The Gold Coast-March 3, 2009

We left Barra on 2/26 heading to Bahia Tenacatita with our friends on Suebee. This is an anchorage about 15 miles north of Barra. We had winds 12-15 knots and seas 1-2 feet. This is a favored anchorage among cruisers. It was a calm anchorage. During the days we had dolphins floating around our boat. The coast line looks like scrubby dessert with palm trees along the beaches.

One of the favorite things to do in Tenacatita is to go on the Jungle River Dingy Trip. We went in Suebee's dingy through the river. You start at the mouth of the river at the ocean and travel through many mangroves. It is very dense and in some places you have to lower you head as the growth is so much. Birds were the only wild life we saw through the jungle. While we thought we saw crocidiles, they were only logs. The river takes you to the small town of Tenacatita.

A short distance from the town was a beach called the Aquarium. It was a great place to snorkle. I saw a sting ray and other colorful fish that I have no idea what they were. It is such a neat experience having schools of fish swim around you.

Our social life at anchorage continues. We had pot lucks which taste even better than eating out at restaurants (FYI-while the food is good, eating out becomes all the same. We never thought we would say we are getting tired of Mexican food and shrimp!!) One of the nights we had a dingy raft up. This is where all the dingy's gathered in a circle. First we passed books around for exchange, and then we passed around appetizers to share. After food we all shared where we were from and what was the meaning of our boat name.

We left Tenacatita for Bahia Chamela which was about 34 miles north. We had a very comfortable ride. Most of the time we have been motor sailing as either the wind is too little or coming from the wrong direction. When we left the anchorage we went through a couple of miles of thousands and thousands of tiny jelly fish. We also saw many sea turtles. We expected to see whales, however, only saw one. It is to hard to get pictures of the whales or the turtles.

Chamela anchorage was very rolly at night. The shore had many palapa restuarants. The actual town was about 2 miles inland. We did not visit the town. The surf was rough getting on the beach. One of the difficulties we have had on this trip is we bought too heavy of a dingy for us to handle. We bought a hard bottom dingy and it weighs about 200 pounds with the engine. Even with wheels it is almost impossible to lift and pull on shore. We are trying to sell our current dingy and buy a lighter weight dingy.

We left the anchorage of Chamela heading to Puerto Vallarta around 5 p.m. We wanted to go around Cabo Correntes during the night as it is know to have high seas and high winds. We were very lucky as the winds were only 5 knots and the seas were only about 1 foot. The night was very black as the moon was only a sliver for a couple of hours. We buddy boated with Suebee to Banderas Bay. It feels much safer at night when we are buddy boating with someone ealse.

We are currently at Paradise Village Marina in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay, 105 miles north of Chamela. We look forward to exploring Puerto Vallarta.