Sunday, April 08, 2012

Barra de Navidad through Tenacatita

Barra de Navidad, Mexico
We spent quite a bit of time in Barra.  It’s a great place to hook up with other cruisers.  There are so many great restaurants here. We only wish we had unlimited funds to try them all!  When we first arrived we were greeted with thousands (no lie) of dead fish floating in the water.  Yummy!  Let’s just say we weren’t too excited to eat fish right away.  We’re still not sure what caused it, but luckily it began to subside within a week.  That’s when all the vultures and pelicans showed up.  It actually was truly fascinating.  We had a chance to enjoy some delicious baked goods from the infamous French Baker of Barra.  We spent many an afternoon at the Sands Hotel swimming in the pool and trying to get decent internet (to no avail, most of the time).  We also were able to spend more time with our friends on Endeavor, Harmony, Third Day, and Jace.  We also celebrated Bob’s birthday while here.  He’s 39 (again)!  We enjoyed a mellow day in town and quite evening on the boat.  One of our favorite things to do here in Mexico is jump off the boat into the clear, warm water.  There’s none of that in Barra, so we sailed over to a little bay north named, Cuastecomate.
Salty found cool refreshment at the Sands in Barra.

Our coffee connection in Barra.

French Baker delivering the goods in the lagoon.

Pelicanfest 2012

Bob's favorite passtime





Cuastecomate and Barra (again)
We enjoyed the slower pace of this tiny village along with the clearer water.  We were able to do some minor sail repair on our head sail while anchored here.  We were quite content with this little bay, but alas, the Super Bowl was upon us and the closest viewing option for the game was in Barra, so back we went to the lagoon.  One thing that is so nice about spending a lot of time in one place, you get to know the lay of the land.  We now had our favorite carniceria (butcher), tienda (store),  and lavanderia (laundry lady).  We were even able to do a little birthday shopping for the girls’ upcoming b’days.

Our family "minivan" while on cruise

Sail repair in Cuastecomate


Post sail repair palapa relaxation time

Tenacatita
By this time we were itching to get back north to Tenacatita Bay.  We love swimming here and playing on the beach.  We left Barra mid morning hoping to avoid strong head winds that were forecasted for later that day.  Well, we obviously had become a bit complacent and too comfortable with the fantastic weather, because we got a nice butt whooping on the way to Tenacatita.  Luckily it only lasted for about 4 hours before we were safely in the lee of Tenacatita Bay.  We spent a few days basking in the sun, swimming, playing smashball on the beach, as well as volleyball with the other cruisers, enjoying beers at the local palapa, and most importantly, celebrating Sydney’s 13th birthday (Her wish was to go horseback riding on the beach and that’s exactly what she got to do!).  The weather began to cool down after that and the wind piped up; So much so that we dragged anchor!  Curses CQR anchor!  After going for an unexpected sail, we re-anchored in the bay and tried to relax.  The wind died down but left us with copious amounts of rain (we collected 65 gallons of fresh water in less than one day!).  It took a few days for the weather to clear, but when it did, it left the bay with sparkling, clear water.  We were able to do some much needed cleaning of the hull and luckily the water was clear enough for us to see what we were doing.  We also had a mother and calf humbacks visit us in the anchorage!
Before long we began to run out of propane and since no one on this boat likes to eat all cold food, we had to head back to Barra, again, to fill the propane.  Once we got that accomplished it was time to start heading north with stops at Tenacatita and Chamela. 

Our birthday girl...Happy 13th!

On the trail in Tenacatita

Even bad weather in Mexico is beautiful

Whales, whales, everywhere!
Some of our most memorable experiences while sailing along this coast have been the amount of Humpback whales we have been in close proximity to.  I can’t begin to tell you what a rush it is to have this enormous creature suddenly appear next to us.  We literally did not have a day of sailing where we were not close if not VERY close to these beautiful creatures.  We had heard that many cruisers see whales along this coast, but good grief, they were everywhere!  So often that we had to change coarse as to not hit them.  Crazy, huh?! 
Mother and calf humpbacks visited us in Tenacatita Bay

2 Comments:

Anonymous Scrubs said...

The showmanship can be amped up for the former and played down when it comes to putting stock on shelves, but thankfully

1:43 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Would like to invite you to take a look at my work in my blog;
http://saudadedapraia.blogspot.mx/

Pictures done with sand and small stones collected at the beaches of Manzaniilo, Barra de Navidad, Melaque and Cuastecomate!

3:34 PM  

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