January 19, We raise anchor in Tenacatita at 9am heading for Barra De Navidad. We only have a short distance to go, about 15 miles. We motor the whole way as there is little wind. I set out our fishing lines with pinky squid and bluey squid with no luck. We see whales spouting and swimming close by. We also see another sea turtle. There are 55 species of sea turtles along this coast. The green sea turtle, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead and the olive ridley. These ancient creatures spend nearly their entire life in the water and can life up to 80 years. Adult leatherbacks are the largest ranging in size from 4 to 6 feet long and weighting from 400 to 1,100 lbs. I do not think this is what we saw. I think we saw a green.
We also pass through a small cove with the most brightly painted houses that cantaleaver (spelling??) out from the cliffs, they are beautiful.
The anchorage for Barra is in a lagoon. To enter the lagoon you first enter into a narrow channel. We have a good guide "Pacific Mexico a Cruiser's Guidebook" by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. In this book they lay out the waypoints to safely enter the lagoon. Once there there is good but shallow anchorage.
The best way to get to Barra Navidad from your boat is to call a water taxi. These pangas come and get you for 25 pesos each, round trip. We head into town to explore and eat. Barra Navidad is a small fishing and tourest town with both gringo and mexican vacationeers. We find a great bar, Pipers-Lover for music and drinks. Luckly the pangas run 24 hours, just flick the light switch on the dock to signal the driver.
We say goodby to Al and Barb here. Mel and I stay for 6 days.
We were lucky to be here during a fishing tournament. On the last day we sat at the head of the channel and watched the boats come in with their catches tied to the swim steps of their boats. There were Dorado's and Marlins (see pictures) Iguess the boat with the most fish over the 3 days wins.
One of the requirements when you are cruising in Mexico is to check your boat in with the Port Captain if there is one in your location. The thing is, they are never near the water. We located the Port Capt. here by asking; first a taxi driver (the directions were in Spainsh so we got little from that) then we asked a gringo who lived there. He had us go through two vacant lots, down a small cobble stone street, and another block. We found it at 3pm, they close at 2:30. At least we now know where it is, so we check in 2 days later.
In the lagoon we get some much needed cleaning projects done. In the evening we sit in the cockpit and watch the fishing boats fish with their nets. Usually this is with a small row boat and a man, he rows in a circle playing out his net. Then he stands and slowly pulls it back in. The fish are caught by their gills, he carefully removes the small fish and drops it into a bucket. He then rows to a new location and repeats the process. While we watched I only saw them get one or two small fish each time. Looks like a hard way to make a living.
Our next destination is Manzanillo. A large city and port. Here we will be able to provision, and hopefully find some boat parts that we need.
We also pass through a small cove with the most brightly painted houses that cantaleaver (spelling??) out from the cliffs, they are beautiful.
The anchorage for Barra is in a lagoon. To enter the lagoon you first enter into a narrow channel. We have a good guide "Pacific Mexico a Cruiser's Guidebook" by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. In this book they lay out the waypoints to safely enter the lagoon. Once there there is good but shallow anchorage.
The best way to get to Barra Navidad from your boat is to call a water taxi. These pangas come and get you for 25 pesos each, round trip. We head into town to explore and eat. Barra Navidad is a small fishing and tourest town with both gringo and mexican vacationeers. We find a great bar, Pipers-Lover for music and drinks. Luckly the pangas run 24 hours, just flick the light switch on the dock to signal the driver.
We say goodby to Al and Barb here. Mel and I stay for 6 days.
We were lucky to be here during a fishing tournament. On the last day we sat at the head of the channel and watched the boats come in with their catches tied to the swim steps of their boats. There were Dorado's and Marlins (see pictures) Iguess the boat with the most fish over the 3 days wins.
One of the requirements when you are cruising in Mexico is to check your boat in with the Port Captain if there is one in your location. The thing is, they are never near the water. We located the Port Capt. here by asking; first a taxi driver (the directions were in Spainsh so we got little from that) then we asked a gringo who lived there. He had us go through two vacant lots, down a small cobble stone street, and another block. We found it at 3pm, they close at 2:30. At least we now know where it is, so we check in 2 days later.
In the lagoon we get some much needed cleaning projects done. In the evening we sit in the cockpit and watch the fishing boats fish with their nets. Usually this is with a small row boat and a man, he rows in a circle playing out his net. Then he stands and slowly pulls it back in. The fish are caught by their gills, he carefully removes the small fish and drops it into a bucket. He then rows to a new location and repeats the process. While we watched I only saw them get one or two small fish each time. Looks like a hard way to make a living.
Our next destination is Manzanillo. A large city and port. Here we will be able to provision, and hopefully find some boat parts that we need.
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