Sunrise on Thursday, December 19
Reports were that, while the water here at the marina was clean, the salinity could vary, so sometimes it wasn’t drinkable. This morning, Eric tested the water and was excited that the salinity was low enough to fill the tanks. As he was setting up the water pre-filter, he shouted to Christi and Keith to stop doing school work and to come outside. We saw the famous French Baker boat was in the marina. We flagged them down, and they came over to our boat so we could buy pastries. The pastries were delicious. We could get used to fresh pastries delivered to our door every morning.
After filling up, Eric was horrified to see how dirty the pre-filter was — so dirty that it had to be thrown away. Eric reports it’s the dirtiest water we’ve ever taken in. He suspects that the pipes were deteriorating and there were metal pipe pieces in the water.
After morning chores and school, we called a water taxi. They picked us up at our dock and dropped us off at the water taxi stand in the town of Barra de Navidad, on the northwest side of the bay.
Like Mission Bay and Newport Beach in Southern California, the isthmus part of Barra de Navidad was a narrow strip of land that separates the ocean from the bay. There were only two narrow streets paralleling the length of the isthmus, with tightly packed buildings housing restaurants and vendor shops selling tourist trinkets, bathing suits and beach toys.
We walked through the isthmus to where the land mass started to widen. The commercial buildings became less touristy and there were more residences.
Fifteen years ago, we’d had serious trouble finding the port captain, but thanks to modern technology (phone with a map and GPS), this time we’d found the office with no problem. And this time, the building was painted with the words “Secretaria de Marina Capitania de Puerto,” so there was no doubt we were at the right place.
Fifteen-years ago, we’d written that about half the lots in the neighborhood the port captain’s office was located in were empty. Nowadays, the neighborhood was full of homes, and there weren’t many empty lots left. We passed two homes that were under construction.
Since we were leaving so soon, the port captain let us check in and back out. Since we were carrying important paperwork, we decided to go straight back to the boat. To get a better look at the town, we took different streets along the 3/4 mile walk back to the water taxi stand. We also made a quick stop at the beach.
In the afternoon, we went to the pool. Eric had never ordered anything from a swim up bar before, so he checked that item off his bucket list.
For dinner, we walked to the town of Colimilla, which was literally on the edge of the gated community that housed the resort. It was a relatively long walk up a large hill to get out of the gate. There was no one at the guard station and the gate was wide open.
Upon exiting the gate, it appeared that we were on the main road through town. We walked along the road for a few blocks, passing what appeared to be homes, a school, a medical clinic, and a few miscellaneous businesses until we came to a restaurant called “The View.”
Like, Lusty on Land, it was an outdoor rooftop restaurant that had a cover for sun protection and catered primarily to ex-pats. It was decorated with Mexican, American, and Canadian flags and hockey jerseys. It did have a lovely view of Bahia de Navidad across the bay.
The View had a huge menu, and the food was fantastic. For dessert, we had fried bananas drenched in a sauce made from sweetened condensed milk.
An iguana was hanging out in a nearby palm tree.
After dinner, we headed back to the boat and had a quiet night.