Leaving San Blas we stopped for night anchorages in Chacala
and Punta Mita before arriving in Puerto Vallarta to meet up with Simon, Gavin,
and Gavin’s girlfriend Cass. For Greg, as he has stayed here at a nearby hotel
on numerous golf trips, arriving in PV at Marina Vallarta felt almost like a
homecoming. First task was to berth the boat for a month. After visiting for a
week with the kids we will leave the boat and head back to Canada for 3 weeks.
The kidlets arrived on the afternoon of the 30th with
fireworks in their eyes, people to see, and places to go. Their U-Vic buddy, Armando, is a local PV’er and
he and his girlfriend, Sophia, joined us for dinner and drinks before the gang
departed for a headstart on New Years.
The following night Alice and Greg hung out with the young’uns until
just before the gong and then, returning to the boat, we successfully nudged
the clock past the midnight hour so as to be able to watch the fireworks from
the cockpit. The younger party crowd were of course sufficiently energized to
see both the fireworks and later from the beach, morning sunrise too.
January 1st was a lay day, so to speak. But on the morning of the second, with
receding hangovers, the young crowd jumped on the boat for an overnighter. When it comes to finding good places to be,
local knowledge is a wonderful thing and Armando made a damn good guide. First stop were the sea caves at Los
Arcos. With the boat standing off from
the rocky shore, everyone got a chance to jump off and snorkel in the
caves. Next stop was Las Animas
beach. Here we dropped our hook and
headed in to one of the coolest restaurants we have ever seen, with multi-level
hillside tables, hipster outdoor décor and a crowd of people where it seems
only the beautiful need apply for entry.
Armando was welcomed by this crowd as some
sort of returning soldier and several magical afternoon hours were spent over
cervesas, agave root Tequila (basically moonshine), plates of ceviche and other
morsels tasty, sweet and hot.
Returning with some reluctance to the boat we upped anchor
and headed for Yelapa. Alice has
previously visited this boat access only town and her description of the
anchorage made both of us wary of what we feared would be a place where the
gods of rock and roll rule, wielding swords of pitch, roll and yaw. Alice was not wrong. But neither was Armando: taking in the
situation with a glance, during dinner ashore he called up a buddy he knows who
runs one of the local palapas on the beach and arranged for a room with beds
for five. Thus were queasy youthful
stomachs spared the predicted indignity of a rocky night. The two elderly stomachs, having been
previously hardened to such circumstances, stayed on the boat and a satisfactory
sleep was had by all.
For young travellers, the town of Sayulita exerts a powerful
magnetism. After returning from the Yelapa boat trip the kids planned a couple
of days there. We joined said kidlets
for what was meant for us to be a daytrip, but we were persuaded to also rent a
room. We realized afterwards this was
our first shore sleep in 2-1/2 months. We played Bata ball on the beach, tried
surfing and of course enjoyed the continuing pleasures of leisure-time meals,
drinks and rays.
Such has been our life in Mexico,
and now we fly home to Vancouver for a brief respite from the sun. Alice will
carry on and visit family in Ontario and Greg will fit in a few days of tending
to business. We evidently have missed
some fierce winter weather, but according to all reports the winds of winter
will still be serving us some of what you all at home have already been
feasting on. Time to strap on some skis!
Best BBQ chicken in the whole world and served with potatoes and peppers.
Lunch spot on the way to Yelapa.
Me and the dark guy.
