Barra de Navidad

I am becoming quite excited each time I see one of these city "landmarks." Each with its own artistic take and they really make for great photo opps.

After leaving Tenacatita mid-day on April 2, we arrived to Barra de Navidad, which was a short trip further down the coast . Barra was a "must-go" stop that many cruisers and friends had been telling us about, so we were excited to finally arrive.

There are a few anchorage options in Barra, but we opted for the Lagoon which was closer to Barra Navidad, the town and easiest to navigate getting to-from town from either our dinghy or renting a water taxi (or so we heard)

Getting INTO the lagoon was another story. Our various paper and electronic charts show a slightly precarious entrance route as there are many sand bars and depth becomes VERY shallow after passing the entrance to the channel. Many of our books, give VERY specific instructions on how to maneuver around and safely get into the lagoon, which is just past the marina entrance. We knew we were at lower tide, but didn't realize how accurate we needed to be, nor how shallow it actually is. Shortly after passing the marina entrance, Jay slowed, eyeing our depth meter. No sooner had the words "how shallow does this get" come out of his mouth we "snuggle" our keel into the mud bottom. Crap! (I would like to say this was our first time getting a little stuck, but this also happened to us coming into San Diego, as we were trying to maneuver around a race with about 15 sailboats tacking back and forth just outside the narrow entrance to the public docks)

Out of all things to get stuck in, soft mud might be the best. Just as we got stuck a fellow boater from the lagoon came whizzing over to us in his dinghy, helping direct us to further hug the shore for safe passage into the lagoon. He also helped give us a little push and within no time we are free and out. Boaters are the best! It was a tight squeeze in and with a 6' draft on BOAT, we held our breath as we hugged the shoreline (a mere 20 yards, might I add from the very visible beach) watching our depth meter hover around 6.5' . We finally get into the lagoon, which still was showing about 7' on our depth meter. Yesh! I should also add winds had picked up and were quite gusty at about 15kts during this whole time. Exhilarating experience--can't wait to tiptoe our way out of here ?!

With soft mud bottom and quite gusty winds, we had to pick our spot carefully as there were about 10 other boats anchored in the lagoon, which isn't extremely tight quarters, but on the small side and very snuggly (yes, it a word that I am going to use here, sue me grammar natzi's) tucking in with our neighbors. We chose one spot, dropped anchor, waited and then lifted and repositioned, hoping to get as much rode out as we could to increase our holding. At this point, I will add that Jay and I have had numerous times commenting on how much we LOVE our 55lb Rocna anchor. This baby can hold and has allowed us many "peaceful" night sleeps with incredible holding and little to no fuss getting her to set on first go.

Which is all the better for our current spot, as the wind was whipping all afternoon into the evening:

(winds were like this both afternoons/evenings, whipping us around our anchor like a merry go around-weeee!!)

We decide to stay on our boat and keep watch as the holding was iffy and we wanted to ensure we sat well since we were a mere 50 yards from boats on all sides of us.

In the above short video clip, take a look at the boat right next to us. Two hours later and that boat's anchor was dragging like crazy. So much so, it was sliding abeam to us later in the afternoon and headed for a cluster of two other boats just behind us. Jay got on VHF, to see if we could alert the owner, hoping he was onboard. Word on the street is that he wasn't around and hadn't been. Lovely! Jay and I sat vigilant watch. One of the boats behind us, also monitoring the dragging anchor, unmanned boat, lifted anchor and moved to the other side of the lagoon. Good thing too as the next morning, the dragging anchor boat was sitting directly behind us (and would have hit the other boat had they not moved) BOAT was happily tucked in on our anchor. Score yet again for Team Rocna!!

The following morning we got onto the cruiser net, which is a novelty for us still since we only were able to hear following our VHF fix in Nuevo Vallarta. Cruiser net might be yet another reason I love the boating community (the list get longer every day!) Cruiser nets operate all over, and is basically a local check in, information sharing, weather reporting service hosted by one of the local cruisers/boaters. They report on one of the local VHF channels every morning (or most mornings) and is a GREAT way to get local weather, share information, and get better acquainted with your fellow boaters, and the area you are in. It's like a community board slash Craigslist slash virtual group meeting. Seriously, way cool!

We also had read there are a few specialty boat delivery services offered in the area, which are announced on the net each morning so you can connect with any one of them. Here, there is a famed French Baker that takes orders of his freshly baked goods and will deliver boatside following your order over the net.

Jay excitedly meeting the French Baker, like a kid waiting for the ice cream truck

Complete with his lovely french accent, we had freshly baked chocolate croissants and veggie quiches in hand just an hour after he took our order over VHF. I mean....this is better than room service at most favored hotels!! How freaking cool, right? Forget what I said in much earlier posts about bemoaning forgoing the luxuries of land travel--these kinds of perks well make up. Excuse me, while I take a sip of champagne from my plastic flute, pinkie high in the air now, because I am really living the fancy, jet-setting lifestyle now!

(actual shot of Jay and I after getting our pastry delivery)

Funny enough, we ran into Emeric (the french baker) a few hours later when in town and watching the local surf spot. After enjoying a late morning surf (after his morning pastry deliveries), all smiles, he came right up to us, saying hello and striking up conversation.

We chatted with him at length about his business, Barra and other things. What cool little community here! Also, I would like Emeric's life. I would very much get behind that lovely life and schedule (he shared he is actually looking to sell his business and take off on an RV trip with his wife....man! what is in the air or cosmos? Is everyone downsizing their life and taking off to the open road/seas?!)

We spent the better part of the day moseying around the town of Barra, after a painless and quick check-in with the Port Captain.

...which, mind you was not really an “office” persay, but a house tucked into a small community that took us entirely too long to find (once again, directions in Mexico, ask 5 times and find it on your own an hour later after walking in circles) In the best sense of both our problematic land navigation skills, we have made some great little finds and discoveries, but not without an extremely round about way of getting to where we actually want to go.

More shots from around Barra:

(fun water taxi ride thru the canals in Barra)

After a day of fresh produce shopping/me window browsing all the lovely little tiendas and a great find of delicious street tacos, we headed back to the boat as afternoon winds were picking up again.

Tomorrow we set off for Manzanilla and a fun little anchorage we were told to visit, Las Hadras

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Last Passage Distance: 12.37nm

Cumulative Distance to Date: 1,688.73 nm

Days since last donating to Poseidon: and we are keeping this great momentum of many days!

Items donated: n/a