Puerto de la Navidad and the Grand Bay Hotel

Norwegian Steam Moored by the Grand Bay Hotel

One of the Beautiful Pools at the Grand Bay

We arrived yesterday at Barra de Navidad, after a four hour trip from Tenacatita.  Barra has been a goal for me ever since we visited the town by automobile when we were vacationing with our friends Marcia and Brooks in Manzanillo five years ago.  Barra is really cool.  Part beach town, part Mexican village.  Next to the town is a lagoon, and the barra referenced in its name is the bar that must be crossed when passing from the ocean to the lagoon.  I have heard that it is possible for this to be a bit dicey if the ocean swell is running high, but when we entered it was a piece of cake.  It's just a bit hard finding the entrance which is not even shown on the expensive California/Mexico chart package I have running on our Garmin 4212 chart plotter.  Thankfully, cruisers who have successfully passed this way before have published GPS waypoints.  I used those from Pacific Mexico, by Breeding and Bansmer. 

Brooks, Marcia, Sally and Alan at the Grand Bay

Many cruising sailboats simply anchor in the lagoon.  We are in the Puerto de la Navidad Marina, however, which is located just beyond the aforementioned entrance, on the side opposite the town of Barra.  The marina is associated with the Grand Bay Hotel.  Our visit is going to be a reunion inspired by our first trip here because Marcia and Brooks will be staying at the Grand Bay, a place they have stayed before and like quite a lot.

View from a Beach Restaurant in Barra de Navidad

The Grand Bay Hotel is very much a Disney Land for the middle aged and elderly.  Impressive fantasy architecture.  Very clean with good service.  There are a lot of swimming pools, tennis courts, a spa, a gym, etc.  As marina guests, we have the use of many of these facilities.  This is without a doubt the most expensive marina that we have stayed in.  We may be here a month in all, because it turns out that staying 10 days is just as expensive as a month.  Even the Internet service is very pricey, but at least it works well.

The Fantasy Architecture of the Grand Bay with Barra Beyond

Barra is in the Mexican state of Jalisco, the same state as Puerto Vallarta.  The marina and the hotel are in Colima, however, because the boundary between the two states runs right down the middle of the entrance to the lagoon.  Red buoy in Colima, green buoy in Jalisco.  There is also a small town on the lagoon, but not the ocean, called Colimilla, on the Colima side, with restaurants and some other facilities.  But the real action is in Barra, and one of the great things about this place is the excellent panga taxi service.  You can go from the hotel or marina to Barra for 20 pesos (about a buck fifty) per person round trip and you can return from Barra at any time of the day or night.  It costs only 25 pesos for people on boats anchored in the lagoon which is actually at least twice as far.

Our current Google Earth compatible location: 19 11.735'N,104 40.981'W