After weighing Anchor at Chamela we were heading for Bahia Careyes which has the illustrious distinction of being nicknamed the "Mexican Riviera". There are beautiful hotels, condominiums and huge mansions surrounding lovely beaches. However we could find no way into this bay. There was a huge swell crashing on the beaches and the chart books had drawings that bore no likeness to what we were seeing. So we decided to continue to Tenacatita. Hence we arrived at 21h00 that evening. Luckily it was a pleasant night and we anchored on the outside of several boats. The next day we re-anchored in a less busy spot which made doing mundane chores such as showering and cooking a great deal easier!!! We made contact with some friends of ours from Canada - Toketie and Tarun - and many pleasant evenings were spent over delicious meals and copious quantities of wine and beer.
Dave and Linda from Tokatie - "Up the lonely river"
One of the highlights of Tenacatita is the jungle tour river trip. This involves taking one's own dinghy through boisterous, foaming surf - you have to time this one just right to avoid getting pooped, flipped or simply dumped in the water! - then carrying the dinghy to the river mouth which is on the left of the beach. Only once did we manage, at high tide, to surf in on a wave, right through the surf and into the river mouth! This is the start of a wonderful 40 minute journey through leafy tunnels of large overhanging mangrove roots which open up into large pools of water where fish jump constantly and pelicans sit like judges in the trees.
Sailing through the tunnel of love!
To witness these large birds roosting in what appear to be fragile branches, is something to behold. The river also contains crocodiles whose reputation precede them. We had heard stories of 20 foot crocs! We however only saw a 12 inch "baby" but my thought was that if baby exists, mum and dad could well be nearby!!! At the end of this trip one can land the dinghy and go ashore through a quaint little town consisting of dirt streets, scrawny chickens, and many palapas.
Downtown Tenacatita
But let's go back to the beach landings...why? 'Cause it can be a most interesting (if somewhat moist) endeavour...especially when the surf is running! One of our more amusing episodes was after talking with friends about the best way to negotiate the breaking surf. Of course we are perceived as being the more experienced, due to the sea miles under Jabula's keel. However, experience only plays a small part in remaining dry. Timing, concentration and plain luck can also impact. So we were expounding on our "experience" to our friends and feeling quite comfortable considering our slick entry into the river the previous day. We had also witnessed a number of somewhat damp beach exits and entries performed by other cruisers. So later in the day we decided we would make our way to the beach. It was pretty calm and I thought: "Hey...this will be a piece of cake!" Wrong! Just as we approached the beach a rogue wave whooshed down on us just as Bruce was adjusting the motor. All I remember is one minute I am preparing to leap off the dinghy and grab the painter when I hear a loud splash and the dinghy swings sideways to this big wave. I turn round and there is no Bruce - WHERE THE HELL IS BRUCE? Panic stricken I jump into the water to prevent the dinghy from flipping and Bruce emerges from the sea water dripping from his hat, clothes and sun glasses. "What a time to go swimming says I!!" Apparently he was lifting the motor and trying to switch it off when the wave hit and threw him off balance. For the rest of the day he was trying to rid himself of sand which had got in everywhere and swimming in the river was a dicey option! Now over to the skipperrrrrrr:
Tenacatita was also where we got that awful "sinking feeling". We were making water and to do so we usually run the motor in order to keep the battery voltage up near 14 volts. This was also the day when we had invited our friends, Dave and Linda from Toketie aboard for dinner. We had been running the watermaker for about 5 hours and had just switched it off in preparation for the arrival of our friends when Jeannie commented on the "funny swishing noise" in the water tanks. I came down below not thinking much of the comment as our water tanks normally make a gurgling sound anyway. But then I also heard the "funny swishing sound" and recognised it immediately as water in the bilge...and lots of it! I pulled up the floor boards and YIKES!, the water was almost up above the water tanks. Whenever we have water in the bilge, I taste it. It's not a pleasant experience, but it has to be done. My initial thought was that one of the tanks had sprung a leak...after all, we had been making water, right? Well, yuk...it was salt water! Yuk, and oh shit! So I start pumping the bilge pump and want to know RIGHT NOW why the damn automatic bilge pump wasn't working! While I'm pumping, Jeannie gets the battery box lid off and we find that the bilge pump breaker has flipped off. So I flip it on and the bilge pump comes on (whew!)...but only for about 20 seconds...and then it flips off again. So I flip it on...it flips off...I flip it on...it flips off (Damn it!)...all this while I'm pumping like mad. Jeannie meanwhile is trying to bail water out using the bucket and we see that we are gaining on the leak. Well actually we are gaining period. I then rush around to all the sea cocks and close them - the last ones being those in the engine room. As soon as I open the engine hatch, it all comes clear - the exhaust pipe has sheared off from the engine and the water from the salt water cooling system has been pumped into the boat for the past few hours.
The culprit!
Fortunately, the moment the engine was switched off, the flood abated. So the panic was over, but we were both hot, sweaty and relatively tense...and we had guests arriving in 10 minutes! Fortunately Jeannie had prepared everything well beforehand and it was just a matter of cleaning up and calming down. There was no danger to worry about and I would deal with the problems tomorrow.
So tomorrow came (it does actually!) and the problems couldn't be solved in Tanacatita, so we had to sail (sans engine type sailing) to Melaque Bay and find a welder there. This would mean sailing off the anchor in Tenacatita and back on again in Melaque. We were very lucky that it is a short hop and the following day the winds were just right to allow us a run directly out of the anchorage without having to tack through the fleet of boats anchored there.