| At Tenacatita, a popular trip � known as the �jungle cruise� � is to take one�s dinghy up the stream, whose outlet is right off the anchorage, and wind through 3 to 4 miles of mangroves, sometimes so dense as to form an overhead canopy. The trip ends at the lagoon, just off the small village of Revelcito and the nearby beach. The surf was too big for us to take the trip on Monday. We watched from our anchorage as a few dinghies tried, but all turned back. No one succeeded that day. On Tuesday afternoon, watching the surf ever so closely and timing the wave periods just perfectly, we managed to get our dinghy into the stream � the first dinghy to do so in almost two days. It took us about 45 minutes of motoring to make the trip up to the lagoon. Once at the beach, we experienced the same festive Mexican vacationing atmosphere and palapa restaurants as at Chamela, minus the mariachi bands. While at Tenacatita, it was also fun to watch the brown pelicans, the most populous bird at this anchorage, as they would catch their fish. The pelicans would come down with a big splash, often just a few feet from our boat, but they never missed their catch. 100% accuracy every time! We departed Tenacatita at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 24, heading next to Bahia de Navidad, about 20 miles further south, and arrived there about 2 � hours later. We anchored out in the bay for a couple of hours waiting to go into the lagoon at Navidad on the rising high tide. While waiting we saw our first marine turtle. Quite exciting! How thrilling it was, too, to be finally anchored in a lagoon and not exposed to the open surge. The small tourist towns bordering the bay, Barra de Navidad and Melaque, were quite charming with their cobblestone streets, and when we arrived both were full of vacationers enjoying the Easter holidays. It was quite windy every day that we were there � except for the day we left � with winds from 20 to 30 knots and gusts to 35 lasting almost eight to ten hours each day. Our boat in the lagoon was about a mile from Barra. Luckily, we were able to take the water taxi into town for $1.50 round trip per person. Otherwise, we would never have been able to make it to town due to the strong winds. By Saturday afternoon, it was quite noticeable that many vacationers were already heading home as the normally crowded and lively beaches were looking less and less busy. The Easter holidays were definitely coming to an end. On Monday, April 28, after taking on fuel and water at the Grand Bay Marina, we departed Barra de Navidad around 11:30 a.m. and headed for Manzanillo, about 27 miles down the road. As there was no wind we motored all the way, arriving in Manzanillo about 4 hours later. We anchored in front of Las Hadas resort with its white, Moorish arches, domes, and spires � quite impressive from the water with its Mediterranean architecture � and very picturesque at night with all its lights on. Las Hadas was the film set for the movie �10� with Bo Derek. This anchorage would have been one of the most pleasant anchorages we experienced in Mexico, as there was almost no surge. But, with both Thursday, May 1, and Monday, May 5, being holidays in Mexico, there were quite a few vacationers at the many resorts in Manzanillo. Thus, when we were on the boat during the day, we would feel at times like we were in a �washing machine� as, being the only boat there, we would have quite a few jet skiers and water skiers circling the boat turning up the water. In the evening we had it all to ourselves and it was calm and beautiful. As Las Hadas is on the far side of the bay from the main port, we didn�t realize how big the port was until seeing it up close from the bus. We were amazed at the size of the container dock. Truck drivers in their cabs were waiting in line to pick up the many containers being unloaded from the ships. It reminded me of the scene at Long Beach Harbor in California, although on a much smaller scale. |
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| Up a Jungle River |