SVSoulsticeAdventures: Barra de Navidad, Ensenada Carrizal and Manzanillo

Barra De Navidad, Ensenada Carrizal and Manzanillo

After we left Cuastecomate we made the very short move of 5 nm south to Barra. Barra de Navidad was a place we were excited to go to because we heard of a French Baker who delivers pastries directly to your boat. Yep, this is true and at 0900 we heard the dinging of his bell to announce his arrival every day except Monday and Tuesday, his days off. This gentleman has been providing this service for the last 10-12 years. We enjoyed multiple baked goods with my favorites being the almond croissant and the key lime tart. Stephen nominates the jalapeño cheesy bread as his favorite.

We did stay in the marina here as we had been on the hook for a month and needed to give Soulstice a bath. She needed a fresh water rinse and we were going to use the marina water to fill our tanks. We have a water filter/disinfection system that has 2 filters and a UV component to give us potable water. When we arrived in the marina we were greeted by Angie and Mike on SV Madrone. They took us to the BEST al pastor taco place so far. 2nd best is in Ensenada right now for me. They also talked about how pleased they were about getting their stainless steel cleaned and their boat waxed here. We knew of 2 other boats who had this done in La Cruz and we were very impressed with the results. We decided to sign Soulstice up for a spa day! She would get a stainless steel cleaning, wax and buff and bottom job. Stephen and I usually do all these chores including cleaning the bottom but as I mentioned the water clarity in Tenacatita was not great. Regarding the bottom cleaning, it is usually charged as $1/per foot, so it is very reasonable. After seeing Madrone’s boat and remembering the other boats, we hired Pancho. Pancho and his team did a fabulous job and in a time frame, we never could have met. It took one day and that was it! It feels good to see your home clean and check those chores off our list.

Our marina stay was also enhanced with great neighbors, Paul, and Debbie on SV Three Quarter Time. They have an 8-year-old dog named Sydney who has his own Instagram: Sydneyvboatdog. Check it out. Also for another pet Instagram check out monkeysailor ( SV Jeanne Anne cat’s Instagram). We had many curbside conversations with either coffee in hand in the morning or a beer in the evening. They are heading north after Barra so we hope to catch up with them up down the road. Barra was a turning point for many cruisers, this was as far down the coast they were going or some were heading on farther south even to Central America. Some were biding their time before they were doing the Puddle Jump as well. We eventually had this separation with many other boats too, including SV Luego and SV Arctos who showed up midweek of our stay and they were turning north after Barra.

During our time there, it was also the week of a community festival sponsored by cruisers. Cruisers got to together to paint the walls of an elementary school as well as to fundraise money for a new roof. Locals paid 500$ pesos/pp to get a day cruise on a cruiser’s sailboat and the $ went to the school. One night in town there was a food/craft/dance event in the town square. The kids had multiple dance acts and very elaborate costumes. One little girl looked so beautiful I asked her mom if I could take her picture and she agreed ( look below at pics).

Barra is very quaint and one of my favorite cruiser stops so far! It has nothing to do with the water or sailing but with laundry on site, pastries every am delivered directly to me, the ability to run ( a hill - my fav) everyday, 2 pools less than 100 yards away with cool water slides, a water taxi available 24/7 back and forth from the marina and Barra and delicious food places at very reasonable prices- 5 Five 5 Five…did I say Ffffiiiiiivvve al pastor tacos for 65 pesos ($3.36) folks! Oh, and the water taxi will pick you up in the anchorage as well and the French baker delivers to the anchorage folks too. ‘Nuff said!

I think I mentioned in our last post I met up with a previous co-worker from Carson Tahoe. Sharon Brown, Hospice RN turned Hospice APRN contacted me when she was in Manzanilla with her husband. They were having a 2-week stay and having been taking holiday in Mexico for years. Anyway, we had dinner one night with her and husband Chuck and we invited them out for a day sail. Chuck, unfortunately, was sick but Sharon came out for the day and we had a blast. It was great sailing and fun to see her again. It is exciting to see someone enjoy a spot they know so well but from a different perspective. She has moved to Anacortes now and we wish her and Chuck well with their move and new endeavors in the Northwest. The Northwest is alluring no doubt.

After a great week in Barra we decided to move on. We had gone back and forth about going to Zihuatanejo and the guitar festival the first week of March. We decided to go for it as I was thinking maybe we would not go that far down the coast if we were going to do the Puddle Jump next year. Who knows but down the coast we went. We decided to head 20 nm down the coast to a more isolated anchorage with no services called Ensenada Carrizal. As we were leaving the anchorage in Barra ( we anchored out our last night) we had Cat2Fold, Heidy and Brian, heading out too and they met up with us in Ensenada Carrizal. Heidy and Brian came over for dinner and we played cribbage. Heidy actually caught us dinner with our Hawaiian sling. She speared 3 fish - don’t know what they were but they filled our bellies and we were grateful this badass chick caught us dinner.

After Ensenada Carrizal, we headed to Manzanillo. We went to the fuel dock, got diesel and gasoline. We then went into the anchorage. It was empty! Only one other sailboat, so very bizarre. We spent just the afternoon and night there. We deflated our dinghy and got her ready for the 200 nm passage south and the paddle boards were already put away. We wanted some dinner and decided to swim into shore for dinner. That’s what happens when your dinghy is put away and no paddleboards. So we swim into shore with dry bags, change into other clothes, have dinner and then Yes put back on our wet bathing suits to swim back to the boat after dinner. The great thing about Mexico at this latitude is that the water is warm no matter what time of day.

The next morning we left for Zihuatanejo! We got sails up pretty soon and were on a close reach going 5-7 knots. Yahoo!! And we caught a tuna on the hand lines right away too - we purposely sailed through a bait ball we spotted. We don’t want tuna so we threw him back. We want dorado or they are going back. Picky yes! We saw a lot of sea turtles, tankers and fishing lines. We actually got caught in a fishing line after missing 2 others. Luckily we were able to cut the line from the transom- phheeww! We have a prop cutter but I did not want to see if it really worked and was happier with this easier solution. Tankers and Cargo ships were everywhere as Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas are major Mexican ports.

We arrived at Z’town approximately sunset after about 36-hour journey. Time for guitar fest!
Look at the radar screen pic below to see all the radar hits from all the other boats in the anchorage…
Hasta Luego

Got to start with a sunrise for the pics!

Stephen refilling fuel tank with 5 gallon diesel jugs. We have 4 jerry cans and a tank that holds 46 gallons. We try to keep her more than 1/2 filled at all times to avoid condensation ( aka water in diesel =BAD) and so we don't churn up too much sediment on the bottom in a more concentrated matter. Yanmar just turned over 5000 hours so trying to keep her happy!

Hand lines are out! we caught one tuna right after leaving Barra but then 0!! no dorado no nothin'! Dang it.

Apple cinnamon pancakes for breaky- a little crispy on edges due to hot pan and butter :)

Tanker traffic by Lazaro Cardenas - LOTS of it by Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas

Sunrise on 2nd morning on way to Z'town

all the radar hits from boats in the anchorage at Zihuatanejo- yikes!

Restauraant/ Palapa in Barra - view from water taxi ride

Small beach area at resort (Grand Bay Resort) in Barra de Navidad where we stayed in marina there

The Grand Bay Resort in Barra

A home we were oggling street side and got invited for a personal tour inside. We thought cute little home and liked the thatched roof/palapa deck on the roof

When you walked into the home you walked into the kitchen but then after this it was open ceiling with the pool and the bedrooms were on the circumference of the pool. The house had amazing tile and woodwork throughout- of course no pictures to honor that but trust me...

Lovely Sharon Brown, former Hospice RN turned Hospice APRN and recently moved to Anacortes from Reno. We wish her and husband Chuck well in their endeavors!

Barra de Navidad anchorage or aka the Lagoon it is called. No crocs in there but they are around supposedly.

Another pic of Barra from elevation. There was road next to the hotel that peaked on a hill and then went back down to a "secret beach" on the right and a golf course on the left. I liked to run this road in the am.

So not my pic- stole from cruising guide but wanted you see the gorgeous marina and hotel. We were on the dock on the right G 10. Laundry right here, pool no more than 100 yards away, showers, beach - aaahh! water taxi, french baker... al pastor tacos sooo close by - we really liked Barra!

Crocodile pic courtesy of Sharon Brown who captured this while at breakfast in Manzanilla! There is a crocodile reserve there.

ooooohhhh!!! Jenny is happy! muy feliz! Quiche, chocolate pan, almond croissant, key lime tart, jalapeno cheesy bread -aahhh!

Another up on the road shot of Barra

Pic of the secret beach in Barra we walked to

Beach next to secret beach in Barra - NASTY shore break here - can't tell but definitely not nice with warning signs posted.

Al pastor in Barra - yummy - ate here 3 times!

Check out the clouds!!! This is beach on Melaque adjacent to Barra

This is on the resort property in Barra- lots of prayers happening here.

Soulstice spa day! Stainless steel, wax/buff, and bottom cleaning! Thank you Pancho and your team! I did get them all chocolate pan from the French Baker that morning.

Cool lighting one am in marina

Gorgeous little girl in the festival in Barra. She looked so pretty and I asked her mom if it was ok to take her picture. Paul and Debbie from SV Three Quarter Time behind here.