TSUNAMI WARNING IN MEXICO!

Hola - We are getting ready to depart Bara Navidad after spending nearly a month here in the Grand Bay Hotel Marina. Barra Navidad lies at the entrance to Laguna Navidad, inside is the Marina and the village of Colimilla. The lagoon offers a good, but shallow anchorage. Fortino's Restaurant is a great spot with dinghy landing right out front. Maria (Tienda Maria) offers cerveza, wine, water, soda and more delivered to your boat at anchor or in the marina.

Grand Bay Marina

Looking into the Lagoon

Also in Bahia Navidad is a larger town, called Melaque, a 40 minute walk from Barra along a beautiful beach..

We awoke on February 27th to a tsunami warning being issued for the entire Pacific coastline as a result of the 8.8 earthquake in Chile. The VHF radio was "a buzz" with yatistas trying to gather more information about the warning. Mexico has a tsunami warning system (large solar powered sirens) but all was quiet. We were safely tied inside the marina, along with 100+ boats ranging in size from 40 to 100+ feet. We had Internet and gathered as much information as we could to determine if the danger was significant enough to head to sea. Many sailboats anchored in the lagoon opted to head offshore. We decided to stay put, as there were no indications of a sizable wave coming ashore south of us (Alcapulco, Huatulco, Panama). While I gathered information about the tsunami and added a few extra dock lines, Rosie gathered our ships documents, passports, radios, sat-phone etc.... just in case something unexpected happened.

As the "arrival time" approached (National Tsunami Center has a website and updates information each hour for locations along the Pacific Coast)... things got very quiet in the marina and in Barra Navidad. Rosie opted to go to the hotel (upper floors).... I opted to go get some pictures. The arrival of the surge was right on schedule. Though no "wave" was visible, the lagoon entrance was interesting to watch. First, water began to drain from the lagoon. The channel markers showed the effect of increasing current as the lagoon was drawn down around a foot. The marker below was dragged down a couple of times. This was followed by another slack period and then the lagoon began to drain again.

Almost Slack

Ebbing Current

Current increasing as the Lagoon drained

Marker fully submerged... this cycle was repeated a couple of times.

At our slip, I also had marked the piling next to Serena Ray to gauge the rise and fall.

For almost an hour, the water in the marina would rise and fall about a foot every 10-15 minutes.

Luckily, no damage or problems locally as a result of the tsunami..... some anxious moments but also very interesting to see.

This Tuesday we will say goodbye to Barra Navidad. Our friends Wally and Linda (s/v Andanzas) have arrived and we will cruise north together to La Cruz and then on up to Mazatlan. From there into the Sea of Cortez the end of March. Until the next update.... Hasta Luego

Sunrise the next day was especially beautuful....