Tenacatita Dreaming



La Manzanilla - the little town of Tenacatita Bay

We had a great invitation to see Jon &and Lisa and sail south on MollyJ after a few days in Tenacatita Bay.  The priest and his wife  from our church snickered when we told them where we were going, saying, we would be stuck there for years having too much fun.  A week, and not stuck, but a wonderful  fun and a good break from  work  on our boat.  We went up the jungle trip and found a large lagoon, and what looked like a south seas village movie set in front of a beach.  We didn't go ashore as there seems to be some conflict as to who owns the beach, and we turned around and  the current raced us back  2 miles to our magic beach.  The first trip in, a sneaker wave had come up as we were making a gracious landing in the surf and dumped us unceremoniously and upside down  into calf deep water. Koa was so upset, that the whole trip, (had to row as the engine was dead)  back, he cried loudly.  He hates getting caught in waves and that dumping terrified him.  He practically crawled  up the side of  MollyJ in mid air but it was a relief to have the howling stopped.  At times in the jungle trip (second effort) we had to duck our heads to avoid getting hit by the mangrove roots.  No bugs few birds, but what birds we saw were elegant egrets and strange herons.

The Jungle trip:  the mangrove grew so narrow further on  that this tour boat had to turn around



One of five dolphins that entertained us:  one was named Chippy, with an obvious nick out of his fin, and he loved rubbing his body on the anchor chain.  I looked over one morning and he was flirting.



The best anchorage - can't tell the big sneaker waves.  1/2 hour across the bay from La Manzanilla.  This seemed to be a good camp spot for locals during Santa Semana.  The jungle "river" mouth is to the left and has a fast current.  Pangas go betweemn the rocks and carefully drive between waves to get to the river.



We drove down to La Manzanilla and found MollyJ in the bay offshore and arranged for a panga to take us out with all our gear.  The waves didn't appear to be too bad, but it turned out the panga man, bless his heart, was rowing - no engine, and a big wave dunked us.   We arrived onto MollyJ like drowned rats.  Koa was a guest aboard, and having been aboard before, was more than delighted to get the hell out of a boat that appeared safe, but got waves on board.  We had great food, movie nights and a short sail to the magic anchorage across the bay.



Inside our cove in the morning - looking south.  Haze and heat...and the water was so inviting, but there were jellyfish.  I was able to swim our first day there, or try to snorkel, but the water was murky.



We had the best anchorage of any that we have found.  Two boats came in, one named Nero, from Hawaii.  I only mention that as I took a shower on the back deck, and when Nero came into Nuevo, we loaned them gate and shower keys.  Either they are gentlemen, or they were watching the dolphins and didn't see the naked lady on MollyJ.  The watermaker on Mollyj had died so I was using a camp shower- which works great if a husband holds it up.  Robert grabbed the lifeguard and his seadoo and got a ride to shore at La Manzanilla to get the car and drove south to Barra de Navidad.   We sailed and arrived to find sticker shock for fuel and slip rent:  $2.60 a foot.  I don't think  so.   We arranged that MollyJ could stay on the fuel dock as Jon was tearing apart the heads, that had died, but there were rest rooms and a great shower at the top of the ramp.    We drove home, rested, happy and ready for all the work we have to do to get the boat ready before we head north - it is hot, muggy and sometimes buggy in Nuevo, but still one of the loveliest spots on earth.