The surf was pretty rough on the beach, so we decided to forego the shore and go to the next anchorage, which was at Bahia Chamela. Another good day sailing, with following winds it took about 6 hours to make the 50 miles down the coast. We had moderately smooth anchorage there, and were able to go ashore by dinghy and practice our surf landing. Handling a dinghy in surf is all about timing. The waves come in sets with much smaller waves in between the big ones. You just wait for the last big wave and ride in right after the last one, then drag the dinghy up on the beach before any more big ones show up. Not really as easy as it seems, but definitely possible. One of the first ones earned me a big bonk on the shin when the dinghy tried to go back out with me standing behind it trying to push it up on the beach. I'll be pulling it from now on. The town was too small to have a bank or ATM, but we were able to eat a good meal at a beach side restaurant. The next day 10 or 12 shrimp boats came in and anchored nearby. They stayed a couple of days, probably because of the norther that was coming. good time to head south before we got pinned in here for a few days waiting out the norther.
We set out for points south, but were uncomfortable with the nearby anchorages due to the impending north winds and accompanying rough seas.
This let us in for a long day sail to Bahia Tenacatita. A pretty nice spot with lots of boats just hanging out at the anchorage and going ashore for volley ball and boccie ball games in the afternoons.We had read about a dinghy trip through the mangroves to a beach near the point, so we headed on out the next morning. It was a long ride to a dock with a locked gate, but a large hole in the fence next to it. We went through the hole and came upon an armed state policeman, so we asked if it was ok to be there. He told us to go on to the beach, so we had a nice walk up to the end of the beach where we were greeted by another police man who told us we could go to jail for trespassing. We weren't sure where we had trespassed, but the locked gate was obviously part of the deal. We volunteered to head on back to avoid any problems, and headed back down the beach. As we got to the place with the gate, we crossed over to the dock for the dinghy. I looked up and the police were headed our way in their truck, so we hopped in the dinghy and headed back for the boat. It appears that the entire settlement of Bahia Tentacacita was on private property and the original owner had reclaimed the land with the aid of the government. They bulldozed the restaurants and houses on the land and put a gate and fence up to keep people out. The beaches in Mexico are public property, but the strip of land next to this one was private.
We went to the town of La Manznilla on the east end of the bay the next day with the big boat. A pretty quiet little tourist town with good enough shopping, but no bank presence. We were told that a bus runs down to Melaque every couple of hours and that was where the nearest bank could be found. We had a few dollars and found a store that would take them, and bought some fresh food. We spent another night in Tentacacita, and sailed down to Cuastecomate the next day. It was one more place with excellent snorkeling according to the guide books. Nice quiet anchorage with some beach side restaurants and a hotel, but nothing else.
We decided to trek into Melaque the next day as it was only a couple of miles down the road. I took the bike and Joan went afoot. The road went up about 600 feet before it went down to Melaque, so the bike was useless for about half the trip, but handy for the other side. Joan caught up to me waiting in line for the ATM at the local bank. After about 45 minutes in line, it turned out that he machine didn't like my card. In fact it didn't like very many other peoples cards either. I went into the bank to see if I could get a cash advance on a credit card or some help. They only do cash advances on cards issued by the owning bank, but the helpful employee came out to the machine to swipe my card a few times in case I lacked proper technique. One of the people in line told me that one of their friends card wouldn't work in this machine, but worked in the one in Barre de Navidad. Its only a couple of miles by bicycle, so off I went. Unfortunately the machine was out of cash, so this was not going to happen today. I got in a cab with the bike in the trunk and rode back up to Cuastecomate. It looked like I would have to go up to Cihuatlin to get a real bank. I heard that there was an ATM at the hotel with the marina that usually worked, so we decided that would probably be the next try. We sailed around the corner from Cuastecomate to Melaque and anchored there for the night. When we went into town, the bank liked my card, and we were once again allowed to stimulate the local economy.
We stayed there a couple of nights and then moved into the lagoon at Barre de Navidad. This was a fabled protected anchorage where there would be no swell bouncing us at night. It was free from ocean swell, but the local fishermen showed up at about 3 am casting for bait among the anchored boats. Bright lights, lots of conversation, and nets and boats banging around. The anchorage was pretty convenient, with water taxis to take you to town, but it was also sheltered from the wind, making it hotter than out by the ocean. On calm nights no-seeums and mosquitoes showed up, so it generally did not suit our needs. The best shopping was up in Melaque, a cheap bus ride away, but you have to walk about 9 blocks to get to the bus station. It was ok to take a taxi back with the goods and get dropped off at the water taxi dock, but my Achilles tendons were getting very sore and every long walk made them worse. I was trying to negotiate a rate to stay in the marina, but it took quite a while to settle on something I could stand. The original shore term rate was about $2.70/ft per day or about $3k per month. They realized that the empty marina wasn't making them any money and lowered the rate by about 3/4, but still would have been $900/month to leave the boat there. After about 10 days of back and forth, we got in for 2 months for about the regular cost for one month.
In the interim, we went down to Bahia Santiago, near Mazatlan and checked that out for a few days, and returned to Tentacacita for a few more days. When we went into the marina, we could go swim in the pools, ride the waterslides, and have hot showers. I bought a fan to put in the hatch at night to cool things down and keep the bugs away. A side benefit was that the fan drowned out all the outside noise and provided a peaceful night. We got Bob a rabies shot and health certificate so that he could accompany us to Tampa, where my son was getting married March 3. Won't be much more boat stories till we return at the end of March and resume our wandering. Current plan is to head down to El Salvador and then maybe Costa Rica and Ecuador, but who knows what the future may hold.
