La Cruz, Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta

PV Holiday with Eleanor, Holly, Su and Liz

April, 2017

We arrived in PV slightly ahead of our crew to get provisioned and we got to spend a little time with Christopher and Diana Dent (COLIBRI)

Christopher had spent many years holidaying with his girls in PV, and  was very familiar with the city & the beaches.  We picked the Dents up from the La Cruz marina and headed into the city, enjoyed lunch, drinks and a foot massage on the beach in Puerto Vallarta.

  We took the opportunity to drive to the home where Christopher stayed while on holiday, and say HI to the family who looks after the home.  It was a very sentimental place for Christopher and there were many tears of joy when he reconnected with the family there.   

                           

            

It was where Christopher and Diana got engaged !!!

The Dents headed back to Bend on Saturday and we were glad that our time in PV and La Cruz coincided so we could visit with them.

Eleanor, Holly and Su arrived Friday evening …. and after a little searching around the resort, we managed to find Liz, a dear friend of Eleanor’s, who had made the two day trek from her home in Carretera (Central Mexico) to spend the week with us.  She was our interpreter for the week, speaking fluent Spanish, as well as our storyteller, keeping us entertained (and often astounded) by her MANY adventures. 

Our first full day (Saturday) was spent getting acclimated, checking out Paradise Village and the resort’s beaches, its many pools, and taking a little tender trip up the "river" at the marina to look for crocs.  No crocs (thankfully) but there was some wildlife.....

The following day (Sunday) El, Liz, Cam and I drove around to La Cruz’s colorful open air market .....

  .... had lunch at one of the marina’s restaurant, after which we headed into Bucerias to check out the stall markets .....
   then back to Paradise Village marina where we met up with Holly and Su for happy hour and a very refreshing dunk at the pool  !

Then ... dinner on SEA LEVEL .....

Monday we took SEA LEVEL around to Yelapa, a charming little town only accessible by water, where we anchored and went to shore by panga.  Liz had been before as had Holly, albeit many years ago.  

We wandered along the beach .... 

 ....past a lagoon full of turkey vultures, towards the townsite.

Yelapa is built on a hillside ....

so there are MANY stairs to climb .... 

with stops to catch our breath .....

.... and beautiful views from the top.

Then we headed back down to the beach to enjoy lunch  and have a little rest ..... 
under a palapa in Yelapa !!!!

The wind began to pick up, so Cam beetled back to the boat to make sure all was well and that Sea Level was holding.  All good …. 
We then headed back to PV.

Tuesday was our day to explore Puerto Vallarta’s Old Town and take a walk down the malecon…. GREAT people watching …. And lunch on the beach at a fabulous restaurant called La Palapa.

Wednesday, Cam and his crew took SEA LEVEL across the bay to La Cruz (& I brought Liz's van around to meet them ).... 

The marina in La Cruz has great restaurants and great kayaking and paddle boarding.

The interesting breakwater with a bit of La Cruz in the background ....

Thursday we drove to Sayulita and San Francisco … two beach areas known for their surfing.  The towns were very quaint and the beaches were stunning.  

Again, got to enjoy lunch on the beach in (yet another) San Francisco, then home for a dunk in the pool followed by a FABULOUS dinner at 
Masala Restaurant in La Cruz.

A little wander through La Cruz on the way home found us in the middle of a festival ....

Our wonderful crew departed on Friday afternoon and we prepared for our trip across to the baja & Puerto Los Cabos …. A 38 hour non-stop run.

We have had many laughs and shared lots of fun times with our GREAT crew over this last week …. Miss them already ….

Friday evening we enjoyed a beautiful dinner at Frascati, one of the           marina’s restaurants, with Bob Senter and Stan and Diane Heirshberg                                                     (CROSSROADS).                                                             Diane was recovering from a serious encounter between the clutch bar on their windlass & her leg, just days before,  resulting in a quick run to a surgeon in PV and many stitches ….. but she managed to hang in through                                    dinner and we had a fun evening.                                                               

CROSSROADS .... a Nordie 57

                          

 It was great to meet the Heirshbergs and to see Bob again !!

We departed La Cruz at 6 AM  on Saturday and  “hobby horsed” our way across to the Baja for the first 32 hours of 38 hour trip !   L

Brutal …. 

But we arrived in Puerto Los Cabos safe and sound, and none the worse for wear.  
Initially, our plan was to overnite and spend the day in San Jose del Cabo, but with it being a holiday (who knew !?!) most everything was closed.  So … after a well deserved good night's rest, we carried on to Bahia Muertos, dropped anchor and enjoyed another well deserved sleep !!

Then home to Costa Baja in La Paz …. Where we spent a few days buttoning up the boat and getting her ready for leaving through the summer months, until our return in November (where we look forward to connecting up the with CUBAR 2017 gang in La Paz !!!