Moving on we arrived at Barra de Navidad. This is a little country beach town with incredible history. The town is built on a sand bar. The sand bar is called Navidad (Christmas) due to historical events. On December 25, 1540 a rebellion in Western Mexico threatened to take the area away from Spain. On this day Spain gained controlled and hanged torched or beheaded thousands of Native people. I say very Christian like!
A generation later shipyards were built carrying back the gold and silver that was taken from the mines inland.
We anchored in the lagoon and were able to sea kayak around. The temps remained in the 90’s.
The pangas hum with activity within the lagoon ferrying people around. They would pick us up at our boat and take us into town. The return fare was 50 Pesos.
The fishermen were up bright and early fishing along side the boat. They would first throw a weight ahead of them, then followed the net into the water .The task to gather it back to their panga then commenced. I never saw any fish but there must have been. After thinking about the process, I believe they were catching bait fish for the larger fish out in the ocean.
The lagoon did have crocodiles so no toes or fingers went in the water around the mangroves. We never saw any just warned about them.
The Sands Hotel in Barra encourages cruisers to enjoy their facilities thus we has a swimming pool to our use. The cruisers got together for a jam session that lasted the whole day and night. It is amazing just how much talent there is in this community. Most of the band I say were from California and were in their 60’s. Needless to say we met many wonderful and new couples.
The decision was made to stay at a marina when the starter of the port engine would not start. If you have been following the blog this is the same starter that gave us the adventure at Punta Baja coming down the Baja coast. Ken got the right engine started then took the starter off it and placed it on the left engine. With both engines working we headed south to Manzanillo
We opted to stay at the Marina Las Hadas. It was the location of the very popular movie 10 with Bo Derreck in the 1980’s .
The marina does Med ties. Having never done a med tie we arrived at the fuel dock had Oscar jump on the boat and proceeded to learn how to Med Tie.
The bow line is attached to a central mooring in the darsena floor. (Like a spider web) You then stern tie to the docks that surround the darsena. It was explained to us that there is much less damage to a marina in hurricanes with Med Ties. It makes sense as there are pilings to deal with.
The old saying “It’s a small world” is very true within the cruising world.
Having arrived here we met up with Haida and Alert. Two boats we have been coming down the coast with.
Moored two boats down from us is another Canadian boat. The couple are from Olds Alberta and it turns out we know many of the same people. They invited us to friends that own a beautiful home over looking the bay. It turns out this couple we know from Delta Marina. They too were from Alberta and had their boat moored behind us at the Delta. They also know many people we know including my best friend and her husband. Lea and Terry. Two other gentlemen were in attendance and you guess it they know even more people we know. Everyone knew Wayne and Wendy as they were all Cattlemen. By the way, Wendy and Wayne. The couple on Alert knows you from travelling to Tahsis the first year you went. They were at the dock in San Jose del Cabo we just never really knew them yet.
Anyways, the starter is truly fixed and a new one is bought for the future as a spare.
We took the local bus into downtown Manzanillo. 5 pesos each.
Manzanillo is a very important port town. Large freighters come and go.
It is very interesting to see the different ways that people live. You have many living the way always has been then there are people living more the American way with shopping centers and fast food chains.
We will remain here for a few more days getting the boat cleaned up enjoying the facilities then continue south on our quest to see the Big Kid.
Hasta luego.