View of Banderas Bay looking north from old Puerto Vallarta

Looking out over El Centro de Puerto Vallarta

My mother, my sister Ann, her husband Brian and their daughters Emily and Hannah came to visit me in Banderas Bay after Christmas. We took a couple of days to sail to Punta de Mita and La Cruz. After we returned to Paradise Village Marina, where the boat was staying, we took some land trips. One was to the old, charming section of Puerto Vallarta. We had a lovely lunch at El Campanario near the church and then walked across the river to visit my friend Denise Hitzman and her family. They were staying in a gorgeous apartment overlooking the bay and we had a brief but wonderful gathering of the two families.

Cruisers having fun on Christmas Day at Arroyos Verdes

Musicians from 3 different bands jamming, mostly gypsy jazz

Lupe, owner of Arroyos Verdes being an amazing hostess

Aldabra crew member Dax enjoying the music

On Christmas Day many cruisers in Banderas Bay accepted the invitation of Lupe Dipp to spend the day at her resort near Bucerias. Arroyos Verdes has a variety of units to rent on grounds covered by beautiful vegetation and artwork. We sat around the pool, listened to gypsy jazz music, ate a delicious meal and generally celebrated.

Tom Carr and his wife Annie are visiting from Santa Cruz, California and they have a rental car. So they generously agreed to drive to San Sebastian del Oeste with Don and Anne (who are here from Santa Cruz on their boat Redwood Coast II) and me. San Sebastian is about a two-hour drive into the mountains east of La Cruz. As soon as you leave the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta, you enter lush green countryside. San Sebastian is a traditional town. It was founded as a mining town during the early Spanish colonial period. On the day we visited, it was very quiet. One family was having a large birthday party for their three-year old daughter, which may have been why the streets were almost empty. We enjoyed walking around looking at the buildings and imagining how peaceful it would be to stay for a bit. We had a nice lunch in a hotel in the town center. We bought wonderful pastries from a panaderia and some tequila produced locally.

The town center in San Sebastian

Building facing the town center in San Sebastian

Children playing ball near the town center

Tom and Annie and Don and Anne

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

San Sebastian has a mining history. Assuming this statue is a tribute to miners

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

Enjoying a quiet traditional Mexican lunch

Our little group standing in the town center

The main tourist attraction in this village is this beach

Looking from the village onto the beach

The main form of transportation in Yelapa is horseback. There are no cars

This mule carries the supplies for either a resort or a rich gringo’s house

Lots of guest houses and private gringo homes around this point

Aldabra on a mooring in Yelapa

A view toward Yelapa village and pier

Looking up the river that flows into Yelapa

Walking along the river in Yelapa

We spent two days in Yelapa, which is south across Banderas Bay from La Cruz. There are no cars. Narrow cobblestone roads are used for walking, horseback and some used of small quads. There are lots of guest houses and various retreats. Also private palapas owned by gringos. Walking around the area, especially up the river and back is very picturesque. The beach is very touristy. People come in on boats for the day. But for those who stay for a few days, it looks like there is a night life with good food and music. The anchorage was really rolly. We were tied up to a mooring buoy at the bow and another one at the stern. But the wind direction shifts at night so the wind is pushing you one way and the swell pushing you another. It didn’t appear that there was a good place to land a dinghy so we used water taxis. But they are scarce after dark so staying on shore for the evening wasn’t an option unless one were to make some sort of prior arrangement. We returned from Yelapa to La Cruz on Thursday morning, December 8, in time for Ted to catch a flight back home.

La Cruz streets are quiet during the day

We’re in a marina in the charming town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Banderas Bay on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Just like everywhere we’ve been since sailing over to the Pacific Coast from Baja, the cruisers are very welcoming, friendly and helpful.

We’ve met sailors who have sailed thousands of ocean miles as well as sailors who just like to live and sail in Mexico. It was especially fun to meet Jack on Fleetwood, who has until February to finish his circumnavigation before he turns 80.

We’ve been in La Cruz for a week. We left Chacala on Sunday night and arrived here before dawn on Monday. Rather than enter a strange marina in the dark, we anchored, got some sleep and entered the marina a little after nine. That afternoon we took a bus into Puerto Vallarta to a marine supply store, where I bought a new dinghy and motor to replace those stolen in Matanchen Bay. The new dinghy and motor were delivered to me at the marina the following day.

I plan to use La Cruz and Banderas Bay as a home port for the next several weeks. It’s good place to get some work done on the boat. And it’s good launching off spot to take a few short trips to other parts of the bay.

While in La Cruz we’ve enjoyed the street food and restaurants and the local Sunday crafts/food market. There are also lots of gatherings and activities among the cruisers and we have participated a bit. I’m looking forward to the Banderas Bay Blast, which is 3 days of casual racing coming up soon. In the mean time, we will head over tomorrow to the village of Yelapa, across the bay. We’ll stay a couple of days and then head back to La Cruz. It has been raining here so it’s a good time to take a little trip now that the weather has improved.

A view of Chacala from the boat

After leaving Mazatlan, we sailed overnight to Isla Isabel. We anchored for the day on the eastern side of the island, just off a beach with nesting blue-footed boobies and other sea birds. It was my first opportunity to snorkel since leaving San Diego. The water was clear with lots of reef fish. There were no other visiting boats.

That evening we sailed overnight to Matanchen Bay, south of San Blas. Matanchen is a large, shallow bay with very little activity, except for fisherman and their nets in the middle of the night. There was one other boat anchored in the bay when we arrived. After resting up, we took the dinghy up to San Blas. It was a long, wet ride but it was fun to check out the town and the marina. The next morning a couple  of us took the dinghy up a nearby river on our own personal meandering jungle tour. We saw crocodiles and a variety of birds. That afternoon, Don and Anne arrived in the bay on Redwood Coast II. To celebrate Thanksgiving we had dinner together at a palapa on the beach. We were the only customers.

That night I stupidly failed to lock the dinghy to the boat, and someone cut the line and took the dinghy with motor, anchor, wheels and fuel tank. Don and Anne and I cruised the bay the next morning to see if the dinghy had been abandoned, but we saw no sign. We then pulled up the anchor and went into San Blas to make a report with the port captain and the police. After spending the night in the San Blas marina, we headed to Chacala and spent a couple of nights enjoying this small but vibrant beach town, popular with Mexican families. It was fun to sit under a thatched roof with dozens of families enjoying their beach day. Don and Anne were there as well and loaned us their spare dinghy.