WINTER IN LA CRUZ, BARRA, AND ZIHUATANEJO

Xmas Lights in the Marina

My fall and winter 2023/2024 cruising season was enjoyable, but not particularly exciting. I cooked a lot over the holidays and had several dinner parties. Brad returned to Los Angeles for the holidays and I looked after White Wind. As the snowbirds returned to La Cruz, I became less and less inclined to go out in the evenings. Everything seemed very crowded and loud.

Sunrise in Bahia Chamela

At the end of January, Brad and I left to sail down to Barra de Navidad for Cruise-In Week. Everyone was going. We stopped in Chamela for two nights, visited Tenacatita, and then continued on to Barra. The marina was full, so we spent several days anchored out in the Barra lagoon. It is a beautiful spot but was very windy. We went into the marina each morning to beg for a slip and take the water taxi into town for groceries, laundry, or breakfast. We had to return to the boat by early afternoon, before the wind came up. We never had any problem but were concerned we might drag anchor if we left the boat unattended.

Sunrise in the Barra Lagoon

Not having registered ahead of time, Cruise-In Week was half over before we could get a slip in the marina. We hadn’t registered to take anyone sailing or racing, so helped where we could, taking lines for the boats coming and going on windy afternoons. We caught some of the parties, but I never felt like I got into the swing of the event.

The "Secret" Beach in Barra de Navidad

Cloudy AM in the Barra Marina

When Cruise-In Week ended, most of the boats left. Brad flew back to L.A. and I spent the remainder of February hanging out in the very quiet Barra Marina. I got to see my former roommate, Cherie, a few times and observed the progress of renovations on their home in Barra. I didn’t do much. Mostly, I practiced the guitar, studied French, and read. My friend, Blair, stopped in for a couple of days on his way back from Zihuatanejo and we spent a couple of pleasant evenings on the town in Barra and Melaque. We missed the last bus to Barra and, after waiting for an hour, had to take a taxi back. While we were waiting, we saw the bus I was planning to take to Zihuatanejo the following week. I was glad to see where it stopped.

Overlooking the Barra Lagoon

White Wind in Barra

The first of March, I took a taxi into Melaque to catch my overnight bus to Zihuatanejo. I had bought my ticket online. The bus was supposed to arrive at 19:00. I got there at 17:30 so as to be sure not to miss it. It was a trek requiring a water taxi and then a land taxi and travel time was unpredictable. The Melaque bus terminal is very old school. There is only one ticket counter for the local buses. My bus company didn’t maintain a presence, there, because there was only one departure per day. There was no screen or loudspeaker announcing departures. People sat outside and waited for their buses to arrive.

19:00 came and went and my bus was nowhere to be seen. The highway is narrow and curvy. Traffic can be bad, so I waited. I waited until 21:00 before I gave up. I had seen the last bus to Barra (that hadn’t arrived the night Blair and I needed it) depart. Finally, I hailed a cab and retraced my journey back to the boat.

I needed to get to Zihuatanejo by 18:00 on March 2^nd to catch the opening concert of the Zihuatanejo Guitarfest. The opening concert is important because it gives one a chance to hear all the artists and decide which concerts one desires to see. I couldn’t wait for the next evening’s bus. For roughly the price of a round trip ticket to California, I purchased a ticket to fly from Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo.

Opening Night Concert

Very early the next morning, I tried to call a water taxi and got no answer. Fortunately, after 45 minutes, I spied one dropping off some ice in the marina and flagged him down. Luckily, the boatman was the older gentlement who flirted with me. This was very fortunate because there were no land taxis waiting at the taxi stand by the water taxi at that hour. The boatman helped me carry my luggage half way across Barra before we found a taxi to take me to Manzanillo. The drive was shorter than expected and I made it in time for my flight. I never could get the bus company to refund the price of my ticket, even though they acknowledged that a tanker accident had closed the highway, that night, and the bus had never arrived. Eventually, I just disputed the charge on my credit card.

In Zihuatanejo, I stayed in the same apartment that I had occupied in 2020. Celia, the landlady, was happy to see me, again. I missed the first half hour of the opening concert, but managed to see most of it.

Guitarfest was very crowded. The opening concert was held on the municipal pier and was standing room only. I had bought a pass online, but was unable to make reservations for any of the dinner concerts because they were all sold out before I got there. I got the distinct impression that the festival was being aimed at wealthy Zihuatanejo residents and not people who just came for the festival. This probably maximized their fundraising for local school music programs, but was disappointing for me. None of the venue locations or phone numbers were listed on the website, making it difficult to make reservations, in advance, for those of us not familiar with the venues. In the future, I will have to make more of an effort to secure reservations before I arrive.

Zihuatanejo

I caught a cough on the flight down and spent most of my week in Zihuatanejo sleeping all day in order to muster enough energy to go to the evening’s concerts. By the time I took the overnight bus back to Melaque on the 9^th of March, I was very sick and stayed awake all night, attempting not to cough. My fever broke, that night, and I slept for two days once I got back to Barra.

At Anchor in Chamela

Brad had kindly delayed our departure for a day so that I could recover. I was feeling pretty good by the time we left Barra on the 11^th. We headed north and pulled into Chamela just in time for happy hour. We anchored there for a little over 24 hours to rest and left at midnight on the 12^th in order to arrive at Cabo

Corrientes around dawn. We went a little slower than planned due to adverse current, but still got around the corner before the wind kicked up and made it to La Cruz before dark. 

Rounding Cabo Corrientes at Dawn

 A friend of Brad’s gave me ride to the beach in his dinghy and I waded ashore and walked home carrying just my toiletries and devices in a dry bag. My luggage would have to wait until Brad could bring everything to the marina on the following day.

My Cats Helping Me Do Taxes

After spending a few days in the anchorage, Brad finally got a slip in the La Cruz Marina and returned to Los Angeles, leaving me to watch the boat. I spent a week in La Cruz, getting caught up on various tasks in advance of my springtime adventures.