Bahia Tenacatita

Ahoy from Tenacatita!
We really enjoyed our time here. We had a beautiful spot to drop anchor. Tenacatita is a small bay with a beautiful white sandy beach, and a small stream that winds it’s way through mangroves and to a large lagoon.

We had a very nice surprise as the anchor was set, two large dolphins rushed over and began scratching themselves on our anchor chain! I began to play with them pulling our chain up and down to “scratch” them as they rubbed against the chain. The dolphins LOVED this! Nancy suggested I jump in the water and swim with the dolphins, now I must say dolphins have a grin that “looks” like they’re smiling…but these could be some sort of “rogue Mexican dolphins” that lure unsuspecting sailors into the water to play and……..Hey, Nancy! Quit pushing me into the water!

We motored over to the boat anchored behind us and we met four new friends who live nearby. Tom and Louise sailed here for the weekend, and picked up their friends for the day and enjoy Tenacatita (it must say something good if the locals come here for the weekend). There’s a great palapa right beside the stream to enjoy a cold beer and really great food. We were invited to join them. Soon we were lowering the dinghy wheels (used for beach landings) and making a nice beach landing when….SPLASH! A surf wave came behind our dinghy and got three of us wet…Nancy and Louise were soaked, but in true cruiser style Louise said, “This is not the first time I’ve got wet doing beach landings!”

Tom and Louise advised of some changes we should know about before going upstream. Apparently, the famous Tenacatita palapas serving tasty fish rolls were no longer there. As of August, a very wealthy person claimed to “own” the property (and some government officials including police) used over 200 armed police to “remove” the people from the property, giving them literally 5 minutes to leave. The property is now patrolled by armed guards who will not allow you to beach your dinghy or step onto the land. We enjoyed our time spent with Tom and Louise who offered advice about living in Mexico and sailing to far off destinations - And Louise, if you’re reading this, again sorry about that beach landing!

The next morning we raised our 15 horse power Honda motor and crossed the shallow sandbar at the stream’s entrance, timing our crossing for high tide, and finally made our way across the sandbar and began our adventure.
Stealthily (at full throttle) we motored up the jungle stream. Birds, red crabs, and fish hid securely among the twisted mangrove roots held firmly deep in the water. We felt like we were exploring the Amazon as we slowly dinghied “Blondie” up the 3 mile mangrove stream. We entered the lagoon to find two dinghies from boats in the anchorage. We motored over and introduced ourselves to some great Aussie cruisers only to find one boat was Buena Vista, who at our last anchorage of Isla Isabelita, gave us instructions of where to anchor.

The beach is picture perfect with coconut and palm trees swaying with the warm light breeze and thatched palm leaf ,huts where we would have dined right on the beach. Just picture tiki-torches along the sandy beach, hammocks tied to coconut trees slowly swaying in the gentle warm breeze, the wonderful smells of tropic food being prepared, and an icy fruity rum drink in hand…..but this was not meant to be. We could see armed guards at the beach holding M-16 rifles and watching our every move….ok, time to for us to vamanos, amigos! What a true shame.
We did meet a local panga (boat) in the stream, loaded with tourists from the nearby resort, who said they just seen three “baby” alligators. I asked Nancy how much it would cost for her to swim the stream back to the boat….I got “the look” that said forget it, you don’t have enough money!

We decided to prepare boat for sea-ready and set our course for Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. Everything was ready set except….our big diesel motor wouldn’t start! What the %^%$$%^&8! After doing some trouble-shooting I found we either have some bad connections at the starter (possible) or the starter solenoid switch is going out (possible)…but with a little luck, prayer, and a big hammer our motor fired up and we’re on our way. We’re expecting 0-8 knots of wind and very calm seas for this leg of the trip.