Son Saturday morning, we spent a final morning in Matanchen Bay, waiting for wind to carry us on south towards the next stop, Chacala. Wonderful jungle and mountain scenery around the bay – Emma took a good panorama:
When ashore, we left our dinghy in the hands of Tony and Rodriguez, where we managed to get our first coconut drinks of the trip 🙂
Usually any wind there is comes along around midday. With Chacala only being 20 or so miles away, there was no point motoring in the morning and sitting around at anchor during the windy afternoon, so we were in no rush. After a short while motoring, a little breeze came in and we managed to get the spinnaker up for the rest of the afternoon.
Dropped the hook in the bay just as the sun was starting to give some colour to the dramatic skies forming in the west. A storm out in the Pacific was pumping up some impressive cumulus clouds, and also sending some good sized swell into the anchorage. To stop the boat from turning side-on to the waves when the wind dropped off, which would make it too rolly to sleep, we set out a stern anchor to hold the back of the boat towards the beach and the bow towards the incoming waves.
With both anchors set and holding well, we rowed ashore to find a mojito. Chacala (the beach front at least, we didn’t explore more) seems like a lovely little place, no big hotels or condos; just a few bars on the sand and houses amongst the palms rising up onto the hills around town. The dinner menu was too tempting, so we ended up filling our bellies with nachos too, before heading back to the boat. A beach bar was thumping out music well into the wee hours, which turned into karaoke at 3 in the morning – so the night wasn’t peaceful.
We woke ourselves up with a swim to the beach for breakfast and fresh coffee in the sunshine. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Sunday 14th
Leaving Chacala mid-morning, we motored and sailed 40 miles to Punta de Mita, just inside the northern end of Banderas Bay. We anchored as the sun was setting, and had a tranquil night at anchor.
Monday 15th
Set off in a light morning breeze for La Cruz, further along the northern shore of the bay. La Cruz is a popular spot to anchor, with a marina, shore services and a community of people that spend months here on end. It was the busiest anchorage since La Paz, but plenty of space for loads of boats. Pretty hot, and not much breeze. I scrubbed weed and barnacles off the bottom while the girls relaxed, and then we explored ashore when it got cooler in the late afternoon. Not many people around. It feels like the off-season; maybe the Christmas peak hasn’t come yet, or maybe tourism is just bad this year? A nice little town though, I can see why people prefer to be up here rather than down in the big city of Puerto Vallarta.
Tuesday 16th
Anchor up again in the morning, for a short 5 miles down to Paradise Village marina where we planned to be based for the next few weeks. Ended up waaay down the end of the marina, in a slip by a casino, car park and road – not ideal. We made use of the pool, had showers, and spent some time online. Being a long way up an estuary, the water was dead calm and there wasn’t a breath of wind – which made for the calmest night since we were at El Cid marina over 2 weeks ago. It’s only when the boat stops moving completely do you realise that at anchor the boat is always moving, even just a tiny bit.
Wednesday 17th
Next day we caught a couple of buses into the centre of Puerto Vallarta to explore. I also wanted to check out the other marina in the area, to see whether it was worth moving, and if they had any spaces. Turned out that there was plenty of room, and it looked like a much nicer place to be based. Fortunately we’re only paying day-by-day up at Paradise Village. We wandered along the malecon (beach front), did some Christmas shopping, and then took a series of 3 buses back up to the boat.
Paradise Village is in Nuevo Vallarta – a few miles up the coast from Puerto Vallarta. It’s a “beach resort and spa” – full of tourists, shops and tackiness. There’s a yacht club there which appears to be the social hub of sailing in Banderas Bay, but again it seemed really quiet – we stopped in for a drink before making a basic dinner aboard.
Thursday 18th
Last day with Emma! It’s been an awesome couple of weeks, seeing a load of different aspects of Mexico – from the remote island of Isabella to the dusty, hot streets of San Blas, and the bustle of Puerto Vallarta. While I went and sorted out the marina fees, the girls cleaned the boat; emptied water tanks, filled with fresh water and prepared to move the boat down to Marina Vallarta, about 5 miles further south.
With Rafiki settled in her new slip, we spent the day doing errands and chores. I checked the boat in with the Capitania de Puerto; basic paperwork that needs to be done at each major port. Some ports are OK with just a radio check in / out, but as we’re leaving the boat here for a while, it’s good to be on their records properly. Turns out the slip they gave us is right next to Jeff on Amante! Just time for a final beer as the sun set over the marina, up in the old lighthouse, and then goodbyes before we jump on the bus up to Mexico City to meet Rose’s tribe.
Road and Ocean 