Tenacatita to Barra de Navidad

After our stop to snorkle at the Aquarium off Tenacatita beach we took the short 3 hr. sail to Barra. We got a slip in the Grand Isla Navidad Marina which is part of the Hotel. The slip is a little pricy but you benefit from all the amenities. Great pool, laundry, showers, a little store and they check-in with the port captain for you. The week we were there we, and the half dozen cruising boats were about the only folks at the pool. We met two kid boats. Bryan and Alisha on Jedi with their 2 kids, Henley and Eloise. Also Kyle and Kara on Mosaic with kids Bo and Nora. The kids were really happy for some new blood and Syd enjoyed hanging with her new posse. They always showed up at the boat to roust Syd from her usual noon wake-up which was great because we had no luck cutting into her 12-hour-long comas.

The town of Barra de Navidad is just across the lagoon accessible by water taxi 24/7 or dinghy. We hit town at least once or twice each day mostly for food, all of it yummy.

The view of the Marina and Dr. John from the hotel.

She loved this pool.

What do you do with all the plastic bottles? Decorate the town with them.

Awesome candied pecans at the farmers’ market.

We never left town without a stop at Trifty

Secret Beach

Syd and dad took off on the bike for an adventure to find the wreck of a giant ship that washed ashore during hurricane Patricia in 2005. That same hurricane had a direct hit on Barra and devastated the town. It was still in bad shape in 2016 last time we were here, but today, although there are still a lot of gutted buildings, it’s alive and well as you’ll see from our photos.

On our way to the wreck we stopped in a little town just south of the hotel and had a good lunch at Mary’s. We ate on their deck, a beautiful view overlooking the giant lagoon which contains the anchorage for Barra

. Getting lost after lunch we ended up at Playa Coco. The beach went on south as far as i could see. To the north cliffs ran down to the beach. But on this cliff was a stone stairway that was calling to us to explore.

Thought this was cool. The wave from the cave rolls over the beach to meet the wave on the beach.

Driftwood hideout

Ok maybe I’m the only one that thinks this rock is cool. Asbestos and Quartz.

Coati (coatimundi) we just refer to them as Mexican raccoons. As we were sleeping one night one of these critters crawled through one of our port lights and had a feast. He grabbed two loaves of bread(one of which was from the French Baker) took them out on the dock and devoured them. He then returned to the scene of the crime the next evening while we were getting tacos, opened one of the cupboards and took my candied pecans and Syds Halloween candy. From now on we tie the boat 6’ off the dock at night.

The Posse off to the pool.

The crews from Jedi, Mosaic and Dr. John grabbing dinner in Barra

Mom and Syd went on a walk one day and discovered an abandoned hotel that looked at first glance like it might just be another section of the place we were staying. It looked like one day the owners just walked away. Syd took her friends there later telling them she’d found a haunted hotel.

Bats!!

Emeric the French Baker. In the morning you can hear his bell ringing as he enters the marina on his panga filled with pastries, croissants, baguettes. Satisfying all your gluttonous glutinous cravings!

One day we took the dinghy to explore the mangroves and the lagoon. It was far more vast than I had imagined. We could have spent the whole day exploring, but alas the our El Pastorcita taco stand was calling.

The graveyard of abandoned boats tied up to a mangrove island in the lagoon.

These canals were developedfor the more privileged. Although the canal closest to the business area was full of Fishing pangas.