March 19, 2015 - La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

We left the Tres Mariates east island by 9am and motored for 2 hours to the La Cruz anchorage.  We were surprised and shocked to see so many vessels in the anchorage.  We had thought it might have been quieter but found there were more here than when we were here 5 weeks ago.  The "Pacific Puddle Jumpers" (the nickname given to people sailing 2,5000 miles across the Pacific ocean to destinations in the South Pacific) may leave from here and we understand a group may leave in about a week (http://www.pacificpuddlejump.com/about.html).  We knew we would see some old friends here and we were excited about that.  Two vessels from the "Umbrella Dumpers" group were here, sv Astraea, sv Tappan Zee, and a third vessel, sv Namaste was due to arrive the following day.  It will be great to see some of the people we traveled with for 1000 miles down the outside Baja coast!  We had one nice night in the anchorage and the following morning needed to come in and stay a night in the marina so we can have a local canvas worker make some window coverings for us.  We need to battle the greenhouse effect that our large windows are providing during these hot days.

Our canvas maker Evette, her helper, and her 8 yr old daughter Valentina came early in the morning and spent a couple hours working on the patterns for the exterior window covers.  The kids had the pleasure of visiting and playing with Valentina and then she stayed with us through the afternoon. Valentina has an American father so her English was awesome.  We should have made her only speak Spanish to the kids.  If we were staying here we would certainly make this a weekly event and have her work with the kids. Our friends Earl and Louise on mv Serenity (who spent about 5 years in Mexico, ending last spring) had stated that our kids would not get a lot of opportunity to learn Spanish down here, as most of the destinations are dominated by American and Canadian English speaking cruisers.  This has turned out to be very accurate.  It is surprising to us how well you can get by with virtually no knowledge of Spanish.  Cindy and Kevin are primarily playing with American and Canadian kids and not the local children.

Cindy, Valentina, and Kevin

Kevin in the hammock on the boat deck

Playing games with Valentina

Cindy, Valentina and kitty Zappa are out for a walk on the docks.

Weather was forecast to be coming through the area so one night quickly turned into four nights.  We had not been to a marina in 40 days.  Quite a few vessels came into the marina as the winds and swell made the anchorage quite uncomfortable.  In the span of 30 hours the area received somewhere around 4 inches of rain.  We were here for the last major event 6 weeks ago that also dumped similar rain fall in a short period of time.  I met a gentleman on the docks who has been down here 5 years and he stated this type of weather never occurs this time of year, and it was more typical of the weather in August, September and October.   We survived the storm with one last water leak at the hatch in the bow which Steve resolved as the storm continued.  There is one small leak left now in a port pilothouse window so we are in good shape.

The La Cruz marina

We left the marina after 4 days of being tied up, we went out to the anchorage to set the "hook".  The weather is still a bit threatening, but winds are not expected to be high.  Quite a few other boats are also headed back out to the anchorage area.  Within a half hour of anchoring we hear on the radio from one of the local business owners that the bridge to P.V. is closed due to huge flood waters from the surrounding mountains that have received nearly 30 inches of rain in 30 hours. There are two bridges and the old one has supposedly collapsed.  The afternoon was filled to concerned people as they have guests coming in on flights or need to head to the airport to fly out.  The only method to get to P.V. is the highway that has the two bridges, one for each direction.  One fellow motor yacht had guests coming in this afternoon and headed toward P.V. Marina and had offered to have any other guests visiting be transported back here to La Cruz this evening aboard his vessel.  I know they have 5 or so people in the plan.  The La Cruz marina has set up a panga for people needing to head to the airport (for a price) and it would have been faster than trying to take a car to the airport with the bridge issues for the following day.  The bridges re-opened, both of them, so all was fine later that day.

Movie night Thursday night had the movie "The Imitation Game".  We went ashore early to get produce at the awesome Thursday evening produce market.  After stocking up on all sorts of goodies we went over to the amphitheater in the marina to watch the movie.   We met our friends from sv Namaste there and the movie started promptly at 7:30, half an hour late.  Everything down here seems to operate on a looser schedule that we are used to back home.  With about 45 minutes left in the excellent movie raindrops started to fall.  The rain gradually picked up until they had to stop the movie to protect the audio and visual equipment.  The DVD had started to skip and pixelate, so maybe they were too late?  We didn't get to see the last 30 minutes of this movie.  Bummer!

While we were shopping at the produce market we started talking with a Canadian women and ended up walking back to the dinghy dock with her.  She and her husband are on a 34' Catalina sailboat and are from Gabriola Island near Nanaimo in the Gulf Islands.  They are leaving Saturday, from La Cruz, and will be sailing roughly 30 days non-stop, transiting more than 2000 miles of open ocean, perhaps hundreds of miles from the nearest human.  Their first landfall will be the Marquesas Islands in the south pacific!  They then plan to spend more than 8 months exploring the south pacific, including the Cook Islands, and of course the islands of French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc).  This couple isn't much older than us.  They retired a bit early and know what it is they want to do now that they aren't punching a clock anymore.  We also know a large catamaran called "Family Circus" is leaving La Cruz this weekend for the Marquesas.  They are a family of 7.  Yes 5 kids onboard.  Another "kid boat" Apropos is also leaving Saturday for the south pacific.  There are several other boats leaving for the Marquesas, and even a few headed for the Galapagos, 700 miles off the coast of Ecuador.  It is so inspiring to meet these people.  People that are not afraid to have an adventure.  Not afraid to break away from the norm.  They are not afraid to follow their dream.  Not afraid to LIVE!!!!

From our anchorage we saw several whales flapping their tales making huge waves.
This went on for about 5 minutes, that we were aware of.

Another amazing sunset from the La Cruz anchorage

At the dock, Steve did some bicycle maintenance.  4 bikes lined up for gear-train maintenance.
We have not had the bikes down for a while and the salt water and air is taking it's toll on them.

Zappa cat has some funny ways to take a nap on the floor.  We did not curl
that tail.....

Riding bikes around towns is EXTREMELY bumpy!  Almost every road
in La Cruz is this bumpy.  The bikes have not seen much use in Mexico.

Riding along the marina waterfront, nice smooth concrete.  The anchorage is
in the background.  There are more than 50 cruising boats anchored here now.
A lot of these boats are waiting for the right conditions so they can do the "Pacific
Puddle Jump" crossing the Pacific in order to get the amazing south pacific.

John, Journey, and Cindy (sv Namaste) getting burrs out of Nanuk's fur.
This dog is a lucky dog!

After the rains and the runoff from shore brought brown water
 and debris all the way to the anchorage

A beautiful rainbow

One day we hopped on a cambio (a large 12 passenger, Nissan, minivan-type bus) and went to Bucerias.  Bucerias is the next town over and seems to be a very tourist-driven town.  The streets are filled with vendors selling everything imaginable.  But, it's not strictly and american tourist town, most of the tourists are actually Mexicans.  There is a fabulous statue on the waterfront that a local spent a few minutes telling us about.  Bucerias has been a seafairing town for centuries, and oysters have played a major role in it's formation.  The statue commemorates the oyster divers of Bucerias, and the importance they played in the creation of this thriving town.

Great sculpture in honor of the Bucerias oyster divers

Bucerias, the little town located between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta

Vendors are colorful, and plentiful in Bucerias

A few days later we jumped on a bus to go to the Puerto Vallarta airport to rent a car for the day.  This was the day after those big floods we already mentioned.  We were concerned that we might have some problems getting across the bridge, or perhaps we would end up stranded on the wrong side if the flood waters returned.  Fortunately for us, and everyone else down here, the flood waters had receded and both bridges were back in service with no discernible impact on normal life.  We rented the car so we could do a lot of provisioning.  We shopped at Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, AutoZone, Office Depot, Mega, Zaragozas Marine, and a few other small stores in a mall.  As you can see, shopping in Mexico (Puerto Vallerta) can be a lot like shopping back at home.   We filled the trunk of our car twice.  We made the most of our 24 hours with the rental car but really missed using it to visit inland.  Next time we will plan to have time to hike or visit some of the remote towns/villages here.

Cindy has been messing around with her recorder, trying to figure out a song she learned in band last year.  She spent a few minutes teaching Steve the song and here they are playing a duet.  Kevin playing along in the background with his favorite instrument, the whoopee cushion.

Steve and Cindy on recorders, Kevin on whoopee cushion

We are headed over to Paradise Village as family is coming this weekend.  We are really excited.  Also, we know that sv Stochastic is there with a friend for Cindy and Kevin to play with.  They are looking forward to seeing Sophie again.  We had hoped Chandro and Matero on sv Kenta Anae would be back from Canada when we were in La Cruz but they are not due back until next week so we will catch them in La Cruz in about a week after our time in Nuevo Vallarta at Paradise Village is over.

March 12, 2015 - Tres Mariatas, East Island

We woke up just before dawn to make a trip to the east island and visit a hidden beach.  Tourism is big out there and tour boats bringing hundreds of people every day start to arrive as early as 9AM, we soon found out.  We were there by 8AM and quickly got into the water, swam through the arch and into the hidden beach.  Once again we were the only people on the island so our experience was amazing.  We had the kids wear wetsuits once again since it was early and a bit chilly.  Steve ended up getting stung a few times by those seemingly invisible jellyfish.  I was lucky and survived without any.

The small beach was absolutely beautiful.   We can't imagine having to come here with tourists, they must be all over each other.  There were caves to explore and fun boogie boarding by the kids when the waves were good coming through the small tunnel-like opening.  We spent about 40 minutes ton the hidden beach and swam out just as a (Puerto) Vallarta Adventures catamaran (perhaps 80' long) was arriving with a large flock of tourists.  We swam directly to our boat and quickly got aboard, started the engines and untied from the buoy as we had tied to the one closest to the opening.  The tour boat immediately took the buoy we had just vacated.  Once we were out a ways, we shut down the engines and the kids jumped into the water to wash off some sand that got into their bathing suits.  What a way to start the day, having already seen an amazing site by 9am, without the crowds that would exist for the rest of the day.  The early bird gets the worm :-)

Our next stop was only a few hours into Banderas Bay at the La Cruz anchorage so we were anchored by 12noon, in very familiar surroundings.

Just before swimming in the tunnel to the hidden beach.
BTW - everyone loves Kevin's swim goggles!  They look like sunglasses.

Cindy on the small beach, checking out the rocks
 that she obtained by diving for them.

Cactus living on the edge of the crater

Looking at the hidden beach from the tunnel entrance

Adagio as seen through the tunnel.

inside view of the crater and it's hidden beach

View from the opposite side of the crater.

Exploring the cave at one end of the crater.

Cindy and Kevin from the cave area, looking toward the beach

Kids boogie boarding in the entrance tunnel, and a look around the crater.

Cindy and Kevin rinsing the sand off after we left the buoy

Puerto Vallarta Adventures taking over the buoy that we "borrowed"
in the early morning.

Pictures from the internet showing the crater and beach

March 10, 2015 - Punta de Mita

Yes, we have been here before when we traveled southbound.  We wanted to stop here as the previous visit was quick and it does seem to be a wonderful location.  After leaving Tres Marietas, we came here in the afternoon and planned to spend a day or two prior to a trip over to La Cruz.  This town is quite different than La Cruz in that this is entirely tourism based.  This is a small town catering to some higher end condominiums and resorts with golf courses.  On our short voyage we were again treated to sights of whales near by.  We had planned to stay here and possibly go out to the area where you can surf, back toward the outside of the bay, just using our dinghy.  This time here though there has been no swell and we see no pangas taking people out surfing.  We never did go out there surfing.

There are some nice resorts at Punta De Mita

The anchorage.  it got quite busy as this seems to be the starting point north
or south when leaving Banderas Bay.  When we arrived there were just a few boats.

We had noticed a Mexican Navy vessel come in and anchor.  Low and behold at about 5pm they lowered an inflatable boat with three gentleman and started visiting the anchored vessels.  They got to us fairly quickly which was nice.  They asked to board so one man stayed in the boat and one with a gun on our swim step and the last came aboard and did the usual checking of our papers and asking Steve his age, again!  I made a quick mention that we were boarded yesterday in Chamela.  They are so very nice though so no complaints on our part.  This time they asked if we had any guns onboard.  Steve made a joke stating just the one back there on the swimstep, speaking of the Mexican navy fellow on our swimstep armed with a machine gun.  He laughed.  Sometimes we are more serious if they are, but this group was very easy going and friendly.

After we anchored earlier that day, we heard traffic on VHF 22 which has been very quiet since leaving Tenecatita many days ago.  We heard our old friends sv Flying Squirrel hail another vessel so we hailed them soon after.  We knew they were headed north soon and that they may have still been in Nuevo Vallarta.  Through heavy static we understood they were leaving that evening from the marina and headed north.  We asked them to hail us when they are passing by so we could chat for a few minutes.  That evening to our surprise they headed right next to us and told us they planned to anchor overnight.  What a wonderful surprise!  They came over after dinner and the kids had one last sleepover.  Dave, Amy, Steve and I got to chat in the pilothouse while the kids talked and watched a movie in the salon.  Morgan and Matthew stayed the night and the kids had one last time to be together.  sv Flying Squirrel was headed north in the morning.  They are planning to bash their way up Baja hitting San Diego by early June so we may not see them again.  But we might see them in San Fransisco (where they lived before this trip) or if they end up settling in Denver (Where we could see them if we go visit Kathy's brother and family).

Another beautiful sunset, sv Fying Squirrel in the photo

Morgan and Matthew waiting for us to pick them up with our dinghy

Morgan and Cindy fishing and giving Zappa fresh fish for dessert

Brown Boobie Bird on our Bow - heheheheheheh

Pelicans flying by, they skim the water so gracefully

That brown Boobie bird looking right at me

They are very graceful birds.  Their feathers are so fine they look like fur.

sv Flying Squirrel leaving, heading northbound

Walking through town in Punta de Mita

March 10, 2015 - Tres Marietas, West Island

We arrived just after the sun came up, perfect timing with no boats there.   Our overnight passage had come to an end, and we were within 15 minutes of our ETA after travelling for almost 15 hours.  What better way to start the day than to have whales extremely close by; they were swimming between the islands.  The sight continues to amaze and humble us.

It was interesting and stressful to try to tie onto the metal can park buoy there.  Our bow is too high to grab the buoy from there so we have to back up to the buoy.  The conditions were a bit windy and rough which bounced the can buoy around enough that it was hitting the swimstep with a resounding boom.  We finally got a line attached to the buoy but quickly discovered we could not easily take it around to the bow so we had to back up to it one more time and put a much longer line through the metal ring with a plan to walk it along the side of the boat with Steve driving in hopes of staying close enough to continue to hold both ends of the line that Kathy had placed through the ring.  Passing the line through the ring would allow us to leave the buoy without having to go to the buoy to untie a line.  The line went from boat, to buoy, and back to the boat.  To leave we simply untied one end of the line from the boat and pulled it through the buoy's ring.  Quick and easy.  We got it to the bow on the first try and we were able to get all tied up.  We then put the dinghy down, deployed the anchor stabilizer poles as it was a bit rolly, and started our adventure.

We had the kids wear wetsuits as it was only 8am and we were worried that if we were snorkeling they may be cold.  Of course we started a hike and then Kevin got too warm.  What a beautiful island that we had all to ourselves.  That was until about 10am when the first boats started arriving and we quickly left the area.  There are only a few buoys and some large boats come out with tourists.  They have priority, and we certainly didn't want to have any sort of conflict with the locals.

Cindy's favorite place on the dinghy is on the bow.

We drove the dinghy through a tunnel, and this was a "skylight" in the ceiling.

Heading to the little tunnel through the island.

Cindy looking for submerged hazards.

Going through the tunnel.  It was pretty cool.

We drove the dinghy through a tunnel, and this was a "skylight" in the ceiling.

Kevin prefers to lay on a tube, sometimes dragging one foot in the water.

Leaving the dinghy on the beach.  Very soft sand.  Clear waters.

We walked under this arch to get to the beach on the other side.

The island is very rugged and covered with a variety of hearty grasses.

Hiking the self-guided nature walk.  Signs explained many features of the
island, and it's inhabitants.

Climbing a very crude trail.  It seems to lead to a
cave of some kind.

Inside the quite large cave at the end of the trail.

This is a natural tunnel, located at one end of the cave.
It came out the other side of the big rock hill.

Spectacular scenery everywhere you look.

Playing in the clear waters.

We took the dinghy under several arches today.  It is kind of exciting and
not something we ever got to do back home.

A pair of blue footed boobies.  

There were a lot of blue footed boobies on this island.  What a treat to see!

We we the only people on the island, so we feel like we were observing the
birds in their natural habitat.  In a few hours there would be at hundreds of tourists
here, arriving by tour boats of all shapes and sizes.

Adagio was the only boat here.  But, this is why we planned an 8:00AM arrival.
We wanted to be here before all the tour boats arrived.

Vulture and Boobie birds

Whales are very abundant in Banderas Bay.

It never gets old seeing a whale tail surface then gracefully disappear.

Hundreds of bird flocking above some fish that are in some kind of frenzy,
stirring up the waters.

Here you can see how turbulent the fish have made the water.  The birds are
just waiting grab the unsuspecting fish.

From Wikipedia:

The Marietas Islands were originally formed many thousands of years ago by volcanic activity, and are completely uninhabited. The islands are about an hour long boat ride west-northwest from the coast of Puerto Vallarta and are visited daily by hundreds of tourists, yet no one can legally set foot on the islands.In the early 1900s the Mexican government began conducting military testing on the islands because no one lived there. Many bombings and large explosions took place on the islands causing amazing caves and rock formations to be created. After a massive international outcry, started by scientist Jacques Cousteau in the late 1960s, the government eventually decided to label the islands a national park and therefore protected against any fishing, hunting or human activity.