Hello everyone, here we are once again in beautiful Tenacatita - which the last few days we are calling "Lake Tenacatita" as that's how calm it is here !! Last night, with a clear sky and thousands of stars, we looked across the bay a couple of miles at the twinkling lights in the village of La Manzanilla and commented about how close it appeared across the "lake". We have seen our share of winter weather though, and it's just now starting to warm again following the last little disturbance that came through.

We spent a couple of weeks in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, near Puerto Vallarta, and made one day trip into the city there, finding a fantastic little cafe for lunch. For you Mexico visitors, it's "Casa Adolfo" and located on the second floor above the Woolworth store in downtown PV. Hard to miss. Adolfo is a frustrated chef, so he provides gourmet fare with fantastic presentation at village cafe prices. You can't miss the veranda directly above the main entrance to Woolworths. We also enjoyed Philo's Bar once again in La Cruz. Philo, a gringo cruiser who opened the bar in late 2000, now has wireless internet installed as well as cold beer, good food, showers for a buck (he includes the towell) and great music most evenings. It seems there are a lot more cruisers this year, as over 35 boats filled the anchorage at La Cruz and there were 40 when we arrived here in Tenacatita.

Leaving La Cruz, we moved out to the anchorage at Punta de Mita for a night and then headed off for the passage south around Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents) and down to the first real cruising anchorage along the gold coast, Chamela. We spent a couple of days anchored in close to the beach at Perula and then moved out for a couple of days off Isla Colorado and Isla Passavera, meeting up with some other cruisers there for frisbee on the beach, fish on the barbee, and fresh mochas from Tammy's espresso maker. With a forecast for some more north weather coming in, we moved on down to lovely Careyes, anchoring off the beach at Playa Rosa in front of the French restaurant there and filling the water tanks with the good water available from a hose at the base of the center palm tree. Careyes is a bit of an anomaly in Mexico as they appear to have an abundance of good fresh water springing from the ground, which supplies the many high-end resorts and private homes that line the cliffs there. With 150 gallons aboard we'll be set for the next month and there is plenty of good water in Barra de Navidad.

A few days ago we moved on from Careyes to Tenacatita and found my old anchoring spot in close to the little beach here known as "Good Dog Beach". It's quiet and fairly private - especially after this morning's weather forecast calling for decent winds and seas to move north (against the prevailing wind and swell), which caused about 10 boats to haul anchor and head for Puerto Vallarta. Tammy has a girlfriend flying in tomorrow so we'll move over to Barra de Navidad while she's there. Mid month, daughter Christen and her family are coming for a week stay at the Blue Bay Hotel here on the beach in Tenacatita, so we'll be back here then. About the same time, Tammy flies out to Mount Vernon to work the Tulip Festival there and returns to Mazatlan the first of May. It will be my job to get the boat from here to there by then - I'm looking forward to the trip north of PV which I haven't made for several years.

So far - so good, but there is a downside to this cruising life in paradise. Our late start in December exposed us to a variety of weather, mostly cool and some rain from San Francisco all the way to Puerto Vallarta. It looks like that has passed now, so we're enjoying the weather and the water. A few days ago we had a major seam separate on the dinghy floor, which puts a real crunch in our ability to travel off the boat. I've got a temporary fix going with some various forms of duct tape, but will be looking for some good adhesives to make it more permanent. It looks like a new dinghy is in the cards for next fall if not required sooner - the tropical conditions and use limits their life, but I'm glad to have seen at least 7 good years from this one. We had some problems balancing the charge in the refrigerator while in San Diego, but after bleeding a bit off in La Cruz, it seems to be performing quite well - the beer is cold !! And to wrap up, I put aboard all new batteries last spring, but they are not performing anywhere near to spec, so I'm dealing with that. We'll see what happens - I got 7 years out of the old ones and was obviously looking for an improvement with the new ones, but - - - - -?

In the big picture though, life is good. For the record, we're seeing slightly higher prices here in Mexico as compared to 2+ years ago, but there is also a lower value to the peso, so it comes close to balancing out. There are more cruising boats down here now, and that could reflect a change in attitude since the pull-back following 9/11. Some of the resorts seem busier too, which I'm sure is helping the local economies. We'll do our little bit to help.

Please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about this great cruising lifestyle. We plan at least one more season on the Mexico coast before heading south to Central America.

Fair Winds from Terry & SECRET O' LIFE.