We are back at anchor at Barra de Navidad for a few days after departing Las Hadas this morning. We had Bert and Vicky Blattman aboard for the past few days, good friends from Victoria, who are holidaying in the town of Melaque. They joined us last Friday and left us after we anchored this afternoon. It was great seeing friends from home. Vicky and Bert had been aboard last year for a day-sail. This time they got to experience a few nights at sea, well, at anchor, at sea.... As we left the bay we were all treated to the sight of a mother and calf fin whale cavorting a few hundred feet for the boat.
On Saturday we had another of those strange phenomena that is making this season a memorable one. During the SSB morning net we learnt of the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami warning that had been issued as a result. The next few hours were spent informing all the other boats and ensuring that they were away from shallow water by the time the tsunami wave reached our location. Although it wasn’t expected to cause any problems no one wanted to tempt fate so all boats weighed anchor and headed for deep water. The predicted time of arrival of the wave was 1106. We got word at 1111 that the wave had passed us by and was only 0.2 of a foot, measured by one of the Mexican weather buoys offshore. When we got back to the anchorage it was more obvious that something had occurred. People ashore reported a period of low water (1-2 ft) and a small rise when it arrived but unusual currents were observed for several hours in the marina harbour. Another box to tick off on the boater’s list....
We weren’t able to see much of the Winter Olympics during the past 2 weeks but we were determined to see the last day’s events and closing ceremonies. We were fortunate to get access to a large screen TV with coverage in Spanish at a local restaurant. It wasn’t quite the same as the hockey play by play we are used to back home but the excitement was the same and with a good representation of both US and Canadian supporters we applauded the winners and raved at the success Canada earned overall. What a show the closing ceremonies were! It made us proud to be Canadians even though the beer was Corona.
We finished our 4th and last lesson in Spanish on Thursday. We’d like to think we have improved but only time and practice will tell. If nothing else these lessons made us realize a lot of bad habits and misuses of words and expressions.
While here we have taken the opportunity to revisit Colima, the state capital, and Comala close to the volcano. Four years ago we had done this on our own; this time we went with a tour guide (actually, the ex-husband of our Spanish teacher who is a taxi driver). It was well worth the extra few dollars. We saw many extras including an exotic fruit farm, brick factory, Mayan ruins and a very nice museum dedicated to the Mexican Artist, Hidalgo. While in Colima we saw the annual horse parade, a real treat, with dancing horses and every kind of livery.
The remainder of our time at Las Hadas was spent in an idyllic haze. We had full use of the resort’s superb pool and grounds, all for a paltry $30/week docking fee. We spent our time relaxing, swimming, chatting with newfound and old friends and wondering what we would do next week when this was all behind us. It was hard to bid farewell to the “gang”: Steve and Linda (Warren Peace, Whiterock) who have been there for the past month and plan on remaining for another few weeks, Pam and Steve (Full Quiver, San Francisco) arrived just a few days ago, Kristen and Ned (Bristol Blue, Seattle), who were with us previously in Barra, Hal and Cathy (Airborne, Vancouver) and many others too numerous to mention.
While there we also bid farewell to Christy and John (Indian Summer) who were headed South, We heard from them on the net this morning that they were departing Zihuatanejo for Huatuco in the next day or so.
Adios.
Las Hadas with Vicky and Bert
The Colima volcano and Mayan ruins
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