This part of Mexico wouldn’t have been on our radar if it hadn’t been for Barra de Navidad. And we wouldn’t have known about Barra de Navidad if we didn’t follow cruising (sailing) circles.
You can actually walk between Melaque and Barra de Navidad along the beach. But these two communities have very distinct feels to them. Here in shoulder season, it’s difficult to get a feel for what it must be like for most visitors who come to this corner of Mexico.
One big difference between the two towns is that Melaque is a destination for overlanders, offering two options to park and hook up your RV (Barra has no viable options that we know of).
Barra, on the other hand, has a marina and protected anchorage, so it tends to attract the sailors.
We’ve heard a lot about Barra de Navidad over the past few years, so we’re excited to finally be able to explore the town today.
We’ve decided to forgo the taxi and just walk along the beach. It’s about a mile from our RV park in Melaque to Barra, with not a whole lot in between but a crocodile-infested lagoon.
The view leaving Melaque. A bit of fog this morning, but it seems to be lifting fast. Fog isn’t something we’ve experienced much on the Mexican Pacific Coast and Sea of Cortez.
Our hotel’s beach bar. We’re hoping to get down here at some point, but just haven’t made the hundred meter trip from the RV yet.
We’re still in the state of Jalisco, but the state of Colima is just on the other side of those hills. We’re within a mile of a new Mexican state, but won’t be crossing over for another week or so.
And just like that, we’re in Barra.
Looks like we’re pretty far from anywhere, really.
Our thirty-minute beach stroll ends at our breakfast stop, which incidentally is “Closed—Out Surfing”.
We hoped this would be a one-off. Turns out, not a whole lot of places are open on a Wednesday in late May in Barra, such as our next breakfast stop, and the stop after that.
This is another big difference from Melaque. Right now, Melaque feels like a fully-functioning Mexican town that happens to be on the beach and happens to get inundated with visitors from time to time.
Barra feels, well, like a tourist beach town shuttered up for low season. Not exactly the vibe we were hoping for.
Walking the length and breadth of town, we manage to stumble upon the one restaurant in town that mustered the strength to open before noon. In Barra in May, they likely deserve a medal for their efforts.
After breakfast, it’s time to find out what we’ve been missing over in Melaque all this time. Me thinks, not much.
That tired-looking hotel on the left (above) is one of the few places in town I knew anything about. The Sand’s holds a place in cruising lore due to its popular dinghy dock and having previously kept a monkey in a cage for many years. Our understanding is that the monkey no longer resides there.
Barra has a cutesy little tourist Centro that has surprisingly little to offer in the off-season. I can imagine how it must be in the busy months.
I only wish Chacala and Sayulita had an off-season like this when we lived there. We might still be there!
There’s an intriguing looking island in the middle of the outer lagoon with a couple of thatch restaurants, a dock, and an attractive looking beach. Can’t tell from here if any of it is functional this time of year, but we might have to check it out if we return to Barra. Unfortunately, a return to Barra de Navidad this stay is looking pretty unlikely.
After turning the corner onto this main drag, the sight of a bit of action about town excites us. Maybe the town is finally waking from its slumbers? We quickly realize it’s nothing but tour guides and touts who proceed to descend on us like they haven’t seen a visitor in weeks. Great.
If you didn’t already know that the word Navidad is Spanish for Christmas, the big guy in the red suit might be able to help in that respect.
The Grand Isla Navidad features prominently in many Barra photos, but there are no bridges from town to reach the hotel. Your two options are a 40-minute taxi ride around the lagoon, or a five-minute boat ride.
Think we might have found the owner of our first-choice breakfast stop. It’s nice to see at least some action on the water today.
One of my favorite things to do these days is watch the surfers near the end of a long morning, when the surf conditions are transitioning and the surfers are trying their best to eye the last good wave of the morning.
Got to hand it to these guys, they still meticulously set up their wares as if expecting a cruise ship of 5,000 to come rolling into the bay at any minute. Of course, this is Barra, not Mazatlan, but you got to admire their gusto.
After a couple of hours in Barra de Navidad, we figured we’d basically seen it and decided it was time to head back to Melaque.
On the walk back from Barra de Navidad, the boys happened upon a petrified stingray—boom! Instant road school science lesson.
Back at the RV park. Can you spot our home?
Riley loves his mommy.
Not a lot of coffee shops around here. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own iced lattes on the beach every once in a while. This is my latest creation—instant coffee, milk, and a dash of sugar (shaken, not stirred). #RVLife.
Lori’s home office. Not bad. The only catch is it’s a shared office space after 8am…and your co-workers are five and seven.
I’d like to say we picked this site for the view. But in reality, it was one of the few in which the pedestal didn’t look like this:
This pedestal belongs to the site adjacent to ours.
It doesn’t surprise me in Mexico that it looks like a total disaster waiting to happen. What does surprise me is that the resort allows a mothballed rig to be hooked up AND the power ON while the owner is away for 6+ months.
We’ve brought these sorts of things to the attention of maintenance staff and managers in the past, but most just give you a nod or blank stare and nothing happens (until it’s a problem).
Obviously, we had a serious talk with the boys when we moved in (and I tried to shroud the area the best I could). No issues so far. #LivingInMexico
Miraculously, our pedestal is about as perfect as pedestals get in Mexico, and even has a five-gallon bucket over it to protect it from sea spray and rain. Doesn’t get better than that.
On Sunday, Lori took the boys down to the pool to check it out. They said it was HUGE and that there was hardly anyone using it.
Naturally, the next time they went I wanted to get in on the fun (call me crazy, but I’m a sucker for large, mostly-deserted swimming pools in the tropics, especially when you can’t swim in the ocean).
We weren’t there more than ten minutes when there was announcement over the loud speaker that instructor-led kids activities were starting in the kiddie section in a few minutes.
What few kids were in the big pool immediately migrated to the small pool and Lori and I had the big pool to ourselves. Better yet, the boys were suddenly supervised and playing with other kids.
“What could be better than this?,” I thought. At that moment, I look over and notice a swim-up pool bar. I was in the middle of thinking, “Too bad that’s not open,” when, sure enough, the bartender walks in and starts taking the order of a woman at the far end.
Two margaritas, please!
It’s hard to believe this is the first time since we returned to Mexico in March that we’ve had margaritas. Not a go-to beverage for me, but seemed appropriate for the occasion.
Another picture-postcard sunset with my two favorite little beach bums.
