Tenecatita onward to Barra de Navidad Laguna

We left Tenecatita Thursday morning around 10 a.m., Feb. 3rd,  bound for Barra de Navidad, about 14 miles away by boat.  The winds were light and swell was running about 4'; but while we were motoring it  rolled us as we trundled along.  The wind filled in and it got a bit rougher, and eventually there were "sheep on the meadow" as we say, when we arrived at Barra around 2:00 p.m.  The entrance is tricky as it is quite shallow, curvy and the seas were entering with us, making it hard to steer.  There are way points given in our guide, and they were spot on as we arrived in the shallow lagoon without going aground as many others do.  Without the way points, one would definitely go off course and find the mud.  Our little anchor area had 2.6' of water under our keel at low tide, and that was the deeper area.  I hate to think if we had more than 6' of draft as do many boats.
   One of the lovely benefits of this anchorage is "El Horno Frances, or The French Baker" who brings fresh French pastries each morning by dinghy to all the yates in the area.  OK Monique, he is actually from Bordeaux, and does his best with what is available here, but it's not France.  The baguettes are delicious, and his Danish are wonderful, and his tarte du pomme is WAY better than the one that we attempted in Bar le Duc.  His will not be thrown into the river as ours was. :)
   We took the local bus into Melaque, the town across the bay, to see what it had to offer.  It was bustling with locals and tourists all shopping for the early bargains at the tiendas.  The Hawaii Store is a tienda that carries American foods, and we found some treasures to bring back to the boat, Kirkland tuna, Crackets ( just like Ritz), and some more wine.  We have discovered that this life of yachting is VERY social, and we are socializing daily either on our boat or someone elses.  This requires a never ending supply of wine, beer and appetizers or snack foods.  I haven't exactly been the most social person in the past, but now I am learning to be a more gracious hostess and attendee.  One never arrives without food and drink, and one always invites anyone in a dinghy over to chat.  Leif is quite the socialite, which I didn't know.


Frigate birds, waiting for dinner at the local fish pen.





Barra de Navidad, ocean, bay and town.  We watched the super bowl here in a local bar with other yates and locals.





View from the Grand Bay Hotel, towards our barco in the lagoon.



   Barra is a lush, green area, has more bugs than Tenecatita, and is overlooked by a beautiful hotel, The Grand Bay Hotel.  I felt a bit like the poor cousin as we motored by, but we are rich with experiences in our little barco.