Journal Entry – February 13, 2005

Author: Scott and Pam

During the Gold Coast Cruiser’s Net this morning they announced a hearts tournament happening later today on the beach. While Scott was in the hospital I passed the time by playing hearts on the computer. It doesn’t necessarily bring out the best in me, let’s just say I am convinced the computer cheats. Anyway, playing hearts while looking at palm trees and beautiful blue water sounded like fun, so I signed both Scott and I up. Going to shore meant landing the dinghy on the beach, a feat we have not had much practice with. We found out yesterday where to land and it doesn’t come without its challenges, i.e. rocks and some pretty good sized waves. In comparison to most cruisers we have a much smaller dinghy, smaller motor and no wheels to help with a beach landing, but you can only fit so much on a Valiant 32’ and so we had to opt for a small dinghy. We were lucky on the way in and out, all went quite smoothly. Phew, I am not totally comfortable with this mode of arriving and the amount of timing you have to have. We will get a lot more practice, especially in the South Pacific. We ended up playing hearts with our friends Kathy and Jerry on Po’ oino Roa, they arrived back in Tenacatita earlier today. It was fun to see them and they made great hearts opponents. Kathy and I had the two lowest scores so we will advance to round two tomorrow. We are in awe of the community that is established here in Tenacatita, it seems to be a transition spot for cruisers going north and south. We have never been to an anchorage with so many boats and so many organized activities. We found out today there is a swim to the beach and then a walk to the resort at the end of the beach, a daily volleyball game and a myriad of card games and Mexican Train Dominos being played under the palapa. Some of the cruisers call Tenacatita the cruisers Club Med, this is especially appropriate since many of the beach scenes from the Blue Lagoon were filmed here. Everyone heads back to their boat around 5:00 pm when the no-see-ums come out to feast. The afternoon passed quickly and we started to meet some of the cruisers. Our friends Julie and Larry from Komara are also anchored here, it feels like old home week. They were our neighbor for much of the time we were in Marina Vallarta. We were very grateful to them for visiting Scott in the hospital, it truly made us feel a part of this wonderful community.