We are safe and sound in Barra De Navidad which is just north of Manzanillo. We are located at 19.11 N and 104.40 W. We had a quiet mostly windless passage from Mazatlan. We did 2 overnighters, one from Mazatlan to a spot halfway. There we went ashore and had a nice dinner with 2 other couples that we had never met before and then slept the night away. I truly felt like we were cruising as we sat on the beach about 30 feet from the shore listening to the crashing waves, watching the sunset and drinking Margaritas. We left early next morning and motor sailed for 31 hours to get to Barra. It is hot and humid here and we are both sweating freely and working on our tans, it is too hot to wear anything besides a bathing suit.
Barra is a lagoon, the water is unswimmable and a dirty brown in colour, also it is very shallow. There is a very narrow entry that is about 500 meters long, if you get either side of the channel you hit bottom. Last year when we came in, we followed line of sight directions, lining up some palm trees and a roof top. This year we followed very explicit GPS way points and we went aground twice while entering the channel. We had entered at a very low tide and once we got into the mooring field the depth finder was reading 2.1 and 1.7 feet below the keel, scary. Then we anchored and figured we were too close to someone so pulled up the anchor and dropped it a little further back and we ran aground again. We moved to an open spot and ran aground for the 4th time in one day. Enough was enough, so we managed to find a slightly deeper spot and dropped anchor and stayed put. Each time we ran aground we had been going so slowly we were able to gun the motor and get the keel out of the mud and move in a different direction. Thank goodness, what a fiasco, 4 times.
Mungo is here, their daughter Katherine arrives on a plane today. Shared Dreams, another Bluewater boat with Frank and Gisela and their daughter Janine is here as well. We had dinner aboard Mungo last night, it was great to meet up with them again and exchange stories about what has happened to us since we left San Carlos. We plan to stay here until Christmas Day and then we will go to Manzanillo. Hopefully, Mungo and Shared Dreams will be able to have a Christmas breakfast with us. Bruce and Marg and their family will arrive in the late afternoon in Manzanillo so we will go and spend some time with them.
Barra is a lagoon, the water is unswimmable and a dirty brown in colour, also it is very shallow. There is a very narrow entry that is about 500 meters long, if you get either side of the channel you hit bottom. Last year when we came in, we followed line of sight directions, lining up some palm trees and a roof top. This year we followed very explicit GPS way points and we went aground twice while entering the channel. We had entered at a very low tide and once we got into the mooring field the depth finder was reading 2.1 and 1.7 feet below the keel, scary. Then we anchored and figured we were too close to someone so pulled up the anchor and dropped it a little further back and we ran aground again. We moved to an open spot and ran aground for the 4th time in one day. Enough was enough, so we managed to find a slightly deeper spot and dropped anchor and stayed put. Each time we ran aground we had been going so slowly we were able to gun the motor and get the keel out of the mud and move in a different direction. Thank goodness, what a fiasco, 4 times.
Mungo is here, their daughter Katherine arrives on a plane today. Shared Dreams, another Bluewater boat with Frank and Gisela and their daughter Janine is here as well. We had dinner aboard Mungo last night, it was great to meet up with them again and exchange stories about what has happened to us since we left San Carlos. We plan to stay here until Christmas Day and then we will go to Manzanillo. Hopefully, Mungo and Shared Dreams will be able to have a Christmas breakfast with us. Bruce and Marg and their family will arrive in the late afternoon in Manzanillo so we will go and spend some time with them.
