So now we have to "really" sail out of Tenacatita bay as our engine is out of action. The winds are favourable so we gulp our morning coffee and begin our departure. First, up goes the main, then up comes the anchor. We are leaving at 08.00 which is a few hours earlier than we intended but the weather waits for no man!!! Fortunately the wind is taking us directly out of the anchorage so although it is always fun to manoeuvre under sail, dodging boats in a crowded anchorage is another matter.
Light winds take us out into the bay and carry us out to sea. As we turn the corner it's up with the spinnaker and we begin a lovely sail towards Melaque Bay. Mid afternoon, the wind builds and we decide to exchange the spinnaker for the genny. We had been sailing with another boat in the distance, also under spinnaker. They decided to hold their spinnaker up for a while longer. They chose...unwisely. In fact they were forced to keep their spinnaker up well into the evening...well after they had anchored, as they had a bit of a wrap in their halyard which prevented them from taking it down. They also managed to wrap a sheet around their prop, so they were in a right tizz when they called for assistance. We went over to them, but as we were also under sail and engine-less, we really couldn't offer much more than moral support and eventually had to leave them so that we could get ourselves safely anchored in the bay.
There were one or two boats in the anchorage, so we kept well clear and anchored in about 35 feet of water.
Then it was a matter of finding a welder to help us...but that was tomorrow's problem.
Melaque is a pretty bay but is subject to swells which refract around the headland. These same swells make for some interesting dinghy landings. Not quite as "interesting" as Tenacatita, but there were days when we were confined to Jabula as the only way to the beach was by swimming.
I was told about a welder via the morning net and the same day had our recalcitrant part repaired.


Enjoying the fleshpots with friends.

By this time, Toketie and Tarun had arrived and we took advantage of the fleshpots of Melaque to catch up on grocery shopping and e-mail.
We took a trip into Bahia de Navidad (AKA Barra) in the most dilapidated bus we have ever seen.


Shiver me timbers!

This bus meandered on a most circuitous route to Barra which lasted at least 45 minutes and cost 5 pesos.


Pure luxury!

On another day, we managed to find the "express" bus - far more comfortable and well maintained - and this bus took only 30 minutes for the trip...and cost only 4 pesos! Go figure!
It is here that St. Patrick's Day is celebrated with week-long festivities culminating in the ubiquitous fireworks display. We were finding that the various celebrations in Mexico's coastal villages have a certain similarity to them and we decided that we could miss this one.
And on March 14th, we took our leave and headed to Las Hadas, Manzanillo.