Cyclone Jova
It looks like Barra de Navidad took a direct hit from cyclone Jova. Sad to see the destruction since it seems like just yesterday that I passed through there. The charming restaurants and hotels that line their beachfront are devastated.
Comments
Posted by: "pmrains10" PatRains@MexicoBoating.com pmrains10
Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:40 pm (PDT)
From San Diego, from looking at the videos on Mexican blogs and news services, it looks like Barra de Navidad and Manzanillo took the brunt of Hurricane Jova. Tuesday I called down to the port captain in Barra to ask about all the flooding inside the lagoons. He said that the entrance channel has 18' depth in the center, that it's good to the marina basin, and that the marina suffered no damage and is open. When I asked about the back lagoon, he responded that ALL the buoys were swept away by the flood waters pouring out through the lagoons. (The back lagoon had mostly wimpy stakes set by us yatistas, just to reach the free anchorage area. Technically that is in Colima state, so technically it's not in this port captain's jurisdiction - unless he wants it to be.)
I asked him for advice for any boaters coming down this fall. He said boaters should use extra caution, and that the gov will be restoring the buoy system as soon as possible. No surprises there.
I haven't tried the Manzanillo port captain yet, but Las Hadas says they're fine. Rio Santiago and Rio Salagua both dumped tons of debris, so I'm guessing that depths have changed in those anchorages too.
Having watched (and ridden out) a number of hurricanes in Mexico, they can silt up lagoons like Barra, or they can scrape them out and deepen them. At Barra, the back lagoon for many years was a mud flat, and the town lagoon had 14' of water depth north of Pig Island. Thanks to summer storms, that situation has been reversed for a couple years - or was until Jova. My husband and I plan to survey the Barra area with our sounder gizmo again, but not until late January or February. I'll post new charts on my free updates.
BNB, I'm pretty sure I would have said NORTH of Mazatlan and PV by mid May, not south, to avoid traveling around in hurricane alley during hurricane season. Yet Mazatlan and PV both have interior marinas that have fared very well for boaters summering over. There are a few other exceptions as well. If this was from the SSCA webinars I did last month, I think my point was, if someone is going to leave their boat parked somewhere for the summer, to pick a spot far enough either north or south of hurricane alley.
Where is south of hurricane alley? The 2 estuary marinas of El Salvador are usually safe for summering over. The north end of the Sea of Cortez is usually safe, too. But I don't know anywhere that's guaranteed safe.
Posted by: "Phillip Perkins" svmannasea@yahoo.com svmannasea
Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:49 pm (PST)
I pulled into the Barra lagoon 4 days ago and found the hurricane damage to be minimal. There is no change in water depth as I had nothing under 15 feet all the way to the parking lot. Took the bus to Santiago and the only damage was to the road on the south side of the river bridge in Cihuatlan. In Melaque, there was no physical damage other than a lot of misplaced dirt/mud. In Barra, the Sea Masters restaurant is hanging down to the beach. In Colomilla, just a few trees fell down. I was told that there were hundreds of dead cows floating in the lagoon but that is all cleared up.
Phil Perkins Mannasea