2006-01-17 19:45:04

Hola Amigos, The time just flies by while enjoying the Mexican Riviera. Since our last update about a month ago, Lois and I had the fortune to spend the Holidays with our cruising family in a couple of different places. For Christmas, we checked into the Grand Bay Hotel marina in Barra de Navidad. What a plush experience that was. We only stayed for four days as the slip rent is quite steep ($74.00per day) and that can quickly take a big bite out of the cruising kitty. But we sure did enjoy the hotel pools and restaurants. Gosh, we felt like we were on vacation. At that same time we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas pot luck dinner with about 50 or so other cruising friends at a hotel in Barra that let us use their pool side facilities. As usual the food was terrific as well as the chitchat among new and old friends. After leaving the marina, we motored into what is known as the lagoon at Barra. It’s simply that, one huge lagoon where average depth is only about 8-10feet. One has to be very cautious of where you go in the lagoon to keep from going aground. We timed our arrival and departure from the lagoon at high slack tide and didn’t have any problems. Not so fortunate for some of our friends who had to be helped off the bar. It’s a quite peaceful anchorage, protected from the ocean swells and waves. We did get some snooping done in the small town of Barra, but need to go back to do some more investigating when we head back north. For New Years Eve, we decided to revisit the beautiful hotel/resort of Las Hadas. It was a short 4 1/2 hour sail from Barra. We heard the fireworks display there and around the bay we pretty nice and we sure weren’t disappointed. At midnight they were exploding above us in the bay and we could also see displays along the entire coastline over to Manzanillo. It was just perfect. A great place to spend the opening of the New Year. As a side note here, on our trip from Barra to Las Hadas, we were trolling a line in the water in hopes of catching a Dorado to make some sushi and grilled steaks. Well, about half way to Las Hadas the line started peeling off with the screeching of the reel almost deafening. The zinging went on and on and I was having difficulty getting the rod out of the holder. We looked out over the stern and all of the sudden this huge sailfish jumped out of the water and was dancing on it’s tail across the surface. Its dorsal fin was fully opened and it’s colors bright with the fight. I looked at Lois and simply said Holy #@&%!!!. I was finally able to remove the pole from it’s holder on the arch and began the thirty minute fight to win back some of my line. By this time we had stopped the boat and the sailfish was successfully pulling our stern back and forth as it’s powerful swimming had the stout fishing pole bent over 90 degrees. Finally, I was able to get it within 10 feet of the boat, although it didn’t care much for being so close and again broke the surface of the water with a jump that fully exposed itself as it tried to shake loose its hold by the hook. Again, I looked at Lois in awe and asked her for the knife and proceeded to cut it loose to go back to the sea and grow from it’s 8 foot length to full adulthood. What an experience. By that point my hands and arms were shaking from fatigue and adrenalin and I found it hard to get the smile off my face. That was by far the biggest catch I have ever had and what a thrill. The sad news is that we didn’t have any sushi to share with our friends that night. A few days ago, we left the Las Hadas Resort/Hotel, and the pool side fountains and tropical drinks to move into the beautiful anchorage of Santiago Bay, a very short distance from the hotel but a long ways away in terms of surroundings and culture. We were the only boat here when we put our anchor down but as of last night there are 8 of us. The water is clear enough for me to see our anchor dig into the sand at 25 feet and it’s nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of water skiers and jet skiers of Las Hadas. This part of the bay has wonderful snorkeling with many different kinds of colorful coral and sea life. The sandy beach is dotted with palapa restaurants and places to sit and enjoy a cold beer. I’ll be cleaning the bottom of the boat here as the water conditions are perfect for that kind of maintenance. Already, we’ve finished reading a couple of books since we arrived here. Very peaceful….. I imagine in about a week we will move first to another cove around the corner to do some hunting and then head back up to Barra to refuel and reprovision some food and drinks. We also have a couple of other towns we need to take a bus to…just to check them out. We’re really enjoying the relaxing of this trip this season. We have decided to forego the festivities of SailFest this year in Zihuatanejo, and will call this our furthest southerly destination before we start heading back up into the Sea of Cortez for the summer. It was the summer of 2003 we were last there and we really want to do more exploring of the islands along the Baja side of the sea. We want to wish you all a great new year for 2006 and hope your dreams all come true. Take care of yourselves and please keep us in mind with a note once in a while to let us know of your adventures and how you are all doing. Fairwinds.
Love, Gary and Lois
S/V TEXAN
Lying: Bahia de Santiago, Mexico