The anchorage at Tenacatita was full with about 50 boats. We planned to meet up with friends from Tahoe here and found them almost immediately, setting anchor nearby. Big hugs all around and a champagne celebration, we are stoked to be with Brian and Joanna who have been down here since November on their beautiful Beneteau, Sail Fish. We spent the afternoon on the beach and were given a few slices of unicorn cake and gelatina mosaico by a local family celebrating a young girl’s birthday. It was the sweetest offer, literally, proven by our blue teeth from the frosting. That night we joined the Friday night dinghy raft up in the anchorage with 15 other dinghies while the self-proclaimed “mayor” of Tenacatita lead us through a warm welcome and asked everyone to share a story. Being close to Valentine’s Day, the topic that night was how we met our significant other. Lots of laughs and good stories told here, also a great way to meet and remember other cruisers.
The Tenacatita anchorage feels like a community, everyone is welcomed and the sailors here organize social events on the beach including Bocce, walks, birthday parties and women’s groups. There is a daily net on channel 17 that’s a useful forum for weather, tides, swaps and trades, people looking for crew, local or project assistance, gatherings, arrivals and departures, etc etc.
Unlike most of the other anchorages we’ve been to with a small town, palapa restaurants lining the beach and tiendas, there is only a beach here and one palapa restaurant. It is wonderfully peaceful. We took a panga over to La Manzanilla across the bay for provisions and to see the very large crocodiles in town. The four of us also took our dinghy up the river from the anchorage and through the mangroves to see smaller crocodiles as well as birds, crabs, fish and butterflies; an excursion dubbed “Jim’s Jungle River Tour” from many years prior when First Tracks was in Tenacatita.
Our walks here were limited to the beach, as we attempted to walk the streets and were escorted back to the beach by hotel security from the nearby resorts. We were not aware the anchorage was located at the end of the road inside a gated area. At 7:58pm on Feb 6 we watched from the cabin top as the International Space Station flew over the anchorage. We had some great boat meals and baked sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day, adding in a touch of strawberry Bonne Maman for the obligatory pink flare. We also learned the jingle for rum punch – 1 part sour, 2 parts sweet, 3 parts strong, 4 parts weak – and tested it out for sundowners. Cheers to Tenacatita and all those we met headed north, south and south west to the Marquesas!
SV Solitude 