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

Ship Shape #6

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Sorry, I’ve dropped the ball on this weekly ship shape post. I’ve found that when we are anchored somewhere that we can go to shore and be active, my posts would be on a full workout and not just one pose. Maybe I’ll start posting clips of my yoga routine or something, but for now here is a snippet of another core exercise that you can hopefully find space to do in your galley or main cabin area.

For this weeks ship shape try doing BOAT Pose. Maybe start with knees bent and hold for 30 seconds. Take a 15 second break and go at it again. Do this three times. As you get stronger, hold for 45 seconds and then maybe 60 seconds. Also work on going from bent legs to straight legs. Don’t forget to smile while you are doing this! 🙂
 

  
Maybe take the knife off the counter before doing this underway. Yikes!

  

Emma Casey (post third attempt)

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We got many looks as we motored through the lagoon in our dinghy packed with six people. Our 10 foot Montgomery dinghy holds our family of five without any problems. As of October 25th, held a sixth, Emma Casey, just fine, but we had to be conscious of our trim. Frequently, people smiled and/or laughed as we rowed/motored by. Come to find out, people thought we had four kids and loved seeing a dinghy full of people. 

We first met Emma along our way down California. We were anchored at Little Scorpion, Santa Cruz Island, when we spotted her on the boat she was crewing on at the time. Both Christian and I had met her separately. Christian spoke with her for a bit. Emma and I did not exchange in conversation, I only swam past her while she was rowing around in her dinghy. To be honest, I thought she was sixteen, and was super impressed with her independence. 

The next time we saw Emma was at the Baja Ha Ha 2015 send-off/Halloween party October 25th, 2015 in San Diego. Although we were not doing the Ha Ha, we were invited by Doña and Richard, of Latitude 38, to join in on the festivities. We were nearing the end of the end of the party when Richard and Doña pointed out how upset Emma was. Her crew position wasn’t working out well and wanted to find a different, better fit. Christian and I looked at each other, and without having to exchange words, we agreed to offer her a place on our boat. Our kids agreed as well. Within seconds, I was offering Emma a position with us. We told her that didn’t need crew, but would take her along with us. I warned her of our crazy and sometimes loud three kids. She said that would be fine. I also warned her of our slow sail plan. Unlike the quick Baja Ha Ha rally down Baja, we planned on taking at least a month to sail Baja and then cross over from Cabo to the mainland. We also weren’t going to leave San Diego for about another week. “I would rather go slower anyway”, was Emma’s response. Within four hours Emma grabbed all her belongings and became our sixth person in our dinghy as we rowed out to our boat, which was anchored in Mission Bay, just north of San Diego. 

After giving a tour of our boat,  finding space for her two bags of minimal belongings, Emma settled into her new sleeping arrangement on the starboard settee in the main salon. The next morning, we pulled up anchor and sailed to San Diego proper, just in time to watch the Baja Ha Ha rally depart. Along the way, two of our kids had meltdowns. Emma handled it perfectly. We thought for sure she was going to back out after experiencing that, but she was fine with it. It was game on, and she was up for what was to come. 

We got to know each other pretty quick, as one might expect living in such tight quarters. The whole situation started to feel quite serendipitous. We quickly learned that Emma grew up in Marin county (San Francisco area) not far from where we lived for many years. Her dad, Mike Casey, owns The Canvas Works in Sausalito, which was a few blocks from where we kept our boat. And to top it off, Emma’s uncle is a surf buddy of Christian’s. They have been surfing together at the local surf spot in Marin for years!  Emma looks youthful, as I stated earlier.  I’m not the only person who thought she was 16. Under her youthful appearance is a very strong, mature, and educated lady. She has graduated with a degree in Art and Spanish language and is very intelligent. 

Emma fit right in. She was skilled at “the boat shuffle”, we never felt crowded with her as the sixth person aboard a 40 foot boat. She has been great with the kids and even parrotted our parenting style. She helped in the galley, translated Spanish, and even helped with boat schooling. She also became my “ship shape” buddy, keeping each other motivated to stay in shape while underway. Emma quickly became “family”.

Her time with us became open ended. She had already been with us for three months when we sailed in to Barra De Navidad, Mexico. After a few weeks in the Barra area, Emma was experiencing “the call of the sea”. She wanted to keep going South and West. Knowing that we were not going to be crossing the Pacific this season, she started to look for another few position on another boat. Nothing seemed to be turning out, until another serendipitous moment occurred a few nights ago. We went to dinner with a few cruising buddies (sailing vessels Chae Mi, Fukngivr, and Ness). Phillip on Ness was planning on leaving the next day. He plan, South and then West and then South east toward Chile and around Cape Horn! That evening he offered Emma a crew position aboard Ness, a beautiful steel one off from a Tahiti Ketch. 

After a day of contemplation, talking with family and us, Emma made her choice to jump ship and hop aboard Ness. Don’t worry, Christian as I went and checked out Ness for ourselves and had a chat with Phillip. We know, Emma’s an adult and can make wise choices, but after four months, she was family and we felt responsible for her safety. Our consensus was that the boat’s integrity is strong and Phillip is a good man. Emma should have a good experience with him aboard Ness. 

Emma left with Phillip aboard SV Ness in the morning on, Feb 24. It was hard to let her go, but we think this new chapter out at sea will be amazing for her.  Will she hop off in Tahiti or continue south around Cape Horn?  We are super excited to find out! We also have a strange feeling that she’ll end up on our boat again at some point, if not for a crossing, at least a visit. Let’s wish Emma and Phillip fair winds and following seas.