Barra de Navidad, Mexico

Posted 31 December 2010

We left La Cruz Tuesday morning 28 December for Barra de Navidad, which is about 130 nm south. Banderas Bay is a huge bay, it took us 5 hours motoring to reach the end of the bay and start heading south. We had light winds (8 to 10 knots) and decided that we will hoist the drifter. Dinis has been telling me for ages that sailing downwind with the drifter or the spinnaker the boat should be able to handle up to 15 knots for the drifter and about 12 knots with the spinnaker, but I am still a bit wary. This trip I am very proud of myself, we manage to sail with the drifter up to 18 knots before we took it down and I have to concur with Dinis that the ride was more comfortable the stronger the winds became, as the boat rolls much less. It only took me so long to become comfortable. Now the spinnaker is still on my wary list.

We arrived in Barra de Navidad midday Wednesday. The entrance to the bay is quite narrow, but well marked with red and green buoys. The canal to the anchorage is not marked and a person has to be careful as the canal runs between sandbars. We got all the way points and plotted our course and was doing well, except that we misjudge the dark green round buoys for the fuel dock. We should have kept the bouy on starboard side and ended up on the sand. Luckily not too bad and we manage to get ourselves off with the help of a fellow cruiser in his dinghy.

Barra de Navidad is surrounded by mangroves and has a jungle feeling to it. It is a beautiful setting with a small town and lots of touristy activities.

There is also a small village that we still want to explore and a big hotel. We will stay here until after New Year.

Happy New Year to all !!