A Really Sweet Spot

Tenacatita Bay is located about 150 miles south of Puerto Vallarta and 10 miles north of Barra de Navidad. It’s very popular with winter and springtime cruisers because it offers several anchorage locations with protection from nearly any wind and sea conditions.  It has miles of white sand beach, excellent snorkeling, a jungle estuary and the village of La Manzanilla for laundry and provisioning. Tenacatita is an enjoyable long term hangout.

The Palapa

In the northwest corner of the bay is the main anchorage where most cruisers drop the hook.  The anchorage features good swimming, the jungle estuary entrance and the “Palapa” restaurant.

The Palapa is minimal.  It consists of a thatched roof, sand floor and a shack in the rear that serves as the kitchen and bar.  Most of the time the service is slow or non-existant, but that’s ok.  We cruisers cruise to get away from the frenetic service up north.  At the Palapa the waiters and management don’t do 5 minute drive bys asking if everything is okay.  Most cruisers prefer the laid back “I’ll let you know if I need something” tranquillo kind of service.  The Palapa fills that bill nicely. 

The Palapa Kitchen & Bar

Activities

Every morning “The Net” starts at 9:15.  The Barra de Navidad Cruiser’s net, only 10 miles away, starts at 9 on channel 22 (a high power channel), so the Tenacatita net jumps off 15 minutes later on low power channel 17.  Low power/high power, 9:00am/9:15am?  The logic somehow makes sense.

After the weather and tides, there is a discussion of boat services and things for sale (treasures of the bilge), followed up with activity and event announcements.  It’s kind of like the Radar O’Reilly morning announcement on M.A.S.H. but without the loud speaker.  There’s usually a swim to the beach at 2 followed by Bocci Ball or Mexican Train at 2:30, with general socializing and sundowners starting around 4.  Other announced activities might include the annual Tenacatia Triathalon, the Friday afternoon Mayor’s Raftup, an evening bonfire pot-luck (if you can brave the no-seeums), kayaking, snorkeling and diving.  Remember “Hello Mudda, hello Fadda!  Here I am at Camp Grenada!”?  Well, it’s kinda like that, only for cruisers.

A Rare Double Leaner

The Hotel

A short walk down the beach is Hotel Los Àngeles Locos or The Crazy Angels.  I think the title better fits California, but that’s the name they chose.  A day-pass to the hotel can be obtained for MXN $800 per person (about $40 US) and includes the use of all the hotel’s facilities including the pools, drinks, food buffets, horse back riding, tennis, etc.  It’s a good deal for some pampering.  If your pampering tends to the risqué,  just down the beach from Hotel Los Àngeles Locos is Hotel Punta Serena.  Hotel Punta Serena is a clothing optional hotel with a clothing optional beach.  We didn’t check that one out, but I swear I could see plenty of cruisers sitting in their cockpits with binoculars trained in that general direction. 🙂

Each year the cruisers of Tenacatita loosely organize into a community with scheduled activities and even community officials.  The “Mayor” of Tenacatita is Robert onboard the the sailing vessel Harmony along with his espousa, the Lovely Miss Virgina.  The Mayor is famous for his weekly dinghy “raft-ups” in which cruisers tie their dinghies together, share snacks and appetizers, and sometimes engage in deep philosophical discussions depending on what topic the Mayor chooses to toss to the group.  Check out our Mayor’s Raftup post here. 

A Friendly Game of Mexican Train