Lazing around in Barra de Navidad

Fran's kayaking birds - spoonbill and egret

Hurricane Jimena damage

0800, Wednesday, 18 Jan. Anchored in Barra de Navidad.
This is our last day in Barra de Navidad before we head south to the Manzanillo area. We have had a very nice few days with great company. Next to us are Third Day, Full and Bye, Windward Bound, Houligan, Rose of Erin and several other boats we have known for years. It was really nice to catch up with Rich, Lori and family on Third Day. We had been waiting for them for several weeks while they transited from La Paz. They passed through Tenecatita the night before we left but decided to carry on to Barra where they would have a better e-mail service, a must for Rich to keep up with his business interests.
It has been a nice lazy stay here in the lagoon. We got a few projects done, went in to the Sands Hotel every afternoon for a dip in the pool (nobody swims in the lagoon. It is filthy!), had dinner out a few nights and Rosie got her daily walk on the golf course. We have to pick either early or late walks because of the heat. We bring lots of water for her but she still lags behind
I am listening to the morning radio and hearing the location of other boats we know and to get the latest weather predictions. There has been some interesting traffic over the past few days. Warren peace and Optical illusion are in Acapulco already and will be leaving for Huatulco in the next few days. Optical Illusion had an interesting event on their way to Acapulco. They anchored in the small protected bay of Papanoa overnight on their way down. The following morning Amber, their cat, was acting strange and kept going back and forth to the bow as if trying to draw them there, Lassie style. When they looked where the cat was drawing them to they found a 4 ft boa. It was summarily thrown over the side. Shortly thereafter, Louis, on Cirque, came up and announced that he had just gone through a patch of ocean with numerous sea snakes on the surface. Fran was all up to cancel the remainder of the trip on hearing those reports. We will definitely devise some kind of guard on the anchor cable to prevent any such incursion.
Yesterday J-G renewed his acquaintance with Christophe and Marianne, 2 Swiss cruisers aboard Shamu who we had met in Manzanillo 2 years ago; in fact it was the morning of the Chilean tsunami. They are stranded in the Barra marina with engine problems. Their Swiss-built boat has a Spanish-made Mercedes engine and their injector pump is leaking badly. They are contemplating having to fly back to Europe to have it repaired.
1500, Thursday, 19 Jan, At Sea, entering Manzanillo Bay
We bid our farewells to everyone in Barra this morning and left for what is probably the last time. On our way out we stopped at the fuel dock and topped up gas tanks and water. The dock was busy this morning so that delayed our departure until about 11. So far it has been a nice motorboat ride down the coast. We have about 8 kt winds from the SE, right on the nose, as usual. We have already thrown back 3 Jack Crevalles and 3 Mexican Bonitos, both species inedible because of their dark flesh but they sure put up a hell of a fight. One of the hits was a double and caused some excitement. Needless to say Rosie went nuts as usual.
We will be arriving in Santiago Bay in a few hours and should be there until the weekend or longer. We’ll then move the anchorage off Las Hadas where we will have to pay for using the landing but that will also give us full access to the resort. We intend getting our money’s worth using the pool and other facilities.