Las Hadas: a pool, a beer run and a goodbye to great friends

By Nicole

When you’re anchored just outside a lovely Mexican resort—one that, for a modest fee, grants you access to its grounds—is it wrong to spend a few days lounging poolside?  Nah.

The Las Hadas Resort and Marina in Manzanillo is a striking sight, with its bright white, Mediterranean-style buildings climbing the hillside and overlooking the bay.

 The anchorage near the Las Hadas Resort

For a daily fee (200 pesos, or about $16US), the resort will let you tie up your dinghy, fill water jugs, dispose of used oil and, most importantly, have free run of their pool and grounds.  Yes, the fee is pretty steep.  But split the cost with a few friends, and your day of swimming and chilling by the pool drops significantly.  So needless to say, we spent a few days hanging poolside with Ventured, Panache and Jace.

 Second-story peek at the Las Hadas pool

 The view from my chaise lounge… Aaron launching J.P. into the deep end

3-2-1… launch!

And another view from my lounge chair.  Rough life, I know.

After crewing on his son’s boat down from La Cruz, Steve decided it was time to jump ship and head back to Seattle.  We all thought he was crazy!  But nonetheless, we shared a goodbye dinner with him anyway.

Why would anyone want to leave tropical Mexico for chilly Seattle? 

Thanks for all the fun and laughs, Steve! I’m so glad you had the chance to sail with Zack and see what this lifestyle is all about. We’ll miss you!

Our last happy hour with Steve (I’m drinking a most delicious blackberry margarita – 2 for 1!)

Despite whiling away the better part of 3 days at the pool, the guys did manage to discover some insanely cheap beer at the Walmart—25 pesos for a six-pack (if you’re doing the math, that’s like 33 cents US per can).  They even went on a mission to clean the shelves of Red Dog (not to be confused with Red Bull or Mad Dog), which, for the record, doesn’t taste nearly as bad as 33-cent beer should.

Empty shelves are all that remain after Aaron, Erlin, Zack and Ben raided the Red Dog supply

I wonder how long this will last…

Our time in Las Hadas wasn’t all smiles, though… This spot marked the end of the road for the buddy-boating flotilla of Bella Star, Ventured, Panache and Jace.  While we’re continuing south to Central America with Panache and Jace, Ventured is keeping to their plan of returning to the Sea of Cortez for the spring and summer—despite all our good-natured prodding and peer pressuring (and begging).  Yes, I cried.  More than once.

Sailing on Banderas Bay

We became fast friends with Erlin and Jenn in La Paz and solidified our friendship over street tacos, dance parties, beach trips and happy hours in La Cruz.  When the time came for us to pull anchor and head south again, there wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that we were going together.

Now that we’ve gone our separate ways, though, anchorages feel a bit empty without Ventured floating right next door.  Some of our very favorite memories were made in the last few months, and we’ll always remember the amazing times we spent cruising with Erlin, Jenn and their fearless sea kitty, Minion.

But this isn’t a permanent goodbye.  There’s talk of meeting up next year!  So until we share an anchorage again, we’ll keep tabs on each other through our blogs and plan our reunion dance party aboard Ventured. 

Erlin and Aaron

Jenn and Nicole

Until Panama, guys!