We spent a couple days in the anchorage of Tenacatita, a short hop from Barra. It has a really cool mangrove adventure. At the corner of the beach behind some rocks is a small river (Estero Verde, parallels the beach) flowing into the bay (La Vena in the map photo). We dragged the dinghy across the shallow beach and against the ripping tide for a good 75 yards, not easy by any means, but then we were able to motor the next 2 1/2 miles through a mangrove channel, about half of which reaches over and encloses you in a tunnel (ending behind Playa Tenacatita – at the left of the map). Really great, peaceful trip. Lots of birds, fish and red crabs. Saw one baby crocodile. Opens into a large lake on the Tenacatita end where we stopped for beer before turning around. Took about three hours.
We are now anchored in the lagoon in Barra de Navidad. Yesterday was Saint Patricks day so pretty much everyone went into the little nearby town of San Patricio where there has been a week or more of festivities. They are not celebrating the Saint Patrick’s day that we think of but rather the predominantly Irish battalion that came to Mexico, from the U.S., to help them fight against the Americans in the Mexican American war in the 1840s!
The festivities were centered around the town square with a large section of carnival games and rides and then the plaza had three separate bands that mostly played one at a time until the fireworks started – when they all competed with each other. Was good traditional Mexican music so not at all unpleasant. A very family oriented event with lots of gringos mixed in. We had dinner with our friends from SV Liahona outside at a restaurant along the parade route and then moved to outside bar tables for the fireworks. Parade began with six truckloads of military and police in full ninja battle dress followed by at least 100 mounted horses in traditional Mexican attire. (There are now three days of rodeo festivities going on.) The many huge fireworks displays were centered in front of the church with large structures that were lit and proceeded to spin and rotate and haphazardly misfire – launching rockets into buildings and the crowd! Several rockets came right over the crowd with one coming straight toward us causing all of us to duck in a wave! Was a most interesting and exciting event for sure! They even had fireworks that went up the brick bell tower of the church and then, at the end, the traditional fireworks in the sky were launched from right in front of the crowd and exploded directly overhead! Something we have never ever experienced. The view from underneath is quite something and the booms are exceptionally loud. Friends from Shoreline Yacht Club had warned us to bring metal shields/trash can lids and that is not at all an unrealistic thought, LOL! Fortunately, the water taxi runs 24 hours a day as we did not get back until 0130. We all agreed it was probably the best event any of us have done here in Mexico.
Getting into the lagoon here is quite a challenge as the maximum depth is only about 10 feet at high tide. Friends of ours ran aground for a couple of hours on a sandbar getting in here the day before we arrived. Just driving over to the marina I hit the sandbar in our dinghy! The marina is part of the Grand Isla Navidad resort complex which is magnificent. One of the best things about this area is that six days a week “el horno Frances” (the French baker) comes by in the morning in a panga and sells fresh pastries, coffee, and wine to all of the boats in the marina and lagoon! He has a wide selection and it has all been excellent.
What do you think the lifespan is of that battery in the last picture? Below is a little late night zoomies fun with Bella, a daily occurrence.
