We hoisted the main sail before pulling anchor in La
Manzanilla. It was a perfect departure with 10-15 kts of wind on a close reach
to close haul all the way to Barra de Navidad. It was one of the better days of
sailing.
We entered the Barra de Navidad channel with a pretty good surf smashing up against the
breakwater entrance. Once inside things were well protected and the marina was
easy to navigate into. We would be at the marina for a week while we relaxed
and visited Barra and Melaque.
The temps here have been unseasonably warm, at least 4-5
degrees warmer than normal per the locals. The key to enjoying ourselves was to
do our exploring in the early day and hide out at the pool in the afternoon.
My cousin Laurie lives part time in Barra with her husband
Chris. We went about town the first day or so meeting the locals and always the
subject of having a cousin in town came up in conversation. It became clear
that the places we were visiting were also places where my cousin was known. We
would not link up with Laurie and Chris for a day or two since we had many
chores to attend to. This left some time to hang out at the local espresso
shop. The owner of the espresso shop is good friend with Laurie and Chris. We
were asked to play a practical joke on Chris when we met up with them on Friday
night. It was all in fun with Paul delivering the set-up flawlessly when we
joined them at their home for dinner. It brought the house down in laughter. Chris
and his friend Brit put together a huge feast of fresh ahi sushi and a variety
of other sushi and sashimi delicacies. We enjoyed watching the sunset from
their palapa on the beach and hearing their impressions on living in Mexico Bellingham , Washington
Pretty much anything you could want
you can find in Barra. The secret is to ask the locals. We went by bus to Melaque to get some money and do some
exploring. The bus ride was pretty quick but I felt that the town did not offer
anything Barra couldn’t provide, except the bank. We don’t get pesos except from
ATMs located within a bank.
We got together with the cousins and a group of their
friends for the Super bowl at a local eatery “Ramon’s” It was a great time with
lots of food and fun. By the time we had done all the socializing this week we
are recognizing people as we walk thru town.
The one thing that I did not mention was the French Baker.
This is one of the funky things about Barra. The artisan baker bakes fresh
pastries early morning. He then delivers them to you boat by Panga. Early
morning you will hear a gentle bell ringing and a French accent announcing his
arrival. We have had chocolate croissants, Danish and special breads all
delivered directly to the boat. Each choice was equally wonderful. I wish all
marinas had a French baker.
Tomorrow we are going to leave for a few days and head to a
small cove south of Barra. We will return to Barra and anchor off until the 9th
or 10th. We need to pick up an antenna splitter for our XM radio from
another boater who has gone to San Diego Sea of Cortez
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| Talos IV at the Grand Bay Marina in Barra de Navidad. |
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| Yep, the marina fee included the use of the facilities and most importantly the pool. |
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| Ding, ding ... the French Baker had arrived with our morning croissants. |
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| We couldn't decide which we liked best between the chocolate croissants or these tasty little danish, so we had them both on alternating days. |
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| We found this Tostaderia or as we like to call it, a Chiparia where we bought fresh chips almost every day. |
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| The La Bruja coffee shop was one of our favorite hangs. We managed to score this table virtually each time we stopped for our espresso fix. |
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| This grand old tree marked one of the major intersections in Barra. It was simply known as the tree corner. |
Great story! I wonder when and where the first bell rang in a gulf. It'd be kind of interesting to hear the story about that. Thanks for sharing!
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