Evening at Ensenada Carrizal

This is a typical evening aboard Thistle while at anchor. We turn on the party lights and sit in the cockpit with a glass of wine enjoying the view. Here in Ensenada Carrizal, just north of Manzanillo, we even played dominoes.

Barra de Navidad

We have really enjoyed our stay in this little town. We have watched the locals work on their boats, ridden the bus to Melaque to go to the bank and do shopping, played Bocce ball, watched a kid's birthday party in the street, eaten too many French pastries, and hung around the hotel pool.

We have ridden the water taxi into town numerous times, zoomed around the lagoon in our dinghy, walked to the Port Captain's office twice, had our laundry done, and eaten out way too much.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Manzanillo. It may take us a few days to get there because we intend to stop at least once on the way. So don't expect a post for about a week.

El Horno Francés

We are settled in at Marina Puerto de la Navidad with fresh water, electricity, and Internet. And the best fringe benefit ever: The French Baker who comes around every morning at 9:15 in his petite bateau, ringing his little bell, with baguettes, croissants, individual quiches, and beautiful pastries.

Here is the captain enjoying his almond croissant for breakfast. Oh la la!

Here is a map with the blue dot showing where we are; over 2000 miles traveled so far.

And a closer view showing us just north of Manzanillo.

Breakfast in Melaque

We arrived here in Melaque last night and came into town for more pesos. We also decided to have breakfast at Roosters Restaurant.

While we were here Malcolm made a new friend.

These things are called Catrinas according to the restaurant owner.

La Manzanilla

We are here in La Manzanilla, a little town in Bahia Tenacatita. We had been anchored across the bay enjoying the snorkeling and social life amongst the 20 or so boats anchored there. This morning we came here especially to visit the Crocodile Preserve.

The crocodiles are in a fenced area separated from the town. There are raised walkways for the visitors to walk above the crocs. It seems safe enough, but the river they live in is open to the beach. We won't be swimming off the boat here!

Bahia Careyes

Having this lunch whilst watching my boat bob at anchor....

.....Paradise!

The view from the boat isn't too bad either.

We are on our way to Barra de Navidad and should be there in about a week. Internet is spotty, so don't expect a post for a while.

Perula, Jalisco

We are now in Perula, Jalisco enjoying the charming little town and beach. The kids have to go back to school tomorrow, but for now the beaches are full of families on holiday. And I am enjoying a Piña Colada.

Las Hadas & Manzanillo

We spent two nights anchored at Las Hadas Resort. While the view from the boat was fabulous, it was very expensive to park at their dinghy dock! They charged 200 pesos while other places charge around 40 pesos.

And Las Hadas has no nearby services for the cruising yacht. However, we did take the bus into Manzanillo twice to do shopping, sightseeing, and errands. They have lots of large American stores on the boulevard: Walmart, Office Depot, KFC, Starbucks, and Burger King.

By changing buses on the boulevard, we were able to travel to the oldest part of Manzanillo which has a peaceful plaza, tourist shops, a municipal Mercado, and this modern Sailfish sculpture.

And on the way home we had the craziest bus ride ever. The bus driver seemed to be practicing for a Formula One race. The road was extremely rough, there were road construction issues, the suspension was shot, it was hot and crowded, and there was a bongo drum player onboard, but it was an unforgettable experience!

Yelapa

Yelapa is a picturesque and convenient little harbor just north of Punta Corrientes. It makes a nice stopping point to time your rounding of the point to get the best conditions. Unfortunately it is really deep and almost impossible to anchor in so we took a mooring ball for 200 pesos. The fee includes a panga ride into shore, which we took advantage of, where we had a nice little snack in one of the palapa restaurants. "Profligate" was there too and we happened to meet the Baja Ha Ha Grand Poobah, Richard Spindler at the restaurant. We had a nice little chat with him and thanked him for doing such a good job (in a difficult situation) leading the Ha Ha.

 

The next morning we took our dinghy ashore and walked up to the waterfall with our buddy boat "Wind Dancer".

 

As we drove our dinghy back to the boat, Phil and Desley took this photo of us....

 

then we slipped free of our buoy and headed for Cabo Corrientes and the Mexican Gold Coast.