Mexico Notes 1/08 #2

Image by Bob Hansen
Hey Gang,

Well, I'm still out sailing along. We've logged over 2000 miles at sea now. Here is a photo from my voyage. This one is from my stay in Bahia Careyes. I will share a few more pics of Bahia Tenacatita, and Bahia Navidad (where I presently am) at a later date. As usual I am meeting new friends and experiencing treasured memories that will last a lifetime.

Lets see, where should I start… Bahia Careyes is a small cove and extremely beautiful. The fishermen love this place. They come every morning to get bait. You can practically catch fish with your hands. All you have to do is look into the water and there are millions of fish. This cove has sharp rocky cliffs with multi-colored large villas on one side and a 5 star hotel on the other. Designers love this place. It has been featured in many books and magazines for it's luxury and beauty. It has an international reputation. I absolutely love the white sandy beaches. Swimming ashore is such a treat. I have enjoyed the beachs and sometimes I visit the hotel and grab a lounge chair and order a margarita. Then I relax like a rock star and enjoy the view! Pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself.

It was on to Bahia Tenacatita, this bay is about 4 miles wide from point to point. It’s a very peaceful place. I did a lot of swimming and running on the beach here. I also had a friendly dolphin join me almost every morning while I had my coffee. He would just swim around the boat and I would try to guess where he would come up to the surface next. There was a Friday night dingy raft up where everyone at anchorage shared stories. There was plenty of food and drinks to go around. People also exchanged books and reading material…great fun it was! Oh, and I almost forgot about the jungle dingy ride…very cool. They say, “dare r crocs in dem dare waters,” but we didn’t see any.

Then came Bahia Navidad…the main town is Barra. This is what people usually call the area. Most outsiders talk about the Grand Bay Hotel here. It is right across the channel from Barra and it’s considered the finest hotel in all of Mexico. It is very plush. It has it’s own marina, golf courses and probably anything else you may want. With all this said…we anchored in the lagoon just down from the hotel and I love it here! This lagoon is where they filmed the TV show “McHale’s Navy." As for Barra…it is a sleeper of sorts. If you want a town with character…this is the place. It’s peaceful, has great restaurants, a world class surfin’ beach, and fantastic people. The ocean is the life blood of this place and it’s very cool. I have also met some neat native people here that have been very kind to me. It’s refreshing to see how people in other places of this crazy world still live and love us travelin' folks. I find that…if I treat them well, (even though I don’t speak spanish) then I get treated well in return. It's really about loving life and respecting others!

My next stop will be in Manzanillo. This is a pretty good-sized town with a nice bay. This is the place where the movie “Ten” was filmed. I’ll let you know more about Manzanillo when I get there.

I hope each and every one of you is happy and healthy and I will continue to share my sailing adventures.

Seas the day,
Bob