When we don't have a good picture to insert we fall back on a sunsetAfter pulling into the Barra de Navidad lagoon, we began to realize why we don’t particularly like this destination. In the first place we had to enter the lagoon very carefully, since we were at low tide and our GPS suddenly gave up the ghost as we approached the bay. On the GPS are the four carefully plotted waypoints that help boats to stay in the channel on the way into the lagoon. Why did we enter the lagoon at low tide with an inoperative GPS? The low tide lasted all day and we had entered the lagoon many times before with no difficulty.
We came in at a very low speed; so we could back out immediately if we happened to run aground on the mud here. Two boats had run aground in the two days before we got there, and managed to get off with the help of some dinghies and pangas. As mentioned earlier, we knew the channel even without the GPS navigational points, and we got ourselves anchored without any difficulty. The depth of the lagoon is normally only about 10’, which can get down to 8’ at low tide. Our boat’s draft is 6’ (that’s the depth of the boat that sticks under water), so we are within 2’ of the bottom at low tide.
Another problem with the Barra Lagoon is the muddy bottom. Normally we would put out about 70’ of anchor chain in 10’ of water to give us a very safe holding scope of 7:1. However, because the bottom is so muddy, everyone puts out at least 100’ of chain – we elect about 120’ – in order to stay firmly embedded in the bottom when very strong winds occasionally dominate the afternoons. The real fun is cleaning off the anchor chain when it’s time to bring it up. It takes us about 10 extra minutes to brush and wash down the chain as it is brought up. Thankfully we have a hose at the front that allows us to spray salt water directly onto the chain as it comes up.
The next afternoon a very strong wind came up, and it was necessary for us to triangulate our position against some fixed landmarks on shore to help us determine if our anchor happened to drag. Soon after the wind started, we heard an urgent message on the radio informing everyone that one of the catamarans was dragging its anchor. Sure enough we looked a couple of boats over and saw the catamaran sliding downwind with its anchor chain supposedly out. The power boat behind it started up its engine and moved out of the way. We jumped in our dinghy and went over to assist the catamaran with about five other cruisers.
This boat had failed to leave the key in the ignition and access to the windlass to handle the anchor. If they had left the boat properly set up we could have started up the engine to stop its backward momentum and then we could have let out additional scope on the anchor. Thankfully the boat stopped moving backwards as we got there, and we managed to find an anchor and some anchor line in an open compartment on the boat. Immediately we had about 5 different opinions of what to do, but ended up agreeing to take the new anchor out in a dinghy and drop it as far upwind as we could to make sure at least one of the anchors would continue to hold. The owner of the catamaran had a little work to do to bring up two anchors when he got back and re-anchored, but he was happy his boat hadn’t ended up in the mangroves at the side of the lagoon.
Another reason for not particularly liking the Barra de Navidad lagoon is the prevalence of filthy water, where human waste is dropped overboard by thoughtless cruisers as well as by the sewage system in town. There is no way I would swim in this water and I carefully wash off my kayak when I go out to get some exercise. This year the number of cruisers is about half of what it was last year, so the waste is diminished somewhat. It’s amazing to me that cruisers actually dump waste where fishermen fish, oystermen raise oysters, and kids swim from the beaches. We’ve heard of one cruiser who brags that he hasn’t got a holding tank onboard; so we anchor well away from him if we happen to be in the same anchorage.
What are the good points of this anchorage? There is the French baker who delivers fresh pastries and bread to your boat each morning, if you like. We also have two panga taxi services that will take us into town and bring us back after dark, which makes the nightlife more accessible than nearly any other place. Barra de Navidad has a number of very good restaurants and nightspots for those who can stay awake beyond 10PM. Barra also has a local store owner, Maria, who goes shopping in Guadalajara every week for the items we cruisers want and both resells them and delivers them to the boat. We also have a one-day turnaround on laundry that is convenient to Maria’s store. This is where we get same-day service in recharging our propane for cooking. The fuel dock is also convenient for both diesel for the engine and gasoline for the outboard motor.
When we arrived, we connected with Dave and Marsha from “Juniata,” who invited us to lunch with them and John and Sharon of “Sunbow.” We all met at Fortino’s palapa on the edge of the lagoon, where those two couples were picking up their laundry as part of the process. We had met both couples up in the Sea of Cortez on the 4th of July where we got together with about 40 cruisers in El Burro Cove for hotdogs and whatever everyone brought in addition. It was fun to renew the acquaintances we had made. Dave and Marsha are the cruisers whose close friends we happened to meet last summer at a remote campground (Sardine Lake) in the Sierras, where we were struck by how small the world really is.
Sheilagh - dressed for breakfast in the cockpit with the cereal bowl on her lap - hope it's not too cold where you happen to beDave came over the next day to assist Sheilagh in hoisting me to the top of the mast to repair a wind direction indicator that had been bent by the wind. I set up the block and tackle to use the windlass to hoist me up with Dave handling the line that does the actual hauling. Sheilagh manned the backup halyard, which would supposedly save me if the other halyard broke or slipped badly. Now that neither Sheilagh nor I carry life insurance on the other one, I am a bit more willing to put my life in danger with her around. Dave helped us jury rig a brace for the wind indicator and I got hauled back up to replace it. The way Dave let out the line on the way down allowed me to rappel down the mast as mountain climbers do. I’d almost get hauled up to the top to be able to come down that way anytime.
We had dinner at a new restaurant for us, Bananas, with John and Cathy of “Batu,” where we had the most delicious filet mignon we’ve had in Mexico. The restaurant overlooks the bay and the setting sun, but we were not able to see the “green flash” due to clouds on the horizon. We were so impressed with the restaurant that we took Ed and Cornelia (from “A Cappella”) there when they stopped by in a rental car from a trip back to the U.S. As you may have ascertained from previous blogs, Sheilagh and I are not particularly fond of fish, which makes us less than self-sufficient compared to other cruisers who crave it. We have yet to find plucked chickens or butchered cows floating by the boat, so we jump at the chance to eat good meat when we can.
A picture on a day where we could use the mainsail, the jib, and the staysail to actually sail here in Mexico - this picture is courtesy of Cornelia on "A Cappella" who was buddy-boating with us that dayToday, Friday, we were planning to move to another anchorage, when we decided that we should take a look at the “head” (toilet mechanism), which was starting to pump a bit oddly. Sheilagh long ago assumed the role of plumber in the family (normally a “blue” job in the cruising community – meaning men should be doing it – as opposed to “pink” jobs); so she told me to stand back, get out of her way, and hand her tools when she asked for them. She took the flushing mechanism completely apart and found the inside cylinder coated with calcium deposits caused by the mingling of urine and salt water. She replaced the entire mechanism with a replacement part and then took the old one apart and cleaned it. I kept out of her way and spent a lot of time congratulating her on the fine, fine job she was doing. That also cleared up a not-so-pleasant smell we had been experiencing for months and which we had concealed with deodorant sticks.
We decided to spend another night here and played a movie we had borrowed from another cruiser. The movie was a bit grainy and had no warning in the front threatening prison for daring to copy a movie. Then we noticed that there were shadow figures down in front finding their seats in the theater. At that point we knew we were watching a pirated copy of the movie, taken from a movie screen, and we immediately locked the boat up tight and pretended we weren’t home in case the FBI came looking for us. We escaped without jail time and will be passing the movie off to someone else to risk his or her freedom.
More later . . .
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