Our fist arrival a Tenacatita in '03 was to a beach the other side of the hill, where a near shore coral reef is, and to only a hand full of rigs. As winters went by, more and more folks were there. With room on the coral side, where vehicles could drive on fairly stable ground, limited to about 15 rigs, with openings for other traffic to reach the beach, with more people coming, the earlier one got there, the better chance of you getting a good place. Seven years later, we arrived on November 12th, the tail end of their long summer. The road in on Mex 200, was beginning to grow in, with branches often touching the sides of our vehicles, the jungle lush green, the weather warm and humid, and the water in our little bay recorded by a friend, at 85 F. Getting it all settled in, the shower tent up, the outside cooking area arranged, was hard work in the hot sun.
Generally there were 14 rigs, two or three Americans, two or three Albertans, one or two from Ontario, another from Quebec and eight or nine from B.C. Tenters and VW Buses would come and go, Christmas brought many, with 60 from Guadalajara, in fashionable tents that would get placed abutted up to their neighbours. Some even touching an RV. Day trippers would abound, often arriving in private buses, with a count on some days of 30 to 50 arriving at the larger, main beach. the palapa restaurants did amazing business, some had been there for 50 years.There were more folks camped above the main beach, where a road stretched for about 1/2 a mile.Each year a growing throng of people from Mexico City, would spend their christmas holiday at the farthest end of the main beach.
It all came to an end on August 4th, 2010, when about 60 Jalisco State Police, in full riot gear and automatic weapons raided the beach, evicting everyone, and quickly putting up wire fencing to eliminate anyone getting through. Armed guards paced the beach and thwarted any and all attempts to land a boat. Buildings began to get bulldozed, along with nearly every palapa restaurant and nearly any kind of improvement that had been done,even under a signature of a Mexican president. It was said that about 800 Mexicans made their living, from that Tenacatita beach.
We've never been back, but cherish the year and a half of our lives, spent snorkling over the coral, under the sun. But the small town of El Rebelsito, about 3 km away, may never fully recover.
