Cruise of the Confidence 14-Feb-2014 to 20-Feb LaManzanilla

14-Feb-2014 La Manzanilla

Bahia Tenacatita has three anchorages. La Manzanilla is the southern anchorage and is home of the main town in this bay. It is not a good anchorage when the north westerlies are blowing but lucky for us - the winds were just about non existent.

So we headed over there to meet up with Al and Sandy for a lovely Valentine's day dinner. As a reminder - Al and Sandy are from Vancouver and we originally met them in Sausalito on their boat - Marova. They were also the couple that were in the boat yard in Ensenada at the same time as us.

Al has a beautiful home in La Manzanilla and we were very happy to meet up with them again - not bad for two couples who really have no itinerary. They know the area quite well and were able to give us excellent recommendations when it came to restaurants, groceries and such.

This is a  view of our boat at anchor taken from their house on the hill.

A view of the pool and the view.

 

La Manzanilla is a lovely town with a nice blend of Mexican and Gringo eateries. There is quite a population of Canadians here with some beautiful winter homes. The anchorage was great and I was able to do my daily routine of swimming into shore and back to the boat.

There is another town in the next bay which is also well known for provisioning. Al had a vehicle so we took advantage of that and drove to Melaque to get money and groceries. The Hawaiian store caters to Americans and Canadians and there was also an excellent butcher. So we stocked up. The only problem was getting all the supplies back on the boat. There is a bit of a surf in this bay so we put one load in the dinghy and I opted to stay in the water to help David get over the surf without flipping. He brought that one out to the boat and then returned for the second load. Rather than chance another surf landing, I carried the rest of the stuff, bag by bag, through the surf to the dinghy with David keeping it straight to the surf. You must use your imagination a little as the water is up above my waist and I am forced to carry this stuff on my head. Did I tell you this delivery also included our laundry? So we most certainly did not want to get anything wet. The waterproof nap sacks that I bought in Canada were a good investment. 

After the second load was in the dinghy I opted to swim back to the boat as there was no room for me and the act of me getting into the dinghy gracefully would have been a long shot. The water was getting pretty choppy and I was swimming against the surf. I made it but it was quite a workout. Everything made it onto the boat - dry and in tact. But I was tired from the ordeal and still had to get everything put away. Ah - life on a boat!

There is a protected sanctuary at the edge of town that is filled with giant crocodiles. Once in a while the tide and the surf are really high and the banks of the estuary overflow and some of the crocodiles escape! Not while we were there thank goodness.

 

We had a wonderful time in La Manzanilla which was largely to do with Al and Sandy. It was sad to say goodbye but we had places to go and people to see and they had to get ready to return to Canada. We are sure to keep in touch and hope to see them again - somewhere in our travels.