Matanchen Bay - Nayarit, Mexico

Matanchen bay is a large bay just south of San Blas, it offers decent protection from the north, loads of restaurants, and handy provisioning options. It also offers the opportunity to donate litres of blood to the local mosquito and jejenee population who will come to your boat in the middle of the night (or day) sneak through your screens and devour your occupants. Mostly worth it though,.

There's good cell service close to shore, the cells around the bay are very small, presumably not to interfere with the cells in San Blas which radiate quite a distance offshore. I've been here twice, the first time there was nothing to be had at all, so we moved south to Santa Cruz de Miramar - we had to be less than a mile off shore to pick up 3g connection in either locations.

For provisioning you can pick up baked goods in Matanchen itself, or take a collectivo (25 pesos per person) into San Blas, and then a taxi (100 pesos regardless of people) back to los islitas. Any of the restaurants will happily look after the dinghy, we thanked them by having a meal there.

San blas has an Aramburu store, lots of OXXOs and some hardware stores, and is a surprisingly nice little town. We enjoyed some paletas by the town square, as well as a quick trip around the ruined fort and chapel - bring bug spray.

Anchor in the bay, the further offshore you anchor, the less bugs. The western shore is generally easier to land a dinghy. Make sure you bring your dinghy well up onto the beach to avoid any embarrassment.