Mexican Gold Coast

In late March, our friends Dave and Darlene Mecke arrived for our first trip south of Banderas Bay to the Mexican Gold Coast. We had spirited sailing to Ipala the first stop, where we remembered that it was Semana Sante (Holy Week) the biggest Mexican Holiday, and two different bands played most of the night. Next stop was Chamela where we stayed a couple of days and visited one of the islands in Chamela bay that is a national environmental site. Its also a great small beach for swimming. Once in Chamela, the rest of the anchorages on the Gold Coast are only a day sail apart. We went in to Careyes, the site of the first Club Med in Mexico, but we did not stop as the surge was pretty uncomfortable. Instead, we went another 10 miles to Tenacatita , which is famous for its jungle river. We took Dave and Darlene up the jungle river with it's low hanging mangroves and tropical birds. We docked the dingy and had lunch at a palapa restaurant on the beach overlooking the other anchorage in Tenacatita bay. This area has a supposedly good snorkeling area called the aquarium, although visibility was not that good on this day. We stayed another day in Tenacatita, walking to the resort hotel on the beach, before leaving for Barra de Navidad. We were able to sail most of the 20 miles to Barra. We went into the marina at Barra which is part of a spectacular 5 star hotel and resort. We met our friends Jerry and Sandy of Romancin' the Zeas, and they introduced us to the pleasures of mango margaritas. Barra is an interesting place. There is a large somewhat shallow lagoon where up to 100 cruisers can anchor, and an expensive marina (10 days cost the same as a month) attached to a great hotel with a large pool and private beach. The hotel never seemed to have that many guests. You reach the town of Barra de Navidad by water taxi from the hotel. There are a number of interesting restaurants in Barra which also is known for the surf break just outside the entrance to the marina. The French Baker delivers fresh baked pastries to the marina and the Lagoon each morning. We stayed for the month of April. Near the end of the month our fellow Cal owners Pinky and Danny Gardner arrived in Barra and we enjoyed playing tennis with them on palm tree shaded courts, overlooking the sea. The 4 of us left Barra and traveled back up the Gold Coast to Banderas Bay, after a mostly perfect first season for us. Dave Mecke remarked "this is the first boat I've been on where everything worked". We sailed back into BanderasBay with big smiles to be back in Paradise Marina.