A commute through the jungle

We arrived in the cruiser's dreamworld of Bahai Tenacatita. This large bay is the cruisers dream. Good anchor holding, big white sand beaches, jungle adventures and a nearby town for provisions.

One of our first days here, we joined our neighbors in 30 minute taxi trip to the local town of La Manzanilla (not to be confused with the large city of Manzanillo which is further south). We stocked up on fresh vegetables and wandered through the market. We had a great lunch on the beach and headed back to our mooring on the north side of the bay.

La Manzanilla Beach

We are finally settling in to the daily life of cruising. Sunrise is late, about 7 AM. We have breakfast, "work", swim, go for a mid-day excursion, swim, play cribbage, swim, watch the sun set around 7 PM, make dinner, go to bed. Days slip away. Work consists of polishing our stainless steel rails, stanchions, dingy davits, etc. Checking on the bottom of the boat to make sure it is clean, splice lines, defrost the freezer and inspect our rigging. There is always a list of things to work on. By 10 am we'd be pooled in sweat. The water is 82-84 degrees. We see rays, dolphins and many fish swimming around the boat.

Tunnels through the mangroves

One day, we took our dingy across the surf and up through the mangroves 2.5 miles to the lagoon that was behind Playa Tenacatita beach. The mangroves were dense and just wide enough for our dingy to squeeze through. The path has been cleared by the locals who use this inside route regularly.

The red marks the mangrove tunnel from the X (where we were anchored) to the Tenacatita Beach

At the end of the mangrove tunnel, we popped out just behind the beautiful Tenacatita beach. We swam to be cool had lunch and watched the tourists come and go. In the afternoon, we recoated ourselves with repellent, and wove our way back through the jungle to the boat. Dan successfully drove fast to avoid mosquito and no-see-ums. Unfortunately we didn't get to spy any crocodiles.

Tenacatita Beach where fabulous coconut shrimp were served!

Back in the anchorage area, there were only about 7-10 boats anchored. We've heard that in prior seasons that there have been as many 40-50 boats. Every morning one or two boats would leave and 1 or 2 would come in. It was quiet and a very idyllic place to drop our hook. We could have stayed for many more weeks.

On our last night in the bay, before heading into the marina at Barra de Navidad, Dan invited everyone at the anchorage over to meet and hang out on our boat. We had about 15 guests from all walks of life. It was fun to tell stories of our respective travels and get to know each other. The community is one of the things that makes this lifestyle so enjoyable. Next week we are off to Barra for the kick-off with the group we'll be joining as we head down to Costa Rica & Panama...Onward!

Okisollo is the meeting place!