Paradise Village

As soon as the Admiral received word that we had a spot at Paradise Village Marina, Perception was off her hook and steaming for Puerto Vallarta at the head of Banderas Bay. It was a lucky thing too, as the tide was falling and the entrance to the marina was shut down for a few hours due to shoaling soon after we passed through. We pulled into our assigned slip on the first dock inside the marina where we would have a front row view to all boat traffic for the duration of our stay.

We weren’t disappointed by the accommodations. The marina was tucked in behind the Paradise Village Beach Resort and Spa, to which we had access as part of our slip fees. It wasn’t long after arriving that the crew was headed for the pools on the shore side of the hotel. During the week we quickly returned to the routine established in Mazatlán – spending days (or late afternoons for those unfortunate enough to be working) by the pool with a drink.

Grace impressed by winning a “name that TV show theme song” contest by the pool, beating out the other Gen Z and younger participants even though she really never watches TV. I was happy with the prize – a set of drink vouchers which were well used and much appreciated.

In our slip I enjoyed watching the boat traffic stream by from the marina out into Banderas Bay. I soon began to learn the tour boat routines by heart, especially one by “Ricky Ricardo” on the Mega Yacht Tour as his introductory and final speeches blared from the tour boat’s loudspeakers as they passed by Perception. We were also entertained by the panga fisherman casting their nets nearby, apparently practicing their trade even in the waters of the marina. Maybe one should stick to land animals for dinner here…

Tequila, Jalisco

For our first weekend in Banderas Bay we wanted to do a shore excursion to see some of the surrounding area. I needed to do some boat maintenance on Saturday, so we decided to go up to Tequila in the central valleys nearby on Sunday. Melinda worked her magic to arrange a rental car, get a hotel for us, and research things to do in Tequila. I unfortunately managed to wrench my lower back trying to get a suitcase out of the forepeak, so was gimping around for most of the trip – at least there would be ample alcoholic pain relief built in to the destination!

On the way to Tequila, as the road climbed into the jungle, we began to see a progression of signs warning us about animals we might encounter on the road. Some were fascinating, like the jaguar, puma, snake, and armadillo. Others were odd, like the deer with massive cartoonish antlers, or the goose in flight (maybe they were low-flying??). Of course the most real and dreaded sign of all was of the “reductor”, or speed bump. These particular road hazards were guaranteed to be encountered, typically came in pairs, and would cause the driver to cry out “REDUCTOR!!” to warn the passengers, especially any in the back seat, of the impending collision.

We never did see any of the animals pictured as we sped along the roadway, but the scenery was wonderful and it was fun imagining what we might encounter.

As we passed over the coastal hills and started descending into the dry central valleys near Magdalena and Tequila we began to see fields of blue agave. The plants made a striking appearance with their neat rows of blue-gray plants stretching into the distance.

The central part of Tequila was a bit of a challenge to navigate. The narrow streets were packed with autos, pedicabs, and tourists on foot. It was not oppressive, but rather enjoyable to step out onto the streets. Melinda had booked an afternoon tour of the Souza distillery in town, conveniently located near our hotel, so we made our way there on foot.

On the way we stopped in for lunch at a taco bar off the main square. We posed for a selfie mugshot in front of the main church in Tequila, the Church of Santiago Apostol, which had been built in the 18^th century. Further on we came across a Danza de los Voladores, or Dance of the Flyers, and gawped skywards as they spun around the top of their 30 meter pole.

This ritual is storied to have begun centuries in the past to appease the gods and bring rain. We wondered what they would do as they approached the ground, since they were inverted all the way down. As their topknots neared the stones of the plaza below, they flipped themselves upright to land on their feet. Quite the show!

The time for our tour was rapidly approaching, so we hot-footed it up to Casa Souza where the tour would begin. We checked in and were taken to a trolley-like bus that would take us up to one of the blue agave fields for a demonstration of the growing and harvesting processes. Arriving at the fields, the ladies were immediately put to work planting agave. I was given a pass due to my back pain, but both Melinda and Grace were given the opportunity to use a grubbing hoe to dig and plant an agave start.

At the field we were also given a demonstration of the harvesting process, as a worker efficiently used his coa de jima to slice the leaves off of a piña (pineapple), or heart of the plant. Afterwards they let me stand triumphantly with the coa de jima for a picture, to fool you into thinking I’d done something useful. In reality it was nice to hold the tool as a crutch for my testy backbone!

As we were starting to crisp in the sun, we were trundled back onto the trolley and taken back into town. We disembarked at the distillery and were ushered into the cool aging vaults of the Sauza factory. The barrels stretched into the dim distance, awing us with the sheer volume and potential of alcoholic beverage.

Melinda was happy to see that a cask of Hornitos Black Barrel up front had been reserved specially for our former President Barak Obama. I wondered when he would be by to collect?

Some of the storage tanks and aging casks were of incredible size. The largest wooden cask we saw could hold almost 40,000 liters of tequila. The largest steel tank was over 162,000 liters – enough to satisfy even my thirst for a beverage. There were at least 42 of the metal tanks on site. Amazing to see the volume of tequila produced and stored there.

Along the way we were given samples of tequila at various stages of processing and aging. We were also educated in the correct way to drink tequila strait, with a small sip to prepare the palate and then holding the full dose in your mouth for several seconds to really enjoy the taste and sensation. It was a bit of a rough go, and Grace was not impressed!

Our final stop on the tour was back at Casa Sauza, where we were given the ingredients to make a fruity mixer. We enjoyed the exercise, and took our clay pots on a tour of Casa Sauza.

We wrapped up the day with a fine dinner at Casa Sauza in the on-premises restaurant. We thought briefly about finding another restaurant in town, but our level of inebriation after the tour was such that it was pleasant just to sit in their walled garden for a while. Grace enjoyed the mixed drinks with dinner a bit more than the straight shots we’d been sampling during the tour!

Monday morning we rose before the sun to head back to Puerto Vallarta. I had taken the morning off to let us extend the weekend away from the marina, and wanted to get back before my afternoon meetings. This having been our first significant road trip in Mexico, we were pleasantly surprised by the condition of the roads and our general feeling of safety along the way. We always try to be situationally aware and none of us ever felt our “radars” ping during the trip. We were largely in tourist areas the whole time and found people to be friendly, helpful, and happy we were there.

Back in Paradise Village, January 30^th was of course the Admiral’s birthday, so we celebrated with dinner at an Italian restaurant near the marina. We were serenaded by a guitarist, who sang a fine Spanish rendition of Happy Birthday as our waiter brought out a celebratory desert at the end of the meal.

Yelapa

As is typical, I had started looking for a weather window to get out of Banderas Bay pretty much as soon as we arrived. Our next big passage challenge would be another cape jutting out into the Pacific – Cabo Corrientes in this case. As with every cape we had encountered since leaving Puget Sound, Cabo Corrientes had an ample set of anecdotes of sailors encountering horrible seas there. As such we wanted a northerly breeze to blow us on following seas around the point. Not too much of a breeze, mind you, as capes are always known to be nasty acceleration zones. We didn’t want to find ourselves in winds over our comfort level.

We’d been at Paradise Village for about a week, and it looked like we might have a weather window on Friday or Saturday to get around the cape. It felt a bit soon, but we wanted to strike while the iron was hot. We also definitely wanted to spend a day at Yelapa on the south side of Banderas Bay before we left. The small village there is only reachable by water and has always been administered by the indigenous population. It sounded like a great place to visit that wouldn’t have been too trampled by tourism.

On Thursday, February 1st we pulled out of Paradise Village and headed for Yelapa. Winds were light and we motored the 15nm to the south side of Banderas Bay. Along the way I used WhatsApp to contact Edgar, a local who was purported to own some of the moorings in Yelapa Bay. A number of Panama Posse boaters had mentioned him in reviews of the area as being reliable and having a trusted set of moorings. Edgar replied with a call to confirm that he had space for us, and would meet us in a panga as we entered the bay.

As we approached the bay, we were approached separately by two other pangas soliciting our business – we waved them off, calling out that Edgar already had a spot for us. One of Edgar’s men came to us in his panga as we entered the bay, guiding us to a pair of moorings near the east side. They hooked us up to two moorings, bow and stern, which kept us nicely pointed into the swell – no rolling side-to-side here!

The bay was beautiful, lined with white sand beaches and colorful palapas. The green valley at the head of the bay stretched into the distant mists with puffy clouds drifting by above.

Once Perception was firmly in place, I settled into my work day of meetings thanks to Starlink and the girls got ready to head to shore. They had arranged to go on a horseback riding adventure along with the crew of our buddy boat Merlin.

La Cruz and Sayulita

That evening we weighed our options for our next move. The weather around Cabo Corrientes was still looking rough for rounding the point south of Banderas Bay, so we were stuck in Banderas Bay for a while. Not the worst place to be, and as we hadn’t yet seen La Cruz, we decided to head back across the bay to check it out while we waited for favorable conditions.

We had a fabulous sail across the bay, though it took some convincing of the crew to get the sails up rather than just motor the 16 nm north to the marina. It was Friday, I was still in meetings when we departed, and winds were about 7 knots – a situation that would normally have us keep things simple, pretending to be a motor yacht. The conditions were also great for the crew to get a bit more comfortable sailing without the captain at the helm. So we put out the white sails and started moving north.

The winds steadily built from the west, giving us a nice beam reach – a wonderful point of sail for moving our catamaran along. By the time I was done with work we were seeing 15 knots of wind, and were getting closer to 20 knots by the time we approached La Cruz. On average we likely matched our single-engine cruising speed across the bay, without burning any diesel. And it’s always a great feeling to arrive at a destination under sail!

The marina at La Cruz – formally Marina Riviera Nayarit – is a place we heard of often from other cruisers. Many boats have it as their destination in Banderas Bay, whether staying in the marina or anchoring in the bay nearby. Its cruising community is touted to be one of the most active, and is a gathering place for boats preparing to cross the Pacific as well as those headed up or down the coast.

I was excited to see the sailboat Totem in the marina. The crew has had a running blog for many years that I read through completely prior to us starting our own trip. They had just completed a multi-year refit and were just starting to cruise again. We didn’t have opportunity to meet them in person while there, but it was exciting for me to see the legendary boat.

We were happy to be at Marina La Cruz for the weekend, since they have a great market on Saturdays that stretches out along the main breakwater. We spent much of the morning perusing our way through the market, sampling a number of dishes from the vendors along the way. We bumped into a few fellow boaters, including the crew from Atargatis – another Coho Ho Ho participant we had never met before. They just happened to be talking about Merlin as we passed them, clueing us in to their identity.

Looking for something to do on Sunday, we decided we’d head up the coast to see Sayulita. We’d had a number of friends recommend a visit to the beautiful beaches there and it seemed like a great way to spend a day. Our adventure began with finding land transportation. As with many of our shore excursions, it would be relatively inexpensive to rent a car and drive ourselves up the coast. Melinda found a local Canadian expat who rented out his cars at a discount, which further reduced the cost. We were, however, less than impressed with the automobile he had given us. It was a 1997 Plymouth Voyager – older than Grace and in significantly worse shape! Some of the “features” were laughable – for instance you couldn’t lock any of the doors, and the fuel gauge always read empty. But the air conditioning worked and the owner assured Melinda that the fuel tank had just been topped of, so good to go!

It wasn’t a long trip, just a 30 minute drive, so we thought we’d give the old white Plymouth a go. We piled into the car that Sunday morning and made our way up into the hills north of Puerto Vallarta. About 10 minutes into the trip, cruising up the twisty road, the engine of the minivan suddenly cut out completely. No one was behind us as we coasted onto the shoulder of the road before we lost our momentum. Repeated attempts to restart the engine failed to produce positive results. We all wondered if the gas gauge was perhaps accurate instead of broken…

Since the car was right on the side of the road on the inside of a blind curve, we climbed out and moved to stand in a safer spot in case the car was hit. As soon as we opened the doors the stench hit us – the side of the road here had been used to dump something quite foul and rotting, attracting a mass of swarming black flies. While Melinda called the rental expat, we all tried to get upwind of the malodorous pile.

Melinda eventually raised the expat on the phone, and he ended up bringing us his wife’s newer Hyundai crossover to exchange for the minivan. The van did start up again eventually, giving us a cool place to wait (definitely had recirculate on!), but we really weren’t willing to take the beast any further on our trip.

So after a thirty minute delay, we continued on our way to Sayulita. The crew being ever resilient took the morning’s events in stride and we soon found ourselves on the beach. At this point we all really just wanted to sit with a cool drink and enjoy the scenery, such as it was. We found a decent beach bar with a shaded table and parked ourselves for a bit. It was entertaining for a while to watch the other beachgoers, and to fend off the incessant visits from the locals selling cheap souvenirs. We even bought a “Spiderman paratrooper bro” – a little plastic figure hanging from a parachute which you could fly like a kite – that we later flew off the back of the boat.

One thing was readily apparent to us – we were not used to the tourist beach scene. For most of our trip we had been visiting mostly deserted anchorages and their beaches, enjoying access to places most others could not go. The crowds were entertaining but really not our thing.

It wasn’t long before we were on the move again, and walked southwest along Playa Sayulita, up through the town, and out to Playa Los Muertos. The town was decorated with many flags draped across the streets, quite the colorful scene. After satisfying ourselves that we didn’t want to spend more time on the beaches, we found a shoreside restaurant to spend the early afternoon drinking, dining, and watching the waves.

Full from our late lunch, we successfully returned the car to its owner and made it back to the marina. We were planning to head out to Punta Mita again on Monday to set ourselves up for what looked like a good weather window to make the hop around Cabo Corrientes Tuesday night. This would be our final night in a marina for some time, at least until we made it into Barra de Navidad another 140nm down the coast.

As we motored out of La Cruz Monday morning, we glided past our buddies on Merlin who were anchored in the bay near the marina entrance. We’d been sharing anchorages, marinas, drinks, and stories ever since leaving Puget Sound together as part of the Coho Ho Ho Rally. We would be heading south towards the Panama Canal, and they would be crossing the Pacific. We knew we wouldn’t be seeing them again for a long, long time.

Dropping the anchor back in Punta Mita, we’d completed a nice figure eight in Banderas Bay. We’d spent time in another enjoyable resort marina, had a couple of great weekend shore excursions, and been able to tuck into Yelapa for a night. It felt like we’d hit the high points, and Perception was ready to point her bows south again.