The next leg of our trip was off to a rough start for the skipper. We had moved to the anchorage at Punta Mita from La Cruz on Monday February 5th to prepare for a late afternoon departure on Tuesday, hoping to take advantage of fair winds around Cabo Corrientes that evening. Unfortunately I started feeling ill with gastrointestinal trouble Monday night, which worsened into Tuesday. It seemed I had come down with a case of the “tourista”, and I was in no condition to pilot the boat that evening. I let myself get a bit dehydrated during the day, and had to drop off my meetings to lie down and rest.

Things started looking up for me on Wednesday, and by mid-day I was starting to feel like I could contribute to sailing again. We had about 95nm to cover to our destination of Bahía Chemala to the south, so pulled anchor at 5pm hoping to arrive around mid-morning the next day. We raised our sails and pointed the bows south to a pleasant beam to broad reach, making decent time while daylight persisted and the wind was up.

We would be moving from Banderas Bay south to Costalegre, the Coast of Joy. We were anticipating seeing the beautiful anchorages of this part of Mexico, and spending some time in Barra de Navidad. Barra was the birthplace of the Panama Posse, the concept being dreamed up by Captain Dietmar and others at the swim-up bar at the resort. We had missed the big Posse party at the resort in December, but still hoped to catch up with friends and new-to-us Posse members still in the area.

Personally I was a bit nervous about this stretch of coast. We’d be on our own heading down a stretch of the Pacific coastline that appeared pretty much open to the wind and waves with some long stretches between anchorages. I didn’t really know what to expect here. How bad would the Pacific swell be coming out of the south? Would the anchorages be comfortable or constantly rolling? Would our many passages be comfortable or miserable? I was full of doubt but comforted by the knowledge that many have enjoyed this area before.

As night fell, we started getting some fairly significant swell on the beam that put Perception into an uncomfortable rolling motion. The wind was still up, but we were bucking into a current moving up into the bay against us. As our speed started to drop, we powered up the engines to keep our progress up. I had to work the next day, after all, and was hoping to be sitting at anchor before my first meeting.

Late in the evening as we rounded Cabo Corrientes, I noticed what looked like a motor yacht on AIS coming out of Banderas Bay behind us. It was doing about 12 knots, and was steadily gaining on us. Just before midnight, when it was about a mile behind us, the captain called us on the VHF and asked if we could point up a bit to give them some room as they passed our starboard side. This gave me a bit of pause, since there was ample room (i.e. the entire Pacific Ocean) to our starboard side, but being polite, and not knowing what limitations the other boat might have, I confirmed that we would change course and point up a bit.

Now I was interested in the boat. As Grace and I watched their lights pass us to starboard, we searched the boat on the Internet. The boat turned out to be AV, a 95 meter long superyacht with 10,672 hp engines, owned by billionaire Dennis Washington. We were both pretty peeved that AV had asked us to deviate. In Grace’s words:

This is like being in the right lane on the interstate and the sports car behind you calls you and asks you to get off at the next exit so they can pass you and stay in the right lane. Instead of just passing you in the left lane…

Oh well, first world problems…

I took the early morning shift at the helm, and watched the sunrise over the coast to the southeast. The colors of the sky and clouds contrasted to lay out a beautiful scene ahead. As we came within VHF range of Bahía Chamela, I noted that I could see AV in the bay on AIS. Just what we wanted, a giant yacht probably swinging around on a couple hundred feet of anchor rode taking up the whole bay. Fortunately, as we rounded the point into the bay, AV came steaming out. It was interesting to see her in daylight, but I’d be just as happy to not see her again in the future…

It’s always a relief to pull into a quiet bay after an overnight passage. We dropped our hook up in the northwestern end of Bahía Chamela and settled in to rest. The bay was wrapped with the stunning white beach of Playa Punta Perula, named for the point we had rounded to get into the bay. This looked like an attractive place to go ashore, but recovering from the passage and sickness kept us all on our own floating castle for the day.

The bay was clear and beautiful, so the crew cooled off in the afternoon heat by jumping into the water and splashing about. The next morning the sunrise lit up the clear sky, and Perception pulled anchor to head on down the coast.

Our next target was Bahía Tenacatita about 30nm further down the coast. We’d heard many good things about this bay, both from other Panama Posse members and from the guidebooks of the area. This is one of the deepest bays on this stretch of coast, and we pulled in to the inner cove where about 15 other boats were already anchored.

Our first evening was a quiet, relaxing time. The bay was deep enough and sheltered by a point of land such that we didn’t have much swell to speak of. We caught sight of whales in the bay and watched them surface, blow, and dive. There was little noise from the anchorage, just a bit of music drifting across the water from the taco restaurant on shore.

The next day was Saturday. We pulled out one of our stand-up paddle boards to see what we could do. Grace and I were eventually able to actually stand and paddle for a while, though we each got drenched in turn a number of times trying to get the hang of it. Later in the afternoon Melinda and I took the dinghy ashore for a beer at the restaurant. We did a fair job landing in the light swell, timing our approach with the breaking waves such that we didn’t get too wet or swamp the dinghy. Maybe we were finally getting the hang of it!

Ashore was a typical beachside grill, with picnic tables set out in the sand under some shades. We chatted with some other cruisers before heading back out into the bay. We idled around the anchorage, and spied another Lagoon 42, which turned out to be a boat we’d met briefly in Glorietta Bay in San Diego. We chatted for a bit from the dinghy before leaving them in peace, and headed back to Perception for the evening.

One feature of Tenacatita is its mangroves. There is a small river outlet into the bay that you can dinghy up into at high tide, and then follow the river among the mangroves for several miles. Our final morning in Tenacatita we decided to give this a try, and piled into the dinghy to give it a go.

The trip was great, though going in it was a bit uncomfortable given the closeness of the mangroves and our uncertainty as to the viability of the path through them. They would close together over the boat for significant stretches, forming a long, green cave through which we had to pass. The driver had to be constantly aware of branches poking out into the path which seemed like they could easily tear a hole in our inflatable sides. We had a few collisions, where the crew had to fend us off of the mangroves, but eventually the narrow channel opened up into a large lagoon with a beach landing at one end.

We pulled the dinghy up on the shore at the landing and hoofed it up a path to Playa La Morita, which was the next beach closer to the ocean from our anchorage. We brought along our snorkel gear in the hopes that we could snorkel in the rocks there, but the surge was just too strong for comfort and we soon abandoned the water for a drink on the beach. Grace and I did manage to see a sea snake, but not much else in the sand-clouded surf.

Leaving Bahía Tenacatita, we had just a short hop of 15nm down the coast to Barra de Navidad. The main obstacle in the way along this route is Cabeza de Navidad, a broad peninsula jutting out into the water that forms the eastern side of Bahía Tenacatita. Several islets and rocks extend further to the SSW from the point, including a number of rocks awash just below the surface. We plotted a course that swung wide of any hint of the rocks, and could see the swell breaking on one of the furthest out as we passed.

I noted another sailboat making its way between some of the islets – apparently taking a shortcut on the route between Barra and Tenacatita. I thought the skipper a bit crazy at the time, with the potential for grounding and the swell sweeping currents in the narrows between islets. Some two months later in early April a boat in the Panama Posse would run aground here trying to take a similar shortcut, damaging their boat beyond repair. This would be the second boat lost from the Panama Posse this season on the Pacific Coast, and the third including the Baha Ha Ha.

Even though we had attempted to make a reservation at the marina at Barra de Navidad weeks before, we’d had no luck securing a confirmed spot. We were a bit unhappy about this as this was the birthplace of the Panama Posse, and we had even met the marina manager in San Diego at the Panama Posse kickoff party. We attempted again as we approached, but were told we might have to wait a week or two to get in. So with heavy hearts we motored past the marina and into the lagoon behind.

I was a bit nervous coming into the lagoon as there were ample warnings from the Panama Posse and our guidebooks about the shallow waters found there. But the depths were well marked on the charts, and these correlated well with the guidebooks, so we just took it slow and steady. The lagoon seemed to be pretty full, at least in the areas that were recommended for anchoring. There must have been at least 25 boats spread out through the anchorage, with few large gaps between. We have a relatively shallow draft on Perception, so we pulled up to the northern-most corner of the anchorage and put down our hook in about 6′ of water. We were coming in at low tide and I circled our spot paying close attention to the depth, so I felt pretty confident that we wouldn’t end up stuck in the mud.

We arrived at Barra on Superbowl Sunday, and the marina was having a buffet and viewing of the game in one of their conference rooms. We had been in contact with our friends on Walden who were already in Barra, and planned to join them at the marina to watch the game. Once we had Perception settled from the trip in, we hopped in the dinghy and headed into the marina. We pulled alongside Walden and tied up at their bow in the slip, happily meeting our friends who we’d last seen in the Sea of Cortez months before. The game was fine, but the American food served was the real winner. It wasn’t the best quality, but it was familiar and a welcome change for one meal.

We were surprised Monday morning by the sound of a panga nearby Perception ringing a bell. There were a number of pangas moving through the lagoon, but this one was special. It was the French Bakery delivery boat, which carried a broad assortment of fresh-baked goods that you could purchase right from the back of your boat. The crew quickly mobilized and bought some fresh pastries and bread. What a wonderful surprise!

The marina office was open on Monday as well, and we started our full-court press to get a slip assignment. Melinda visited first, but didn’t have much luck with the staff. The marina manager, Secundino or “Dino”, seemed to be out often and was hard to catch in the office. Grace and I dinghied in to the marina later in the day, after I finished work, and were able to catch him. We reintroduced ourselves, and he seemed to recognize us. After a brief chat, we “discovered” that there actually was a slip open on the east end of the marina. It would be a tight fit, but we could squeeze in there without too much trouble. We agreed to come in early Tuesday morning when the dock staff would be available to help us.

Tucked snugly into our berth at Barra, we were now able to enjoy the resort and town with unfettered shore access. Yet again we devolved into our habit of hitting the pool by day/afternoon. The resort had a great set of pools connected by short water slides, and the bottom pool also featured a swim-up bar. It was a great place to chill out in the afternoon.

Melinda and Grace also spent time in the town of Barra de Navidad across the channel from the resort, which could be reached by a convenient panga shuttle. The ladies and I went out to dinner there one evening, which was a nice chance for the skipper to stretch his legs and see a bit more than the resort and the inside of Perception.

While at Barra, we also had some much-needed work done on Perception’s beautification. We hired the local service specialist “Pancho” to wax and polish the whole topside, including our stainless steel. Pancho also had his team clean the bottom, to keep the barnacle growth under control. Perception was positively gleaming when they were done!

After a week we were starting to get the itch to keep moving. We still had approximately 1,500nm of coastline before we would be safely out of the hurricane zone for the season. Sunday morning, the 18th of February, we pulled out of the marina and headed for the fuel dock.

I really don’t know why I don’t hit the fuel dock more often when we’re on the way in to a marina rather than on the way out. It would be nice to be able to depart at any time, rather than waiting for the fuel dock to open. It’s also an annoying pause in psyching up to get out on the water. I know it’s sheer laziness and procrastination – I usually just want to get us in to a dock when we are arriving. I’ll have to work on this in the future.

The trip to the fuel dock at Barra was a bit interesting as it’s in the lagoon, which has some pretty shallow areas. At one point during our stay I took the photo below of a monohull stuck on one of the shallows in the lagoon – presumably he hadn’t been paying attention to the charts, ran aground, and had to wait for the tide cycle to get off. As with anchoring in the lagoon, I stuck to the charts and the guidebooks, and had no problem finding the channel to the fuel dock. We made it in and out without incident.

Barra de Navidad had been a nice place to stop, and we certainly would have enjoyed a much longer stay if time had allowed. The pressure to keep knocking off the nautical miles was growing, so Perception and her crew would be heading south.