Category Archives: cruisingkids

Taj turned 3!

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Well, the little bugger turned 3 and is quickly filling his daddy’s shoes. From skateboarding, diving head first into pools and holding his breath for which feels like forever, climbing up to the second row of our rat lines, to a new fascination for matchbox cars. Taj is definitely Christian Lauducci’s son.

We had a great day yesterday celebrating with our cruising friends in La Cruz. Boat school as usual in the morning, which this time included math and reading in the form of making GF Brownies! Yet another boat, Cat2fold dragging down on us, was successful re-anchored with the help of fellow anchorage peeps. Taj, of course, was butt naked on the rat lines, watching the whole process. Another reminder of how good our Mantus anchor is. Apparently the area in which we are anchored in is know for lousy silty holding. We haven’t had any issues the whole three weeks that we’ve been in his spot for our own boat, but this is the second boat that has been rescued from dragging down on us in the last week!

After the excitement of boat dragging shenanigans, and a nice windy and wet dingy ride to shore, it was time to prepare for the party. La Cruz Marina is super family friendly. With a poolside deli and picnic area right in the Marina, it is a perfect kids birthday party location. 10 other kid boats attended and more non-kid boats as well! SV Alert, Cape D, Cielo Grande, Coastal Drifter, Kenta Anae, Nomi, Raireva, Riki Tiki Tavi, Terrapin, Valella Valella. Also present: Sea Fox, Wino Rhino, Landfall.

Four birthdays in the last 8 months and I’ll be the last to have a birthday since leaving on our adventure. All have been amazing thanks to the cruising community. Thanks for all the well wishes. Looking forward to many more sailor/cruising birthday celebrations in the years to come.

Josie
04/12/2016

Bahia Tenacatita memories: Jan – Mar 2016

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Tenacatita is a lovely anchorage situated south of Puerto Vallarta and about 10 miles north of Barra de Navidad, Mexico at WPT 19 17.9’N 104 50.3’W.  This particular spot draws cruisers in for multiple days and for some, becomes an annual home for months during the winter season. 

A few of the long term transient occupants have made Tenacatita into its own unique sailing community. Daily swims to the beach at 1:30, followed by bocci ball on the beach or a stroll  to one end of the beach and back. Afterward a beverage and/or meal at the one and only palapa near the river mouth. Every Friday at 5:30 the “Mayor’s Raft Up”, organized by Robert Gleser aboard SV Harmony, provides the community opportunity to meet each other and learn about one another when otherwise you might not get the chance to. Plus a chance to taste what other cruisers eat. Everyone brings a dish and it gets passed around from dinghy to dinghy!

Provisions are nil at Tenacatita, so one must either land taxi, sail, or take a skiff 2 miles over to La Manzanilla or sail to Barra Navidad. The seclusion is part of what draws cruisers here. It’s worth the extra effort to get supplies.

We hopped in and out of Tenacatita during a two month span. Our first visit was shortly after the New Year and our last was during the second week of March. Our days consisted mostly of a morning 45 ish minute swim for me, a kayak or free dive/spear fishing for Christian, beach going, and mangrove adventures for the kids. We had lots of people to visit including kids boats. At one point we counted 46 boats in the anchorage! 

I put together a little video to show the expierience that we had while we were there. See below.

Here is a list of some of the boats we saw in Tenacatita. If you were there and don’t see your name on the list, or if I misspelled your name, please contact us so we can add you to it!  Also, send me a link for your blog if you’d like me to link you. 

SV Adagio, SV Agamère, SV Banyan (misspelled in the video, sorry!), SV Believe, SV Cake, SV Cadenza, SV Carmanah, SV Chae Mi, SV Cielo Grande, SV Dazzler, SV Finte, SV Flight, SV Fools Gold,  SV, Fukngivr, SV Gitana, SV Gene Butler, SV Gia, SV Harmony, SV Komaru, SV Kiwi III, SV Overheated, SV Magic Lady, SV Mambo, SV Mango Mango, SV Moonshadow, SV Nalu 4, SV Penelope, SV Putachieside, SV Ravens Dance, SV Seychelles, SV Sea Boa, SV Speakeasy, SV St. Leger, SV Tigress, SV Voila,  MV Voyager, SV Wild Rumpus, SV Woody, SV Worth Waiting For

6 months out tally count/costs 

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Just a quick post of a running tally we have on days anchored, days moored, days docked, and how much we’ve spent on each of those. 

158 days anchored (all free except the days spent in Morro Bay)

4 days moored 

17 days Docked (proud to say, still only 17, all free except for Ensenada) 

Paid $: Mooring $40 (Morro Bay YC)

              Docked $105 (Ensenada’s Baja Naval Marina)

              Dingy Dock $15 (Cabo San Lucas)

              Anchored $159 (Morro Bay Guest Anchorge) 

Fuel consumption for 6 months (60 gal diesel). 

Mexico check in expenses in Ensenada: $105 for passport/tourists cards, $256 for Port Captain fees, $60 for TIP card, and $45 for fishing license.

I haven’t been too good with figuring how much we spend on food. I’m guessing we spend around $500 a month. We’re not eating out all the time, but we aren’t living on beans and rice either. 
Big ticket items that were not anticipated: 

replacing our windvane with a new hydrovane. Let’s just say >$5,000 (yikes!). 

And just recently, replacing our windlass. Another $2500! Our manual “triple nickel” finally had its last days. Rods sheered, springs broke. Basically, our manual windlass had reached its final day. Unfortunately you can’t find a new manual windlass for a boat larger than 32 feet anymore. Since we are in this for the long haul, we chose to go with a new windlass that is electric with a manual override. Shawnigan had previously had an electric on her, but we wanted manual. At least she’s pretty much all set to install a new electric windlass. Hopefully that’s it, for big ticket purchases this first year of cruising. 
Overall a very inexpensive way of living! We’ve noticed that we are one of very few kid boats that anchor instead of docking at a marina if one if available. I’m not sure why this is, but we wished more kid boats anchored out too. I know it can be more of a challenge in ways, but to us, it’s worth it.  By not going in to Marinas we basically extend our cruising time by at least 3 months without having to refil the cruising kitty.  Or another way to look at it, a month in the Marina at Barra Navidad is about 3 months of food for our family of five! Plus we enjoy our time being  more than 10 feet away from the boat next to us. It give us time to focus on each other or school without interruption. It does take more time management to be anchored, and maybe more meal planning, but again, it’s worth it. I enjoy the 15 minutes it takes us to get from our boat to town with our little 5 hp tahatsu outboard. And in more situations, the extra time to row in and out (a little exercise never hurts). 

If you’re a kid boat reading this, come anchor with us!

   
 
Here’s our pile of chain prepping for windlass change!