Barra de Navidad

Barra de Navidad

We arrived in Barra in the afternoon on Wednesday the 17^th. We got a slip at the Grand Island Hotel and Marina. This place is like a dream! It has sort of a European feel to it.  A luxurious resort hotel & spa with lavish grounds, a beautifully tiled swimming pool with swim-up bar, small waterfall and water slides encompass the marina. When you dock here you get the use of the pool, restaurants and all of the other hotel amenities. Talk about your lifestyles of the rich and famous!! I definitely feel like I’m living the ‘life of Riley’ here!  And..it’s not overrun with people or boats!! The marina is very small compared to most places we have docked on our trip so far.

Sailing around the Grand Isla Hotel

Grand Isla Hotel beach

View from the marina looking at the hotel

There is a beautiful lagoon just on the other side of the marina where you can anchor as well. 

Sunrise on the Lagoon

After we got into our slip and plugged into the electricity, Rick, Harley and I walked up to what we thought was the marina office (inside the hotel lobby) to check in.  We soon were escorted out of the hotel and were told this was not the Marina Office and DOGS were not allowed on the premises. Bummer! We were a little embarrassed as we left the hotel and walked over to the Marina Office. The girl in the office was quite friendly and got us all squared away for a 5-night stay. We chose to stay 5 nights because the rate is a little cheaper than the daily rate.  Our bill came to .78 US per foot per day.  That’s pretty darn good considering all the marina has to offer.

After leaving the marina office and putting the dog back on the boat, we took a walk over to the pool area to grab a bite to eat! We were both starving for something delicious to eat because our provisions on the boat had been limited and dwindling since we left La Cruz!

Hotel lounge & bar

View of Marina from the hotel near the lobby

Lobby area of hotel

Pool at the hotel that we get to enjoy!

Rick and Ray checking out the property

At the pool

Rick and Ray

Poolside restaurant

As we were eating, along came our friend Ray and the friends he came to visit, Candace and Norm. We were so excited to see Ray! They all sat down and joined us at our table. It was fun to meet Candace and Norm and to catch up with Ray.

We left the pool and went our separate ways making plans to meet up tomorrow and take the Water Taxi into the town of Barra so that we could ‘check in’ with the Port Captain. The only way to get anywhere from the marina is by water taxi for a small fee of .30 pesos roundtrip.

Thursday morning we got up and met up with Ray and his friends. We took the water taxi into town and walked the streets of Barra. It’s such a cute little town! After checking in with the Port Captain we walked to the flea market and bought some fruits and veggies.

The French Baker who comes daily to the Marina with Croissants, Quiches, Tarts etc. He's quite popular!

As soon as we all got back from town, we put on our suits and all went to the swimming pool.  Poor Harley is not welcome at the pool so she had to stay on guard at the boat.

A cool fish that was swimming next to our boat

The pool was so refreshing! We swam and went down a couple of the waterslides (along with the kids).  After we got out of the pool and had lunch by the pool, I talked Rick into a game of Ping Pong, which is one of my favorite sports!  Last time we played was at our friend Jack and Brenda’s house in Sacramento where I got so into the game trying to retrieve a ball that I ended up tripping, falling down and spraining 3 toes and breaking 1. 

That night Candace made reservations at a German Restaurant in town that we all went to. The Calamari was delicious but the dinner was not so great…Smoked Pork Chop with Scalloped Potato’s & Sauerkraut. The Smoked Pork started off tasting ok, but a few bites later and I could hardly stomach it.

After dinner we walked down the street to a hotel that was playing music out by the pool/lobby. The music was pretty good and we stayed until the last song was over. While sitting at the table listening to music, a waitress came by offering beverages. Rick and I felt like a little cup of decaf and asked the waitress if they had any. She said, “yes, American Decaf”. Rick and I looked puzzled at one another then turned to the waitress and told her that would be fine. Next thing we know she comes out with two cups of hot water, two spoons and a little jar of Nestle freeze dried decaf coffee.  We both sort of chuckled, said “gracias” and mixed up a spoonful or two into our water and got it down. I added cream to mine to try to help the taste and Rick just drank his straight. He felt sick soon after and actually has been feeling sick ever since. (I don’t think he’s sick from the decaf but I think he’s sick from whatever’s been ailing him over the last several weeks).

Friday morning, Rick and I did a little clean up on the boat and took down our Yankee Sail and put up our Genoa Sail (getting ready for sailing South where the winds are little to none). In the afternoon, Ray stopped by and another fellow boater, Christain on SV Shawnigan, happened to stop by, who we knew when we had our Ericson docked in Sausalito a few years back. Christian, his wife and three children have been cruising for 6 months. We’ve been following their blog, A Family Afloat. It’s fun to be in the same place as they are and to see them in person. After a long visit, I got on my swimsuit and headed up to the pool. Rick stayed behind because he’s wasn’t feeling too good and he was nice and comfortable in the boat where it’s a little bit cooler with the fan’s blowing.

Later that day, I convinced Rick to take a walk with Harley and me just on the grounds along the water’s edge. We saw Ray walking into one of the abandoned buildings that got hit by the hurricane last year, so we went over there as well. As we all were exploring in and out of the building, bats started flying out of some of the dark rooms! I guess as we entered each abandoned room, we were disturbing the bats! We walked up a staircase and entered some other rooms where the ceilings were covered and stacked with bats! It was kind of scary but thrilling at the same time as hundreds of these bats would come flying out of the rooms towards us. One Bat flew right into Ray’s eye! But that didn’t stop us from exploring further.  Harley was exploring as well, running in and out of the rooms stirring up the bats.  It started to get dark so we headed back to our boats.

That night we got invited to go to an Italian Restaurant with “the gang”. Rick thought eating might help his situation so we accepted the invite and went into town for dinner. This place had the BEST pizza! I did not plan on eating pizza and ordered a Caesar Salad, but Rick was raving so much about his Pizza that I decided to have one piece. Well, that turned into three pieces! I left feeling super full and uncomfortable! Rick said he felt pretty good after the meal.

Taxi driver on the way to Barra

Norm with the water taxi driver

Candace and Norm on the left, Ray and Rick on the right

Me and Candace

Saturday morning, Candace, Norm and Ray were heading out of the marina on their sailboat, a Swan 43, to Tenacatita for the night then ending up in La Cruz. They will stay there a couple of nights, then Ray will get on a plane in PV and head back home to the Bay Area. So we said our goodbyes and went back to our boat. We put on our swimsuits, grabbed our backpack and took the Water Taxi to town. We got off the boat in town and decided to walk along the beach to Melaque, which is a two-mile walk to the other side of the Bay (Bahia Navidad). Two miles sounds like no big deal. Well, ordinarily it wouldn’t but the beach slopes steeply down to the water so it’s not an easy walk and your knees and your back, which start to hurt from the awkwardness of the angle you have to walk.  Harley had a ball and swam mostly the entire distance. Luckily by the time we got to Melaque the beach had flattened out and it was a more pleasant walk.  We stopped for a bite to eat at a little Palapa on the beach and then headed back to Barra.

Walking on the beach toward Melaque

Harley can't get enough water!

On the beach in Melaque (This guy definitely won't sink)

Having a bite to eat in Malaque

We thought we’d take the road back since our knees; ankles and backs were in pain from walking on the beach.  It was interesting to walk on the back roads looking at the little houses etc.  We saw several Pitbulls on our way, which were luckily attached to long ropes tied around a tree.  Most of the dogs that run freely in the streets are very lethargic and don’t really care if you are there or not. But the ones behind fences or tied up seem the most aggressive.  I’m not afraid they will come after me, I’m just afraid they will go after Harley, get into a scuff and then Harley ends up with some deadly wound or disease.

The streets of Melaque

Lagoon

We walked a long ways ‘till we came to the Lagoon.  There was no bridge to get across, so we had to back track to the beach and walk back to Barra on the beach. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but we did it. We took a small break from the walking and swam for a while, which was a lot of fun.

Once the beach ended, we walked up to the road and into town. We stopped off at a little stand where a local woman was selling homemade Tamale’s. We had heard of her and heard that she makes the best Tamale’s around. She sets up shop right next to a school, which consists of two small plastic tables, table clothes, three large pots and a few condiments for the tamales. Rick and I bought 4 tamales for only .40 pesos (total).  We had them wrapped up and took them back to the boat with us to have for dinner.

Back at the boat Rick fixed us each a plate of tamales, poured some green salsa on top that the women added to our bag and we immediately began eating. These tamales were the tastiest I have ever had! After a bite or two though, our mouths were on fire! The salsa we put on the tamales was incredibly hot! It almost took away from the taste of the tamale. 

This morning is Sunday, our last day at the marina, which I am kind of bummed about.  We have plans to go back into town again and to take a water taxi ride in some of the channels that we have not been down yet. And, we hope to find a doctor for Rick. But it being Sunday I’m not sure we’ll find one today.

FOUND a doctor! Rick and I went to town and went to a Farmacia. While I was inside I asked the clerk where the nearest doctor was. She pointed to a man inside the store. We walked over to him and asked if he was a doctor and he said he was, and then Rick told him all of his symptoms. The doctor concluded that Rick had a parasite and showed him a box of what he should take every four hours until the pack is gone. So for a doctor visit and the medication it only cost us about $4 US. Cheapest doctor visit around!

Rick is now taking the pills and I have thrown in my own two cents for a remedy and having him take two cloves of raw garlic a day.  I’m taking the garlic with him. Apparently these parasites can be passed on to everything that Rick touches.  And I’ve noticed that at times I have a mild version of what he has.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Hadas, Manzanillo. We will be meeting up with our friend Jeff who just anchored out there today. Then who knows where or when our next move is. I do know that this season we will not be going any further than Manzanillo. 

I will leave you with this Catch of the Day!