Barra Bound

Our 12 days on the hook had come to an end and before we knew it we were marina bound again. Much like our time in Puerto Vallarta the marina at Barra de Navidad too served it's purpose. We would use it as our base to fly out of to return to San Diego for Jeff's dad's 89th birthday, Jeff's son's 31st birthday and Thanksgiving. It was November 14th 2023 and our cruise over from Tenacatita was a short uneventful stint. The dolphins were on the bow again saying goodbye as we departed and by 10:00a.m. three men were helping us get tied up in our slip in Barra. Even though I wasn't thrilled to be in a marina again so soon I was going to enjoy being plugged in and blasting a.c. 24/7. The temps and the humidity remain in the 80s making things at anchor very hot. After checking in with the marina office we took the water taxi across the bay to Barra de Navidad (the marina is in Isla Navidad) and walked to the port captains office to check in. It was a hot and miserable walk and we both were soaked from head to toe. Our check in was short and sweet and on our way back to the water taxi Jeff spotted a restaurant on the water called El Manglito where the view overlooked the bay and the timing was right. Jeff ordered fish and after some discussion with the waitress I got the veggie molcajeta- a steaming hot pot of veggies in this amazing green sauce. Not exactly cooling and as the steam rose into my face I felt like I was getting a facial and started sweating all over again. But it was excellent and well worth the extra sweat. The water taxi returned us to the boat and we explored the marina a little checking out the pool and bars and restaurants and picking up our official Panama Posse 2023 flag. 

Cruising into Barra

Stern View of Marina and Resort 

Water Taxi Ride

Streets of Barra de Navidad

Lunch at El Manglito

View from restaurant 

Famous Barra Sign 

Resort

Walk Around Resort

Pool 

Marina

Looking Over to Barra 

Official Panama Posse Flag

The next two days we enjoyed sleeping in and getting everything handled around the boat. The constant a.c. felt amazing and the next morning we would leave for San Diego. 

We spent a week (November 17-24) in San Diego and had a good time celebrating the birthdays and catching up with everyone. 

Thanksgiving

We were both more then happy to get back to the boat, the water and calm and quiet of the marina.  I immediately put up our Christmas tree. We took a nice long walk around the neighbourhood of the property and found our friends on Long Windid here and said hello to them. The next day was football Sunday which means p.j's and very little movement. It was a nice way to enjoy being back on the boat. 

Walking Around Resort Property 

Christmas Tree on Board

Remember the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles? This day felt a lot like that. We wanted to check out the neighbouring town called Malaque and get some much needed produce. So we called the water taxi which took us over to Barra. From there we walked to the bus stop which took us through a couple of neighboring towns before leaving us in Malaque. We strolled around a bit checking out the town before having lunch at Ana's. A woman on the street recommended we go and the food was good. I had chilaquiles and Jeff had fish. We strolled a little more before making our way to Super Hawaii market where we loaded up with lots of fresh produce. From there it was a land taxi to the water taxi to the boat. 

 

Bus Ride to Malaque

Lunch at Ana's in Malaque 

Beach at Malaque

Streets of Malaque

Downtown Malaque

Great White Egret on our Dock

The next day we made a plan to have dinner with our friends Dan & Marla on Long Windid in Barra. They knew a place and we were looking forward to catching up. Then their friends from Voyager came to the marina that day due to a problem with their windless so they too joined us. It was great hanging out with friends new and old and talking shop. Dinner was good too. 

One of the highlights in Barra other then the town itself is cruising down the canals on your dingy so we woke up and that's what we did. Luckily nobody is in the slip next to us so we have lots of room to lower the dingy. I had a much different idea of the canals then what they actually were. First I thought there would be some depth but it was under 6 feet the entire time which made me very nervous. My eyes were glued to the Garmin the entire ride and at one point we found the bottom. It's all sand so no harm done. We went up and down the isles lined with homes then explored the anchorage. It was nice to be on a boat ride again. 

Dingy Ride to Canals 

Sunk Boat

Heading into the Canals

Pangas Galore 

Dingy Ride

Interestingly enough the marina here in Barra has no pump-out facilities nor is their water potable so the next day we threw lines and made our way to a nearby anchorage called Cuestecomate in order to make water and pump the head. It's a short 5.7 mile ride and as we got further and further from the marina the water was clearer and clearer. We made water the entire ride there for two hours while anchored and a lot of the way back before pumping out. I guess we were quite low. The anchorage itself was pretty- green lush mountain lined but somewhat rolly. One other boat was anchored here and since the water maker was running that meant we could have a.c. too. Bonus. We had lunch and enjoyed being away from the dock before making our way back.As we pulled back into our slip another boater was shouting, "Tidings of Joy, Tidings of Joy!" When I spoke to him he told me about a weekly happy hour here at the marina and invited us to come up to the grassy area and join everyone. Once settled we poured yeti's full of wine and made our way up. All the permanent live-a-boards and lots of the workers were all there and having fun. It was nice they included us. After Jeff decided he wanted to go out for dinner so we called the water taxi and this time headed opposite Barra to a little town called Colimilla where we had dinner at Fortino's - a family run restaurant right on the water. Everyone was very nice and welcoming and the food was good. After we finished and mid water taxi ride back to the boat we decided to check out the hotel bar which always looked so pretty. Tonight they had a singer and he was really charming and had a good voice. It was a really fun night. 

Cuestecomate Anchorage 

Happy Hour at Marina 

Dinner at Fortino's

Water Taxi

Fortino's From the Water

Hotel Bar

Enjoying the Singer 

The next night we had a plan with Long Windid to have dinner in Barra at a place called Tom's Treehouse we all wanted to try. It's a restaurant nestled in the trees with a magical feel like you're actually in a treehouse. Dinner and friends were both great. 

Entrance to Tom's Treehouse

With Long Windid - Dan & Marla

Marina & Resort From Barra

You may be wondering why we are sitting in Barra so long and especially after being stuck in Puerta Vallarta for so long. It's because in a few days there is a big Panama Posse Kickoff Rally which we want to be apart of. It's Thursday thru Monday and it's seminars and parties and potlucks and just meeting a lot of other fellow Posse people which will be a lot of fun. We are both looking forward to that a lot.