I ended up only spending 3 days in Tenacatita before heading down to Barra Navidad. The entire time I was in Tenacatita I had the anchorage to myself. This one tops my anchorages so far. I spent tons of time in the water, and the snorkeling and spear fishing were incredible. You could get really spoiled here, no need to ever even inflate the dinghy. The best snorkeling was less than 200 ft from the boat. My second day in Tenacatita, I did some exploring away from the boat. About a quarter of a mile to the west was a second smaller bay that I thought might be good for fishing. It was a gorgeous little bay with perfectly clear water. I grabbed my spear, jumped in and started swimming towards the reef. I hadn't been in the water more than 10 minutes when I spotted the biggest manta ray I have ever seen. My initial reaction was to swim for the dinghy as fast as I could. When I see something that large and powerful in the water, it takes some effort to remind myself that they only eat plankton. I stuck around for a while and watched him flying through the water — the most gorgeous and graceful creature. I forgot all about fishing and watched him for hours.

The next day I returned to the little bay to try some more fishing. While sailing in the HA HA, the crew of Brisa had often mentioned that they were in search of the man-sized grouper. I always wondered what one would look like, and today was my day to find out. The reef I was diving on was about 20 ft deep and on one end was a great system of caverns and caves to explore. I noticed a decent-sized crack in the reef and figured this would be the perfect spot to start looking for dinner. I dove and started swimming through the crack. Just as I was about to resurface for air, I noticed a large shadow. I marked the spot, resurfaced, and quickly dove back down. I dove straight to the spot, cocked my Hawaiian sling, and entered back into the crack. There, right under a little shelf, was probably a 50 pound grouper. He made no attempt to swim away and just sat there looking at me, highly unconcerned by my presence. At first, this stunned me a bit; then, assessing the situation, I realized that I was 20 feet below my natural environment, in need of air, armed with a Hawaiian sling, and had broken ribs. After processing all of these facts, I decided to return to the boat for a delightful meal of ramen noodles.

I left early on the 7th for Barra Navidad. It's approximately 6 nm from Tenacatita to the entrance of Barra Navidad. This was the first port in Mexico where I had encountered channel markers or any type of navigational aids. The entrance to the lagoon was easy and well marked. Just as I rounded the corner, passed the marina and could see the anchorage less then a 1/4 mile away, the channel makers just stopped. Charlie's Charts shows 1 ft shoaling and marks out a rough idea of how the channel proceeds but doesn't give any sort of range markers or additional advice for getting into the anchorage. Going super slow and keeping a close eye on the depth sounder, I eventually wound my way back in and anchored in 10ft of water. I liked Navidad but not nearly as much as the other places I've stopped. Although the anchorage is very protected and quite pretty, you can't just jump overboard for a swim. The water is brown and murky — the perfect spot for a crocodile. I spent a few days exploring the local area and one day took a bus into Manzanillo where I found you could buy bootlegs of pretty much everything. I bought several new DVD's and tons of supplies from the local market. I met several other boats and had a great time with Journey and Sea Horse, both of whom I look forward to seeing in Zihuatanejo.

Anxious to move on to Zihuatanejo, I decided to take on crew. The anchorages between Navidad and Zihuatanejo are poor, and recently there have been robberies. I met three guys from the UK — Chris, Tim, and Tom — who are all traveling around the world for an extended period of time. Although Tramonto will be crowded, I decided that it would be worth being able to do one straight passage to Zihuatanejo. Once there, I plan on spending a few weeks or at least until the new autopilot gets there. From Zihuatanejo who knows?