Barra de Navidad

Barra de Navidad is a small town located on the western coast-line of the Mexican state of Jalisco. The town of Barra de Navidad (Christmas Sandbar) with a population of 7000+ is a small farming and fishing community located on the east end of the Bahía de Navidad, 60 km north of Manzanillo. In recent years, the Jalisco state government has promoted Barra as a tourist attraction of the Costalegre.

The beachfront fronting the sandbar arks toward San Patricio, Jalisco 4.5 kilometers to the west. The history of "modern" Barra de Navidad dates back to the mid-16th century when the Spanish used it for ship building, repairs and a jumping off point to the Philippines. A monument has been erected as a memory to these journeys at the end of the jetty.

Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (1500–1544) fleet of six galleon ships, the Santiago, Jorge, San Antonio, San Cristobal, San Martin, and San Juan, left Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, Mexico with 370 to 400 men on November 1, 1542. Perhaps, On the early morning of November 21, 1564, armed with five ships and 500 soldiers, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his sail-captain Andres de Urdaneta sailed from the port of Barra de Navidad, New Spain, in what is now Jalisco state, Mexico.