The anchorage site at Tenacatita provided only minimal protection so that Mangas was rolling from starboard to port throughout the night. Even so, it allowed some much needed rest and the opportunity to get a fresh perspective on starting out again. The following day we tried again and this time we had better winds and better luck. We used the 12 to 16 knot winds to get us moving pretty fast up the coast. We averaged about 7 knots per hour during the day. On the evening of day two we approached Cabo Corrientes and found ourselves in high wind and swell yet again. Some of the swells during our trip north from Zihuatanejo were literally a couple of stories high. We had seas that rolled towards Mangas with the tips many times our height and we hi-centered on more than a few waves where a backward glance over the stern revealed that our sugar scoop was actually out about 15 feet over the water before we would begin to surf Mangas down the other side. Meanwhile, the kids are hooping and hollering. Splash Mountain in the open seas. Otherwise, the kids are pretty much just watching movies or reading. When we are out on the water for overnight passages, Mike and I simply do not have the energy to keep up on the kids with homework. So passage days they are left to entertain themselves or join whoever is on duty in the cockpit. They actually do pretty well, but I am sure if we were to do a long passage of a week or more, we would want to incorporate more homework structure.
Speaking of passages and the navigating that accompanies them, one thing that I absolutely hate is our Garmin charting system on the boat. It has a special upload of charts for this region, but they are so off. We will be anchored and it shows that we are 2 kilometers inland. You pass a large rock / small islet jutting out of the water, and it shows nothing but 600 foot depth with no obstructions. Couple this with a depth finder (Another fine product from Autohelm) that starts to go haywire with any chop and so is completely useless, outside of a lagoon.
In the early morning hours of the second night, I took over helmsman's duty from Mike and he went below. At 2 AM, you are really just waking up and you need to get your bearings. I looked at the radar and just saw a long black swipe that represented the coast to our starboard about 7 kilometers away. I did not see any other vessels on radar. Then I looked at the Garmin. It showed several small islets surrounding us and 25 feet of water. Quickly I looked at the depth and it read 21 feet. Aaaaacckkkkk!! We were motoring at this point, due to lack of wind, so at least I was free to navigate in any direction without fear of jibing our changing sails. I picked up our cruiser guide and it showed nothing in the water.
Long and short of it is that this was 15 minutes of sheer terror worrying that we would strike a rock at any moment. During which time, I shouted to Mike and he unrolled the paper charts (after having to get out of our bunk - sorry!) to compare with the cruiser guide book and the Garmin to find that the guide book was correct and we were in no danger. Can I tell you what we paid for the cruiser guide book, compared to the Garmin? Unbelievable. (PS - Thank you Heather and Shawn!)
Later that morning, as the sun came up over the coastline, just as with our exit out of Banderas, we had quite the escort of dolphins coming across the mouth of the bay. I counted 6 different pods surrounding us at one point with around 6-8 dolphins in each pod. Beautiful.
We passed the sprawling grounds of the Four Seasons resort and pulled in to an anchorage on the northwest tip of the bay called Punta Mita. There were about 5 other boats already anchored and plenty of room. The shore was dotted with restaurants and palapas.
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| You can probably guess this is not my picture (thank you Virtual Vallarta). This is Punta Mita looking from the northwest with our anchorage in the upper left corner past the Four Seasons. |
About this time, I was not feeling well at all. I had a fever and muscle aches...aka La Gripa! (Flu in Mexico) It was Mother's Day, but I just wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep. Mike and the kids convinced me to go out and we found a restaurant on the beach that had good fish tacos and complimentary wooden hand fans for all the moms. Nice!
Because of how incredibly crappy I was feeling, I did not take any photos in Punta Minta.
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| Punta Mita - Northwest tip of Bahia de Banderas |
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