Arrived here on Thursday from Chamela. Started out sailing and had the spinnaker up for about an hour. We were poking along with the jib poled out when John realized that we weren't keeping up the average speed we needed to get in before dark. So we motored until we were outside of the entrance to Tenacatita bay where the winds typically pick up a bit. Sailed in the rest of the way, including a tour through the anchorage, before dropping sail to set the hook. Nice to be in warm temps again, in a relatively calm anchorage. Night time lows are high 60's, daytime highs are mid to high 80's, water temp is in the high 70's, and the humidity has only been 40-60% - woo hoo!
Friday morning we did a few chores and got settled in. Then John went to the beach to play bocci ball while I swam and cleaned the grass mustache we accumulated in Nuevo Vallarta off of Nakia's boot stripe. Then John made foccacia bread sticks to share at the 5:00 dinghy raft-up where everyone brings an appetizer (or in this case several dessert items) to pass around from dinghy to dinghy. We ate so much there that we came home and each had a pear to complete our "dinner."
Today was the big "jungle river" trip through the mangroves with Ceilidh since they'd never done it before. We went slow against the ebb tide spotting herons, egrets, pelicans, and crabs. I searched the big tree limbs for the leopard that Sweet Lorraine and Sail Soon swear they saw going in on Thursday, but we were pretty late in the morning for anything like that. Walked the "town" (really just a row of palapa restaurants) and were pleased to see that it's doing well. All the beach restaurants had new signs, courtesy of Corona beer, and the tienda (new two years ago) appeared well stocked and thriving. A new and well manicured RV park is probably helping the local economy.
We were surprised to see that the new construction at the far west end of the strip hadn't been completed and the small swimming pool is now filled with dirt and has a palm tree planted in it. We were never sure if it was going to be a private home, a restaurant, or a small hotel, but now it's housing a tractor and a couple of workmen. After a long wait for food (if that's to get you to buy more beers, it worked) we had an okay lunch at Chely's. The local specialty of fish rolls are up to 95 pesos but John splurged anyway. The dinghy landing has been improved with landscaping, a raked yard, a small building selling cocos helados, and "security." Used to be you just landed your dinghy and walked into town, but now there's someone there to greet you and help you with your dinghy. So now you have to pay for that "service" on the way out. Of course we never had problems landing our dinghy by ourselves or with security before, but that's mainland entrepeneurship for you.
Took the E-ticket ride out of the mangroves on a plane, which is really pretty stupid (sorry M&D) since there's always the chance of meeting a panga coming up the tunnel. Which we did. But he was going slow and I saw him soon enough for us to stop and pull over into the mangrove roots to let him pass. Once back on the anchorage side of the trip John played bocci ball and I took a beach walk. There was just enough time for a post bocci ball beer for John before he had to take his sewing machine over to Sweet Lorraine for a sail repair to Dave's main.
Just another day in Paradise as we say around here!
Linda and John
{GMST}19|17.836|N|104|50.284|W|January 2008|Tenacatita{GEND}
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