AdventuresAboardAvatar: Mexican Gold Coast

Ahoy Mates! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Barra de Navidad with our friends Rick and Lorie. They have lived in a house there since the late 1990s. They have a small but deep pool at their house, perfect for cooling down in the hot humid tropical air. Their dog "Cielo" (means Heaven) is part lab and loves to swim for the ball. Sophie was not so into it. She likes being in water where she can touch bottom. We had a feast with them and their Mexican family, learning the tradition of American Thanksgiving.
We sailed north again to Tenacatita for snorkeling and a jungle river cruise. We could really see the damage to the Mangrove trees from Hurricane Patricia, just 3 weeks earlier. Still saw lots of birds and people rebuilding their Palapa roofed restaurants on the beach.
After a couple days there, we sailed up the coast. As we passed Punta Farallon we saw the Copa del Sol. Rick told us it was just art work of one rich guy trying to out do another one! We cruised through Bahia Careyes, where the old Club Med Playa Blanca used to be. It is a bit open there and a big swell was rolling in from the South, so we decided to move on. Paraiso, we thought would be perfect, protected from the South and lots of places to snorkel. Looked nice when we got there. We had a picnic lunch on a private beach and watched the hermit crabs fight over new shells and a Frito that Mike dropped in the sand. It was a lovely afternoon of lounging and beach combing. But when we got back to the boat, the wind had switched to the West and a swell was lurching the boat wildly. Being on a Lee shore (wind blowing us toward the beach), it was time to leave ASAP. So we motor sailed the rest of the afternoon and made it to Chamela just before sunset. The next day we explored and snorkeled around the islands in the bay. This was what we had been looking for! Clear water and fishies all around the rocks to look at!! The dolphins in this bay like to come and scratch themselves on anchor chain. This was simply amazing to watch!
We went exploring on isolated beach with black and white mixing sand on the South Island, which ended up being a bit of a surf landing. This was our first, and thinking we were prepared, we had our beach wheels down and we made it to the sand with out too much problem. Spent a little time exploring and getting Sophie to run around and get some exercise. When we tried leaving, we had the timing all wrong with the waves and a big one crashed over top of the bow and landed on Sophie on the floor of the dingy. As we washed back up the beach, she decided she was out of there and jumped in and ran up to dry sand. I went to get her, while Mike bailed out the water. Attempt # 2 went better and we made it off the beach, but not without shipping some more water. We will have to get better at those beach landings!!
We sailed back to the North end of the bay where we staid for a couple of days relaxing and exploring the little town of Perula. It was a very quiet sleepy little fishing village, but had lots of palapa restaurants to choose from. We had heard Hurricane Patricia had wiped out the banana plantations, uprooting most of the trees, and 4000 people were out of jobs. Apparently the damage caused by this storm was much more felt inland and up in the mountains, than on the coast. Most of the places we saw faired well, or the damage had been cleaned up fast.
We headed up the coast with our new Australian cruising friends on Koza, a 49 foot Beneteau that they bought in Turkey and are sailing home. They have been on their way now for 6 years and still the Pacific Ocean away. They are fun and interesting, like most of the other amazing people living on boats and exploring the world by sea. On the way we stopped over night at a little cove called Ipala, where some kids swam out to our boats and tried to sell us fish. The teen boy said the town of about 150 people was celebrating founders day and that is why all the music and singing coming from the beach. With big surf and and us wanting to leave early the next morning, we decided not to go ashore. Rounding Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents), we entered Bandaras Bay. 25 by 24 miles it is a very big bay, with huge jungle covered mountains dropping into the South side, and sheltering Puerto Vallarta at the head of the bay.
This is the land of plenty again. Lots of other boats, 3 marinas and tons of people and tourists. We are anchored in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (pronounced wana cox lee) which is on the NE corner of the bay. The marina here has a dingy dock and it is easy to get ashore from the anchorage. There is a party next weekend, so we will stay a while!
Hope you enjoy the photos!
Shelly