We arrived Dec. 7 rounding Cabo Corrientes from the South. On Tuesday we checked in with the Port Captain and then took a bus to visit our old friend Robbie in Nuevo Vallarta. We had a great lunch on the beach and he dropped us off to do some shopping at a big grocery store. Wed. we had to catch up on some chores we had been procrastinating on, but then Thurs. took the bus all the way to old town PV where we played tourist. Puerto Vallarta is a lovely town hanging on the jungle covered hills right down to a beach with sometimes big breakers. The first street is called "Olas Altas" which means high waves! The big crowned church is where Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton. They were ready for Christmas with all the decorations out and lots of other tourists getting away from the cold North. A new pier was built to take people out to the remote beaches including Yelapa waterfalls. On Friday Talion showed up and we had a La Paz regulars reunion at Philo's Bar. The next day we nursed our hang overs as we watched the heavy rains find every little possible place to leak into the boat.
We signed up to race in the Bandaras Bay Blast, a three day around the bay fun race. The first day was a bouy race and we sailed with Patsy on Talion with a bunch of old and new friends. We flew her Orca spinnaker and won that race. Then the 14th it was a race out to Punta de Mita (the North point of the bay). We had a hard time with the currents in the light fluky winds, so we motored in so we were not late for the party. We all were spanked in as members of the Punta de Mita Yacht and Surf Club, which only meets this one day a year. This area of the bay is very swanky and a lot is off limits to mere mortals like ourselves with many movie stars and high muckity mucks that own a lot of the town. A group of small children came and performed traditional Mexican dances for us and they were adorable! The next day we did well in the down wind race back to Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta. We flew our orange party spinnaker with the champagne glass and bubbles. We did get lots of compliments on that. I now realize that has to be an original piece of equipment since the original name of Avatar was Bubbles!! We had a great time at the Pirate Party at the Vallarta Yacht Club. We took advantage of the free slip at the marina and the next day toured the resort and went up the estuary looking for crocodiles, but all we found was big iguanas and really nice rich people's houses with their big yachts tied up out front. It is a beautiful place.
We went back and anchored in La Cruz so we could go to the concert of Luna Rumba at Philos. They are an amazing Mexican rock/salsa band that had a number one hit last year. The guy who plays the electric fiddle (violin) was awesome! On the 17th we filled up with diesel and went shopping. On the 18th, Shelly went to the ladies luncheon for Women Who Sail group. We had several speakers who talked about everything from facing our fears at sea to hearing the triumphs of sailing women. It was quite inspirational and held poolside at a lovely hotel in Bucerieas. We staid thru the 19th so we could meet up with old cruising friends at Philo's Memorial. Philo who recently passed at the end of last summer was a great musician who fell in love with the little town of La Cruz and made it his home. His sister Deb and beautiful wife Maria and their kids are keeping the place going in honor of his memory. There were at least 300 people as well as bunch of musicians who came to celebrate his life. The music, dancing and company was excellent! And it was so fun seeing our old friends from the mid 2000s, some of whom are now CLODs. A CLOD is Cruiser Living on Dirt.
That is not us yet as we have many more miles to sail!! The next day we started North to Mazatlan for Christmas.
Mike by a big tree in old town PV
Shelly by a huge Banyan Tree downtown PV
The famous church with all the Christmas decorations
crown details on the church
cool old door
The famous Philo's Bar
Mike bailing out the dingy from all the rain!!
Talion passing the race leader!
Patsy's Orca spinnaker
View of the racing fleet from Punta de Mita Yacht and Surf Club
Precious little girls
Boys dressed in costume
Kids showing off their dancing skills
Our friends and clients at the Pirate Party Vallarta Yacht Club
Paradise Village from estuary
Muppet man lives on the stage drums
The crowd at the party
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