Sailing Tenacatita (Inner) to Pérula

We left Tenacatita without a strong resolve on where we would anchor next. The trip north has been characterized by making as long of hops as we can manage between unpleasant or downright nasty weather. Historically, Mexico’s west coast has southerly wind in the spring, making travel north more straightforward, but that has not been our experience.

We tried to sail off the anchor using the mainsail, but it was calm and quiet, so rather than put the strain o the windlass we motored off. Lots of jellies filling the water, not a good day for swimming! It stayed very calm inside the bay of Tenacatita, but fortunately picked up as soon as we got outside the bay. We started fishing, but there was absolutely no way we were going to catch anything going at nearly 5 knots.

As has been happening to us, the wind increased and kept on building. There were high gusts predicted in the afternoon, and by 11:00 the wind was holding at 16 knots, so we determined Pérula – the next closest anchorage, and a prior stop for us – would be our destination. It got increasingly bumpy and we had to be pretty tactical with our tacks, because the further we got from shore, the worse both wind and waves got, but more tacks is less efficient.

We had a late lunch while bashing over and through the waves. I went below to refill water bottles, and found sediment in the water coming from our port tank. UGH! This has happened before, and we flushed water through until it started coming back clear. This time, we’re planning to open up the inspection ports and do a real inspection/cleaning. It did make the final decision on Pérula, because we don’t want to get further and realize we have no water that is drinkable. Plus, Pérula has a dinghy dock, so it’s a good place to need to haul water.

It took a few more tacks than we would have liked because of the rocky islands at the south side of the bay, but we got anchored in the dark and enjoyed the fish darting around us, lighting up the bioluminescence.