Tenacatita

In the 'Don't rely too much on your chart plotter' series: this rock was not on the chart

 and

the chart plotter showed us cruising right through this rock.

Bahia Tenacatita was full of life, no swimming on this day

When launching the dinghy from the beach, you have to time the swells just right. Len and Wilma ended up wet on this trip, sorry I missed getting it on film

We took a trip up the estuary in our dinghies

Towards the 2nd half of the trip the channel narrows quite a bit

At the end of the estuary it opens up into a large lagoon. You used to be able to land on the beach there and cross over to the ocean side, but we were met by men with guns. The property has been seized by a developer, everyone who lived and did business there has been evicted.

A Green Heron

Bahia Chamela

We've been buddy boating down the coast with our good friends on the Midnight Sun

We reached Chamela Bay just as the sun was setting

New Year's Eve in Perula

The nativity scene in Perula, I think all nativity scenes should have pink flamingos

The beach at Perula

Arctic Tern and a Booby

Isla Pajarera is a small desert island covered in cacti and Brown Boobies

Black Vulture and a Brown Booby

When there aren't fishing the Brown Boobies mostly just sit around on the cacti all day

Bahia Chamela contains several excellent anchorages, one in front of the town Perula and also near the small islands found in the bay.  The small beach side community of Perula is mainly a Mexican tourist town that is very laid back and quiet. We found good food, several markets, friendly people and nice beach. It turned out to be a good place to spend New Year's Eve if you're looking for a more peaceful evening. The locals ran out of coins for the jukebox and ammunition fairly early in the evening. The snorkeling was also very good here but the water was still a little too chilly for our tastes, either need to get some wet suits or keep heading south until we find warmer water.

Yelapa

Yelapa is about 16 nm from La Cruz on the south side of Bahia de Banderas. It's a Chacala Indian Village settled between the beach and surrounding mountains with access only by boat, mule or ATV. A very kickback, relaxed atmosphere attracts many visitors. There's a lady that makes what we were told are excellent tamales here but she was out on the day we visited.

 

They have a potent drink made here called raicilla, like a mescal with a smoky flavor, some batches were better, much smoother than others, unlicensed and packs a powerful hangover. The passion fruit margaritas were much better.

It's a short hike to the 1st waterfall, we attempted a hike to the 2nd waterfall but got off the trail and never made it.

These spiders were quite large about 6" in diameter and once you saw one, you began to see them everywhere

Everyone gets around either by pony, donkey, mule or ATV

Some of the ponies and mules still have stripes on their legs

A do not climb me tree

Watch Out for Those 2 for 1 Specials

In the touristy areas of Mexico, like Cabo and Puerto Vallarta you will often see the 2 for 1 special. 2 beers or 2 mixed drinks for the price of one. Being from the states where 2 for 1 usually means they are offering you a good deal in order to drum up business and to get you through the door where presumably you're going to spend money on other things while you're there, we fell for the 2 for 1 deal more than once. 2 for 1 in Mexico usually means, it turns out, that they are really trying to fleece the unsuspecting tourist. For example a beer in most places in Mexico, especially in non touristy areas, would be around 12 pesos, but when you order a 2 for 1 beer, it's 50 pesos for your 2 beers or 60-80 pesos for your 2 mixed drinks that come in small glasses with 1/2 the liquor you'd find in a normal drink. The other cute trick they play is the 1/2 for 1, which means you go into a place and ask how much the beer is and they say 12 pesos and you think great let's order some beer and they bring you out the chico, the 1/2 sized beer.

We spent about 8 days at the La Cruz anchorage a few miles outside of Puerto Vallarta and 2 days at the marina over Christmas weekend. The small town of La Cruz is actually pretty nice, lots of inexpensive and good places to eat, a couple small markets, tortillaria, veterinarian, laundry, and buses that run every few minutes to Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta. We did make into Puerto Vallarta a couple times, did a little sight seeing, met up with some good friends from the bay area, and yes, we got fleeced. I would have to rank PV below Mazatlan but well above Cabo because it does have character, lots of artwork and once you get to know your way around you can find the good yet inexpensive places to eat and drink.

Christmas turned out to be really nice, we had planned on having dinner with Lenard and Wilma from Midnight Sun, we bought a ham at Costco, made some wild rice and scalloped potatoes. We ended up with an impromptu potluck-dock party with about 16 people from several different countries, who all joined us in the celebration. Everyone from a couple we had 1st met back in Emeryville to people we had just met that day.

There are no photos of PV, I didn't bring the camera on the 1st trip and on the 2nd one the camera decided that it wasn't going to work that day (time for a new camera). Here is a photo of the tortilla machine in La Cruz.

Tortillas maize, made fresh daily. 12 pesos/kilo

12 pesos = 1 dollar