More Adventures Along the Mexican Gold Coast: Tenacatita

Our time anchored in Tenacatita is one of the highlights, and probably our first or second favorite anchorage (tied with Isla Isabel). Not only was the sail down lovely (and uneventful/stressful), the anchorage itself was perfect. Quiet, protected, spacious, *not rolly*, close to shore with plenty to see and do, and we could surf and paddle right off the back of the boat! There was lots of marine life surrounding our boat, dolphins all the way down (and we think some sneaky dolphins swimming in the anchorage at night) and lovely boat neighbors (who once rescued our down duvet after it fell in the water off our boom while we were out exploring in La Manzanilla!)

Since our last post, I’ve started our next post at least three times – the now-familar post indicating where we’ve been and what we have been doing while there. And there has been plenty to report on! But the thing I think you all might find interesting at this point in our adventure is a little more of the “day in the life” part of our adventure and how it is shaping us as both individuals and a family now.

Passage from Isla Isabela to Chacala (En route to La Cruz)

We left the amazing anchorage at Isla Isabel (85 nms from Mazatlan) on Saturday January 7 and headed on a short overnight passage to Chacala – a lovely little beach town about 40 nms on the mainland, basically a straight shot from Isla Isabel.  The passage was mostly quiet (little to no wind) and uneventful and we kept the pace slow so as to arrive in Chacala right around daybreak, about 6 am. We had heard it was advisable to set both a bow and stern anchor to keep the boat steady in the little bay, which offered some (but not tons) of protection from the swells. And after arriving and scoping out a good place to drop the hook, we found the advice was sage and decided to set a stern anchor once the morning winds died down. Chacala is a quiet little Mexican beach town with one “main” road running parallel to the beach and the beachfront sparsely populated (but pleasantly so) with palapa restaurants and a big beach for walking and play in the sand.  The spot to bring the dinghy to shore happens to be right in front of the port captain’s office but since we arrived on a Sunday, it was (as expected) closed so we were free to explore the beach and town and get little feet onshore to get out some wiggles.