After nine relaxing days at Tenacatita Bay, we were ready to move on. On January 27 we made the short trip down the coast to Barra de Navidad, where we had reserved a slip at the marina of the Grand Bay Hotel--a large and luxurious resort hotel with practically no guests. Visitors at the hotel's marina are allowed to make use of all the resort amenities, including several big swimming pools connected by water slides, free movies every night in a large theater, free yoga classes, water aerobics, and a weekly manager's reception with free food (elegant appetizers) and free drinks. After several weeks of anchoring out, we felt like we were in sailor's heaven.
The hotel is on the south side of a large lagoon that can be entered by passing over a shallow sand bar in a narrow entrance channel. On the north side of the channel is the town of Barra de Navidad (Barra for short), which is a tourist mecca full of good restaurants, craft stores, and small hotels, many with holistic, health-oriented themes. Here are shots of the Grand Bay Hotel from Barra; and from our dock.
The marina is full of mega-yachts, many with professional crews. Sabbatical is by far the smallest boat here. Many cruisers anchor in the large shallow lagoon behind the town of Barra (which can be seen in the photo to the left) because anchoring is free, while the marina slips are expensive (at least in the short term). But the marina offered a very good monthly rate--we found that staying an entire month cost no more than staying ten days. We were so impressed by the Grand Bay resort, that we decided to stay a month.
Life here has been nothing short of idyllic. Each morning, around 8:15 am, a French baker from Barra arrives at the dock in a small boat, delivering fresh baked goods, such as croissants, quiches, baguettes, and sweet rolls. That takes care of breakfast. We then go to the free yoga class, which runs from 9-10 am on a beach in front of the resort. Sara, the yoga instructor, is from Ashland, Oregon. We have become very friendly with her and her husband Colin, who is also a sailor. All the yoga is helping us become more flexible, both in body and mind. If yoga is akin to a religion, I'm becoming a convert. Here we are with Sara.
After yoga, I generally take my laptop and head for the pool outside the Presidential Suite on the tenth floor of the hotel. No one is staying in the Presidential Suite, nor in the nearby Governor's suite--but these suites share a beautiful swimming pool and jacuzzi with marvelous views of the lagoon and hills. Claudia likes to swim laps and read by the pool while I sit in a large covered patio and work on writing. projects. I call the patio my "office." Claudia and I are generally the only people there. It is like living in a gorgeous private villa--with a staff willing to bring food and drinks, supply fresh towels, and otherwise attend to any whim. I've been making good progress on a book project.
By late afternoon, when I'm tired of writing, we often go down to the lower pools, where our fellow cruisers like to hang out. It is a good time to have cocktails and trade stories. Jeff and Kathy from Stargazer (a Catalina 42 based at Cabrillo Marina in LA) have taught me to play bocce ball and a dominoes-like game called "Mexican train." Phil, from the other Sabbatical, and I have engaged in some empirical research to find the best way to make a cocktail with the frozen fresh mango puree available at the bar. This has required controlled tests in which mango and tequilla (mango margarita) went up against mango and rum (mango daiquiri). So far we favor the daiquiri, but I think additional experimental trials are needed to control for order effects.
There are many fun restaurants in the town of Barra. This is Sambuca, one of our favorites, which is built in a tree. Wytie Cable, the skipper of Reality Check, an Island Packet 420 from San Diego, introduced us to Veleros, a place with wonderful molcajetes. With the folks from Sabbatical Ninos, and from Old Moon, we also had a great dinner at a restaurant called Maya in the town of Melaque, just north of Barra. Maya is run by a foodie chef from Canada who also has a restaurant in the Gulf Islands. If all goes well, we may be able to visit that restaurant before this sabbatical is over.
Mardi Gras took place while we were here. In Barra there was a very amusing parade that we attended with our new friends John and Marianne from S/V Old Moon (a gorgeous Hylas 49 from Ventura Harbor). Below are some Mardi Gras parade pictures.
It was the only parade I've attended in which those parading by passed out free beer to bystanders--a very nice innovation (Rose Parade Committee, take note).
And one of the parade kings, Rey Momo, is the owner of a popular bar.
We later visited Rey Momo's place with Eric and Valerie Wagoner (shown here with Claudia), from Pacific Mystic yet another HaHa boat. They arrived in Barra with a broken boom and ripped mainsail, after an accidental jibe in heavy seas. Luckily, they were able to get everything repaired in Barra, so they could continue on their way to Panama, and ultimately Europe. They generously gave us a set of charts of the Pacific Northwest (where we are hoping to be this summer). In return, we took them out for molcajetes. We ended up at Rey Momo's on open mike night, where we heard a band called SoulFire Project do a set. The band is on its way to Peru (a trip designed, they say, to raise ecological consciousness and thereby save the planet). I didn't really feel cool enough to attend their performance--but we wished them well.
One of the nicest parts of Barra has been the opportunity to visit my cousin Laurie and her husband Chris (shown here). They have been coming to Barra every winter since 1978 and seem to know almost everyone who lives in town. Shortly after we arrived, they invited us to come have cocktails with them at their beach house and watch the sunset from their beach palapa. Unfortunately, it rained torrentially--Claudia and I showed up in foul weather gear from the boat--but we still had a great time. A couple of weeks later, we got back to their place later on an evening when the sun could actually be seen as it dipped beneath the sea to the west--although we did not detect the famous green flash that Laurie assures us can often be seen at sunset here.
Although we love staying at the Grand Bay, there are some problems with the marina. There are only three showers for the whole marina, and often only one of them has hot water. The showers are poorly designed so that they do not drain properly--leaving standing water in the bathrooms nearly all the time. There is a laundry facility, but the equipment is usually out of commission. We left our laundry with a lady who offered to do it for us. Later we saw our clothing draped all over the marina shrubbery to dry (because the dryer was broken). For a supposedly first-class facility, these were odd lapses. We understand that the marina is managed by a different group than the hotel, which may explain the contrast between the competence of the hotel staff and the hopelessness of the marina staff.
It is a mystery how the hotel manages to stay in business with so few guests. I estimate that the occupancy rate was 10% or less while we were there. Rumor has it that the hotel is owned by a wealthy Mexican family that can afford to take losses on a premier, signature property. Rumor also has it that the hotel books have consistently shown it to be fully occupied. There was much speculation (usually over margaritas) that the hotel might be used to launder money from (nod nod, wink wink) "other sources"--but who knows. The place is beautiful and deserves to be much more popular than it is, but I have been happy to enjoy it with so few other people around.
I will certainly miss the French baker, the yoga classes, the "office," and the great restaurants when we leave. We have decided to start heading back north soon so that we can work our way up into the Sea of Cortez in the Spring. At the end of May we have arranged to have our boat transported on a freighter from La Paz to Victoria, British Columbia, where our adventure will continue.
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