” of Tenacatita) team – losing the first game but winning the “loser” game. Not to worry drinks at the restaurant washed away any disappointment from the first game. It was a chance to meet Robert and Viginia (Harmony) and John (???) and few other people.
Monday was a planned adventure two miles up the estuary to the beach. Thirteen people in three dinghies took on the dangers of crossing the bar entrance. The first boat nearly flipped getting turned sideways to a breaking wave, thankfully disaster was averted and lost hats and sunglasses were later found and retrieved. The other two dinghies off loaded passengers on shore. Brad and Paul (SV Three Quarter Time) decided they would give it a shot going across the bar while my dinghy (SV Fixing To and SV Bonzer) opted to use the dinghy wheels pull the dinghy across the sand and bypass crossing the breaking waves. Whew, everyone safely in the estuary it was a slow, enjoyable trip looking for birds and crocodiles (none found). Pulling into the lagoon ninety minutes later we were off to the beach for some lunch and margaritas. Snorkeling gear had been schlepped along but the swell churned up the sand and made visibility poor. Not to be deterred Vicki and Michael (SV Bonzer) still got in the water for a swim. My pescado al ajo was great and Vicki shared a coconut shrimp with me and I was a happy guy. We sped back to the anchorage cutting our time in half. Stopping to evaluate the still breaking waves we needed to cross to get back into the anchorage before ultimately devising a plan to pull the dinghies along the right side of the estuary to a point where the waves wash out. Execution of our plan resulted in an easy stress free entry to the bay.
Not getting enough time together for one day, SV Perspective invited everyone over for happy hour on their boat. With a few hours to rest and recover, I had to figure out an appetizer to make with my limited stores after three weeks since provisioning. Guacamole and chips it was… A great time was had with a wide array of food. We pushed it to cruisers midnight, which is saying a lot for being out in the sun all day. My eye heavy I was dropped off on Strikhedonia by SV Fixin To and right to bed I went.
The next morning I had a snack before paddling out to the rocks to explore the shoreline. The temperature was comfortable and it felt like the right place to be this morning. Coming up to SV Gia there was women getting ready for a swim. Turns out Denise was about to swim to the resort (nearly a mile aways) which seemed crazy to me until she explained that her husband swims daily to the rock at the entrance to the bay, to the resort, and back to their boat (four plus miles). Geez, I am lazy. Continuing on I made it over to SV Shanti whom I had not seen since last spring. Nancy and I had a great time before Mike returned from his trail making project up into the hill from a nearby beach. Before heading out they invited me over for dinner, sweet! They had also invited SV Gia (Denise whom I met earlier and her husband Devon). I offered up a vegetable and home I went.
After cooking up a zucchini and carrot dish I broke down and lowered the dinghy to head over to SV Shanti. Nancy is a fabulous cook and SV Gia showed their skills too with some tasty fish cakes and quesadillas. I shouldn’t leave out the tequila,,, SV Shanti contributed some nice sipping tequila. Following dinner Denise passed around a tequila liquor that is lower alcohol and dangerous. All told we enjoyed great conversations and didn’t realize it was nearly eleven when we called it an end to the night.
Tenacatita was so kind to me, lots of re-connections, adventure, and food. Sad to depart and leave the fun but my friend Bill was arriving in a couple days and boat cleaning and provisioning couldn’t be put off any longer. So with the sunrise it was off to easy living in Bara.
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