Greetings,
Mr. s. had to look up Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. By the "bar", do you mean Bocana el Cordoncillo? Rough conditions? I have never had any experience crossing "bars" but I understand the incoming vs. outgoing waters can be treacherous. Thanks.
RTF,
By "Bar", I mean that the entrance to the lagoon literally has a large sand bar across it that shifts constantly with the wave action. Crossing the bar is best done with the assistance of a guide boat, generally a panga with a couple of people on board. A Panga is generally a 15' to 20' open boat with an outboard motor. The "safe" routes across the bar can vary from day to day.
Labeled Punta del Cordoncillo on Navionics chart, so we're probably talking about the same place.
Dredging is not really an option, with the ability of the waves to move so much sand around in such a short amount of time.
Generally the guide boats look for about 12' of water over the sand bar (if the water were smooth). That allows for decreased water if the boat drops into a trough. We draw 5.5 feet. A boat crossed, coming in, last Wednesday with a 6' draft, and one wave deposited in directly on to the bar, bringing the boat to a full stop
until the next wave lifted the boat, and deposited it back in deep(er) water on the lagoon side of the bar.
Earlier in the week, a 90' DeFever, drawing 8.5 feet came with no issues, and departed two days later, after taking on 4000 gallons of diesel, again with no issues.
Personally, we try real hard to not have the bottom of our boat contact the soft or hard stuff on the bottom pretty much ANYWHERE!
The beauty (sometimes literally) of a harbor or lagoon that requires crossing a bar can often be that it is less visited, and less likely to be "discovered", ie; ruined by super yachts, etc. Bahia del Sol is such a place.
If you go to, say, Navionics, and look at the entrance to Bahia del Sol, you will see an area outside the entrance that has a dotted line around it, roughly parallel to the shore, and just off the entrance. It states either "Breakers", or "Breaking waves".
That is the "Bar". If you chose to cross it yourself, with no local knowledge (pilot boat), you do so at your own risk, and could potentially damage, or lose your boat.
Hope this helps! Enjoy!