Santiago Bay
25 February 2008
Heather
Barra de Navidad was a tough place to leave, Kent has even ranked it #1 on his list of places we've visited thus far (I'd rank it within the top 3). There was a spectacular full lunar eclipse on 2/20 and we had clear skies to witness its entirety. I am sure that much to our neighbors' disapproval, the viewing of the eclipse turned into an all night/early morning dance party aboard the boat Moody Blues. We first met Moody Blues at Catalina Island and then saw them again in San Diego for the start of the Ha Ha race. They are a fun couple and have a boat with a large enough beam that allows 8 people to comfortably dance the morning away down below. We are quite jealous of their space.
Anyway, enough about Barra. Manzanillo is 20 or so miles south of Barra de Navidad and is Mexico's busiest commercial seaport. It's population is around 124,000 people. Upon entering the bay we noticed two things. The first was that there was a large green algae bloom that dominated the water and rumor has it that it is thick all the way down to Zihuatanejo which is over 150 miles away! The second was the massive amount of smog that blankets the area from a coal burning energy plant. It has to be the worst smog we have ever seen in any city we've ever traveled to. It's just gross.
We are currently anchored in the northern portion of Santiago Bay which boasts a long dark sandy beach and some very nice oceanfront homes (but not much else so it's quite peaceful here). Bus transportation is a 15-20 minute walk along the beach to the highway where you can catch a bus for $0.50US to downtown. Today we unanimously decided to forgo some pressing boat projects and jumped on a bus with Moody Blues and Jammin (who we had not seen for quite a few weeks) to explore downtown Manzanillo. There is a fantastic market in the center of town, fresh fruits and veggies (a small section of the fruit and veggie area is shown in the picture above) and then also a large area selling fresh meats, poultry and fish.
We anticipate spending a few days in Santiago Bay and then move around the corner into Manzanillo Bay to anchor at Las Hadas.
On a random note, we wish to welcome Tristan into the world and congratulate Kent's sister Kami on the birth of her baby boy!