From Tenacatita

written by Christina 

We spent another couple nights in Tenacatita a week ago (Jan 22^nd to Jan 26^th) before taking Sea Biscuit to Barra de Navidad last Saturday (Jan 26^th). Below are some pictures from the bow of Sea Biscuit taken by Ken and Kyle one evening. 

Highpoints of our visit: 

• We saw whales in the anchorage a number of times - Yay!  

Whale siting 

• We enjoyed swimming around the boat
• Swimming to shore
• Walks on the beach and beach volleyball
• Kyle enjoyed exploring the area he calls “Secret Beach” and built castles with flags and extensive walls. 

We also enjoyed our second Mayor's Dinghy raft-up. Every Friday from about January through March "the Mayor," Robert Gleser from Harmony-Alameda, hosts a dinghy raftup close to Good Dog Beach. Each boat brings an appetizer. As we introduced ourselves to the other folks many of them said, "We know Kyle from the Net this morning." Kyle was the Net Controller that morning for the Tenacatita wrap-up of the controlled VHF net that happens at 9AM, every Monday through Saturday along the Cost Alegre. Everyone thought he did an excellent job (not that I'm biased, of course). He wants to do the full Costa Alegre Net now.  The Tenacatita wrap-up wasn't the full deal, but it was a good warmup. If you are curious about what "the net" is, one blog has a nice write-up and another has the script for download. 

Robert started out with conch music and Kyle sang his favorite section of the Mexican National Anthem, then Robert made a little speech and asked the people on each dinghy to introduce themselves and tell a story. This time it was, "Tell a story of one of your most hair raising sailing adventures."  There were some good stories told that evening.     

Robert, the Mayor of  the Western Tenacatita Bay Anchorage

At the Mayor's Dinghy Raft up on Friday evenings

Delivering his speech

And before I sign off, a quick note - the trip up the estuary to the lagoon and over to the Aquarium area that is supposed to be quite nice is no longer in existence. Where the "Aquarium" is, there are no longer armed guards on the beach, but it's not possible to get to the lagoon and access the Aquarium area by going up the estuary by dinghy. The channel has been bulldozed and is overgrown with mangrove trees. From what I can find on the web, the property dispute over the lagoon has been settled in the courts in favor of the developer, it appears that it may never return to its earlier state - http://tenacatitabaybugle.blogspot.mx/  instead it may someday become a mega hotel complex. I hope not. Maybe others have made it further up the estuary/river, but it sure seemed like a dead end to us. 

The end of the estuary

For a simple estuary nature trip to see crabs, nesting pelicans, and other birds, the dinghy trip can be nice, but it won't get you to a lagoon. 

Overgrown mangroves