There are several anchorages south of Barra that are a quick day sail, as well as the port in Manzanillo. We headed for Carrizal, Santiago Bay and Manzanillo Bay; all approximately 20-25 nautical miles from Barra.
Carrizal is a unique stop as it is untouched from development and has a live coral reef for snorkeling. The anchorage is small and had too many boats when we passed so we did not stop. We moved further into the bay and set anchor in Santiago Bay. Jim jumped in for a swim and was stung by a jelly fish around his stomach and sides. We picked the tentacles off his swim trunks and sprayed his belly with white vinegar to relieve the sting. The lengthy beach inside the bay is full of palapa restaurants on the north end, a community of high end homes in the center and more palapa restaurants to the south. We walked Club Santiago, the community behind the beach, and the highway through town. We took a dingy ride to explore the lagoon area behind the bay and had a delicious lunch with Brian and Joanna at Oasis restaurant; which offers a variety of Asian-Mexican fusion dishes and a nice change to shake up our on-shore meals. Earlier that day while Brian was in the water cleaning the hull of their boat a tiny crab swam into his ear! Brian tells the story much better, maybe you can imagine the fluttering sound effects, and luckily he was able to drive the crab out without issue using a qtip, some alcohol and a few shakes of his head [edit: the crab was released back into the ocean, unharmed].
After two days in Santiago we moved over to Manzanillo Bay and anchored off Las Hadas. What a place! The hillside hotel, Las Hadas by Brisa, and the condominiums around the point looked like we had been transported to the Mediterranean. There is an interesting article from 1984 about the history of the Las Hadas property in the New York Times here…https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/09/travel/mexicos-rivierastyle-resort.html.
From Las Hadas we walked into Santiago and Manzanillo, found a great little cafe to share a cappuccino and pastry, picked up a few provisions, watched several large iguanas along the way and a groundskeeper mowing a golf course using a push-behind lawn mower with a gas can on top. The water temperature in the bay is 82 degrees, absolutely delightful. We swam from the boat and from the hotel diving platform into the beach to check out a 40 ft sailboat that washed ashore last year during hurricane season. We had one last dinner with Brian and Joanna after buddy boating together for three fun weeks as they continue south and we make our turn north. We hope to reconnect again in Banderas Bay – safe travels to Sail Fish!
We have made nine stops at various ports and anchorages headed south on mainland Mexico and a total of 16 stops headed south since we left Los Angeles on November 28. We will now start working our way back north to spend some time in Banderas Bay before we journey into the Sea of Cortez for spring. It sounds like we will have plenty of company as most all cruisers we’ve met have similar plans to be in “the Sea” for spring as well.
SV Solitude 