Melaque and Barra Navidad

We’ve been in the lovely Bahia Navidad area, which is about 150 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, since March 18th. It is my favorite area so far because of the diversity it offers. It is the most tropical of the places we’ve been with an abundance of coconut palms and other vegetation. The village of Melaque is at the north end of the bay and the town of Barra Navidad is at the south end. There is a very narrow and shallow channel between the southern tip of Barra and the rugged and lush southern point of the bay. Just inside the channel you can access the back side and southern tip of Barra on the left, a resort with a marina on the right, the village of Colimilla just past the resort and a lovely lagoon at the far end. Boaters can choose between the marina and the lagoon, which is a popular anchorage. The resort, Colimilla and the lagoon are in the state of Colima. Melaque and Barra are in the state of Jalisco.

Our first three nights in this area were spent anchored off the long, white sandy beach in Melaque where surfing is popular. We were there during an annual celebration that falls on St. Patrick’s Day. There were parades, bands playing music, a carnival with rides (we rode the ferris wheel and the bumper cars) and a fireworks display like the one we saw in San Blas. We aren’t clear about the meaning of the actual celebration. One story we heard is that Patrick is the town’s patron saint. Another story is that they are celebrating the sacrifice of eight martyrs during the war with Spain. It is probably a combination of both. Sometimes it is frustrating not knowing what is going on. I need to step up my efforts to learn more Spanish!

After leaving Melaque, which is a straight shot across the bay into the channel entrance, we did spend three nights in the resort marina. It was again time to fill our water tanks, wash the saltwater off Blew Moon, do laundry and do a minor repair on the outboard motor for the dingy. I can’t think of a more beautiful spot to perform these small chores. We quickly got these done and had plenty of time to take advantage of the resort’s amenities and just take in its beauty. The Grand Bay Isla Navidad resort makes Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta look like a Holiday Inn (it is exquisite!). I felt like I had been dropped into a segment of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The resort is built up onto the lush hillside just inside the channel across from the town of Barra. There are wonderful panoramic views from every level and the landscape is superb. The resort feels like a private island because of it’s isolated location at the end of the point. One difference we noticed about this resort is that most of its guests were Mexican. This must be where the more affluent Mexicans vacation. There were also some corporate conferences going on. Both Ely Lilly and Pfieser (American pharmaceutical companies) were there. Now we know one reason that prescription drugs are so expensive!

After our time in the marina we moved Blew Moon to the lagoon where we’re currently anchored with about ten other boats. The lagoon has it’s own appeal. There are beautiful, 360 degree views, two small islands, the water is calm and you are a short dingy ride to anywhere in the area. There are pink, spoon-billed birds feeding during low tide whose feathers are the color of a flamingo. Someone told me what they are called but I don’t remember. You can spend days just exploring the lagoon in your dingy. Many fishermen cast their nets in the lagoon from their pangas. We are amazed at the grace and perfection at which these men toss their nets into the water while standing inside their boat. The net glides through the air in a perfectly flat trajectory and lands on the surface in the same way. One morning I saw one haul in a pretty significant catch. The fish were small, but he must have caught about thirty of them. I’m not sure what they do with these fish, i.e., sell them in the market or use them for bait. I suspect it is the former. Personally, I wouldn’t buy anything caught in this lagoon because the water is very dirty. I’m sure part of that problem is due to the presence of the boats anchored in the lagoon (need I say more?).

The small town of Barra is charming with its cobble stone streets, beaches, nice hotels, low-key tourist shops, art galleries and great restaurants. On the fifth floor of one of the hotels is the Sunset Bar which has a spectacular 360 degree view of the entire area. Between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. the place is full of people enjoying the beautiful sunset. The town even has its own French Baker who visits the boats in the marina and the lagoon every morning. I am now officially addicted to almond croissants! When I hear those welcome words, "Good morning madam and messuer, this is the French baker", I know it’s not long before I’ll be enjoying a delicately sweet, mouth-watering pastry along with my morning cup of coffee. Bon appetite!

Easter week transformed the normally quiet town of Barra and peaceful lagoon into bustling centers of activity. The beaches, restaurants, shops and streets were full of vacationing Mexican families. Many come from Guadalajare which is only about a half days drive. Even the lagoon, which is usually serene with water so still that the boats hardly move, was full of water-skiers, wake boarders, jet skis and the like. It was great to see Mexican families vacationing and having fun. On Good Friday the Catholic church in Barra performed their traditional "stations of the cross" through the streets of town. We had never seen this before and, of course, did not understand the Spanish narration or parts where the people who followed along recited certain words. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are central to our personal faith so we understood what was going on and appreciated it. We were grateful to have this reminder of Easter because there was no English speaking church for us to celebrate with on Sunday. So, Barry and I read the account of the crucifixion and resurrection in the three gospels that record it as our way of acknowledging this very special day.

One morning we dingied over to the little dock for the resorts golf course and had breakfast in it’s restaurant. Another day we dingied to the village of Colimilla and bought a few items from Maria’s tienda. She and her husband stock their little home-front store with a wide variety of hard to find food and household items along with frozen meats and some fresh produce. They also offer services and local information to the cruisers. One service they offer is to drive to Sam’s Club in Puerto Vallarta for anything you need. They do this once a week. She speaks pretty good English which is very helpful! This village also offers a variety of palapas on the beach where you can stop for a drink or a bite to eat. The dingy ride to Barra takes you passed this little town and the resort on the left and the larger of the two islands on the right. You also pass a fish pen that belongs to an elderly man who lives in a make-shift home on stilts right beside it. The water-front in Barra offers two ways to go ashore. One way is to land your dingy on the beach in front of Alcatraz restaurant which looks across to the island in one direction and to the resort in another. Another option is to tie your dingy to a small sea wall in front of the Sands Hotel. Right now, everyone is leary of this option at night because one of the cruisers had his dingy stolen recently. They did recover the dingy a short distance away, minus the outboard motor. Outboard motor theft is a risk most everywhere. One advantage we have is that ours is very old and beat up! They tend to steal the newer ones.

Sadly we said good-bye to Royce and Pam on Rdreamz who are continuing south to Central America. They have been such good cruising buddies since our meeting in Mazatlan in January. We miss them already, but hope to catch up with them in Costa Rica next season. We are entering the final months of the cruising season in Mexico. Most cruisers are now leaving in various directions to get beyond the hurricane belt before May/June. So, boats are either heading north to summer in the Sea of Cortez or returning to the states, beating south to get to Central America or doing the puddle jump (making the twenty to thirty day passage to the Marquesas in the South Pacific). Consequently, there are not many cruisers left in this area right now.

We are now contemplating a trip to Guadalajare on the bus. It is a direct shot from Barra and is suppose to be a very scenic ride. The trip would be part site-seeing and part provisioning. We want to buy a generator which would give us enough auxillary power to run our hot-water heater and other 110-volt appliances without the risk of running out of battery power. I can hear you now, "They don’t have hot water!" That’s right. Currently, to take a hot shower we have to fill our solar shower in the morning and let it sit in the sun for several hours. We used to have two of these, but unfortunately one fell overboard while underway. For an indoor shower we take it below and hang it on the back of the door to the head. The head is designed as a shower area. Unfortunately, the hook on the door isn’t high enough to allow us to stand for our shower, so we sit. I’m looking forward to having enough power to heat the water and take a standing shower! Sometimes we shower on deck in our bathing suits (some cruisers aren’t as modest!). We hang the shower from the end of the boom and sit comfortably on a raised area of the deck over the aft cabin where we sleep (we must remember to close the hatch!). If we want hot water to wash dishes we heat some water in the tea kettle on the stove.

Fresh water, in and of itself, is one of the cruisers most valuable resources because you have a limited supply of it on board. Even if you have a water-maker which converts saltwater to fresh you have to be in clean water or your filters will be hopelessly clogged. A water-maker is another costly item on our wish list. Access to fresh water has not been an issue for us yet, but may be an issue once we enter Central America. Most of the time when we’ve needed water we’ve had access to a marina where slips with a water faucet are available. On a few occasions we’ve had to buy 5-gallon bottles of drinking water on shore and transport them in the dingy and then dump them into our tank using a funnel. This is cumbersome and can be a slow and tedious process (and you have to purchase the water). We have a pretty large tank (220 gallons) that gives us anywhere from twenty to thirty days of water supply. It is located under the floor of the main cabin. You fill it with a hose through a hole on the port side of the deck. We double filter all water before it goes into our tank. We also have one faucet in the galley which filters the water from our tank another time and produces good tasting drinking water. Some fuel docks also offer water. This is not ideal because it takes hours to fill our large tank because the filtering process greatly reduces the water flow. However, you cannot survive without fresh water, so you do whatever it takes to get it on board. We have not had any problems with water contamination on board or on shore. Most restaurants that offer it use ice made from purified water and bottled water for drinking. Your water on board also provides you with the ability to sanitize all fresh produce before you consume it. You just soak everything for 15-20 minutes in water with a little bleach or iodine. It is not that big of a deal.

I’ve mentioned before that cruisers are good about taking care of one another. One cruiser offering to give away some of their fresh water is yet another example of this community spirit. (I’ve gotta pause here for a few minutes. Barry just finished grilling Polish sausage on our little BBQ. So, it’s time to eat lunch.) O.K., I’m back again! Coincidentally, our friends on Dreamweaver just came by asking if we had fresh water to spare. Here’s a perfect example of how those with a water-maker can still get in a jam. The water in the lagoon is not clean enough to run through their water-maker and now they’re low. So, we sent them away with two 5-gallon jerry cans of fresh water. One way cruisers can conserve fresh water is to wash dishes in salt water. Not everyone rinses with fresh water, but we do. Of course you only do this where the water is clean. We have a bucket with a rope tied to the handle that we use to haul water up. It is common knowledge among cruisers that Joy dishwashing detergent is the only one that will produce suds in saltwater! How do you like that bit of trivia?

It felt good to be able to help out our friends Rick and Judith, even in that small way. For us, helping people in need extends far beyond the cruising community. As Christians, our most powerful resource is our appeal to a compassionate and loving God through prayer. Right now, my dear friend Lynn in Chula Vista has a great need in her life. She is currently in Zion, Illinois at the Cancer Treatment Center beginning three weeks of a special kind of radiation treatment. She had lymphatic cancer about seven years ago and beat it after much radiation and chemo-therapy. Her prognosis was not good, but apparently God had more planned for her on this earth before calling her home. Although she was past the five-year cancer-free mark, her annual MRI revealed something that a subsequent bone-scan confirmed to be bone cancer. This diagnosis came just before we left to go cruising. Lynn is one of my best friends and it killed me to leave her at this time of great need. I am grateful, though, she has the support of others in our New Hope family during this challenging time. Nonetheless, I still feel awful about abandoning her in her time of need! I can’t talk to her or get together with her like we had grown accustomed to, but I can still prayer for her despite the miles that separate us. Lynn is a very mature Christian who seeks to see life from Gods perspective and truly wants whatever His plan is for her life, whatever that entails. She knows that God allows adversity for good reasons, i.e., to strengthen us, to reveal His power in our lives, to test our faith, etc.. That He never intends for it to harm us. That it is up to us to have the right response to the adversity. I have seen Lynn respond to situations over the years with tremendous strength and faith. She always desires that God use her to help others, even when she was undergoing grueling cancer treatments before. I’d say that she definitely has God’s perspective.

For those of you who are willing, please join me in praying for Lynn; 1) that the cancer be completely removed from her body; 2) that she would have the spiritual eyes to see God at work and respond the way He wants her to; 3) that she have peace despite not knowing what lies ahead; 4) that her husband and two grown sons would be able to completely trust God with her life, no matter what happens.

I know that God hears ours prayers and always answers. Whenever I pray I remind myself of the numerous promises from God regarding prayer as well as all the past answered prayers. As I invite you to pray for Lynn with me James 5:16 comes to mind. It says, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (NIV)." The Message translation says it this way, "The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with." God Himself is telling us here how to pray with power and effectiveness. It requires righteousness. This would be discouraging to me if I thought this requirement was based on my own merit, but thankfully it is not. God tells us in Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, not even one!" I don’t have to look far to see qualities in myself that are harmful to me and others, and are offensive to God because they don’t reflect His perfect, loving character. But, because God is love and wants each person He created to have access to Him through prayer (and other means) He freely offers us His very own righteousness through faith in the person of Jesus Christ. In God’s economy, as in ours, there has to be justice for wrong-doing and He gets to make the rules because, well, He’s God. The beauty of God’s plan is that He had His Son pay the penalty (death) for our wrong-doing so that we wouldn’t have to pay it ourselves. This is what Good Friday acknowledges; the willing suffering and physical death of Jesus through one of history’s most cruel and excruciatingly painful forms of torture and ultimate death. It has been said that the horror of Jesus’ particular punishment was so intense because it needed to equitably reflect God’s intense hatred of sin; partly because He knows the pain it causes us in our lives. In other words, Jesus suffered God’s wrath so we wouldn’t have to. God’s plan doesn’t end here, though. God created us to live with Him forever (have eternal life); first have a life here on earth until physical death, and then to have continued life with Him in a place more wonderful than our minds can imagine. Jesus physically died on Friday, but God the Father brought Him back to life three days later on what we call Easter Sunday. This promises the same life after physical death for all who believe that Jesus was in fact resurrected. The ONLY thing you have to do is accept the forgiveness that God freely offers to everyone and ask Jesus to become the leader of your life. You do this by admitting to God that you can’t ever meet His requirement of righteousness AND by believing that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient to completely satisfy God’s judgement upon unrighteousness (sin). Only Jesus is qualified to do this for us because He is the only person who lived a righteous life, i.e., Jesus is the only person who satisfied God’s requirement of righteousness. That’s why no one can earn their way into good-standing with God. So, when a person places their faith in Jesus there is a spiritual transaction, of sorts, that occurs. They are credited with Jesus’ righteousness which fulfills God’s requirement to be in relationship with Him through prayer or otherwise. Mind you, this does not mean that all of a sudden a person placing their faith in Jesus Christ becomes righteous (a perfect representation of God’s character and qualities). It simply means that the requirement of righteousness has been met satisfactorally. Once you give God authority over your life by asking Him to lead you, He begins to change you from the inside out! So, in reality, you do become a little more righteous as time goes on, as long as you cooperate with God’s efforts.

Wherever we stand with God right now, we can always move a little closer. The choice is ours! He patiently waits. Till next time . . . Stacey