Author: cruisingrunner

December 20, 2013 – February 7, 2014

When we left Chacala, we knew the winds weren’t going to be quite favorable for our passage around Punta de Mita and into Banderas Bay.   The forecast was for SW winds, so we knew we would be beating.  However, we didn’t account for just how much the wind would pick up around the point.  It was late afternoon, and the rate we were going we weren’t going to make it to the anchorage by sundown.  Plus, with the wind direction, the anchorage off Punta de Mita was bound to be a bit on the rolly side. Steve spotted a potential place to drop anchor on the north side of the point.  It’s not listed as an anchorage in the guidebook, but we agreed that was probably our best option.  It was nice a calm and we got some rest until, oh, about 11pm when the wind shifted.  By daybreak we were getting bounced around like crazy and got out of there as quick as we could.  I talked to Steve on VHF, and he had to net control for the Sonrisa net, so they would raise anchor as soon as the net was over.  But then as we were leaving, I looked back and saw them not far behind, so Carolina clearly modified that plan.  It really wasn’t an anchoring situation you wanted to stay in for very long.

We finally rounded the corner of Punta de Mita the morning of 21 Dec, and we arrived in La Cruz just a few hours after that.  We stayed a couple days in the anchorage and then moved into the marina in order to do numerous boat projects that had built up over the last few months.  We originally planned to stay in the marina just 2 weeks, but we ended up making it 3 weeks until we left on 12 Jan to go to across the bay to the marina at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta.  We spent 10 days at at the typical tourist resort known as Paradise Village, where my mom came to visit for 5 days.  We also spent the first 2 days of a 10 day visit from Gary and Marsha there.  We (finally) left Paradise Village on 22 Jan and went back to the La Cruz anchorage for 1 rolly night.  While we enjoyed the hot tubs, wifi, high pressure showers, and easy access to shore that marinas provide, it was really nice to be back out on the water.  Next we spent 1 night at the anchorage at Punta de Mita then went back to the La Cruz anchorage after a day stop at Tres Marietas for some snorkling.  After Gary and Marsha left, we hauled out Exodus at the La Cruz boatyard for a few days. (Why yes, it’s not even been a year since our last haul out in La Paz.)  Once back in the water we spent a couple days out in the La Cruz anchorage, then went to Punta de Mita for the night.  Finally, we made it out of Banderas Bay on 7 Feb to head south and once again, even if briefly, live the cruising lifestyle that we’ve grown to love.

To summarize: North side of Punta de Mita –> La Cruz Anchorage –>La Cruz Marina –>Paradise Village Marina –> La Cruz Anchorage –>Punta de Mita –> La Cruz Anchorage –> La Cruz Boatyard (haul out) –> La Cruz Anchorage –> Punta de Mita

Banderas Bay is a huge bay.  It is capped by Punta de Mita in the North and Cabo Corrientas in the South.  This is where the very famous tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta can be found as well as lots of more little known destinations like Bucerias and Nuevo Vallarta.  The state border line between Nayarit and Jalisco is right in the middle of the bay, and technically there should be a 1 hour time change between the two halves.  But at some point to avoid all the confusion it caused, the coastal section of Nayarit decided to operate on Puerto Vallarta time, so we were thankful for that.  There is an easy to navigate bus system that made it easy to get around the bay, even if Exodus stayed put.  There was a daily VHF cruisers net, which made it easy to ask where you might find the things you need and connect with other cruisers around the bay.  There are several marinas including 1 in La Cruz, 2 in Nuevo Vallarta, and 1 in Puerto Vallarta.  Back in civilization again, we planned to spend some time preparing for our Pacific Ocean Crossing, so we never did make it to the more remote destinations on the southern side of the bay.  There were lots of perks like twice weekly vegetable markets and tons of kids to play with, but we got bogged down a bit and started to feel like we weren’t even cruising anymore.  However, I am thankful for our time there, for being able to find the necessary resources to get all of our projects done, and especially for all the new friends we made.

When we left Chacala we were on our way around Punta de Mita and into Banderas Bay, where a whole new adventure would begin.  One that includes marinas, kids, boat projects, provisioning, and generally getting a taste of another side of Mexico.  We were sad to have left the Sea of Cortez behind, but on the journey it’s hard to look back and dwell for too long, because there’s always something new and interesting popping up to keep us looking forward. 

Have you ever read The Lord of the Flies?  I have, a long time ago, and I vaguely remember that the kids had a rule that whoever held the conch shell was the one who could speak.  Among our group of friends back home this would come up from time to time when we were hanging out and getting a little boisterous and someone would have to talk and they would make sure everyone else knew that they figuratively held the conch.  We had one of those nights on Exodus after our nice dinner in Chacala.  Lady Carolina came over, and Carolina and I drank vodka tonics on top of the 2/3 bottle of wine we each had drank at dinner.  The problem was we all wanted to talk and no one was listening to anyone, so we tried calling, “I have the conch!”  But the figurative conch wasn’t working, and we didn’t have a real one, so we tried all the shells we had, including and abalone shell.  None of them worked.  Sometimes, you just need a real conch.

In the Sea of Cortez, stern anchoring was never required.  The anchorages were will protected from swell, and they weren’t very crowded.  So, our first opportunity to try it was in Chacala, our second anchorage on the mainland.  The reason for needing a stern anchor there was the fact that the point was not very predominant so swell would wrap around and enter the bay at a different angle than the wind.  So if you don’t stern anchor you end up with the swell hitting you on the beam, which just isn’t very comfortable.  There are many ways to to effectively get your stern anchor out, and we elected to go stern anchor out first.  So, we picked our spot on Lady Carolina’s port side, turned Exodus into the swell, and dropped the stern anchor.  Brenden’s job was to pay out the stern anchor rode, while Alex’s job was to man the bow anchor.  I was at the helm, and Tim was directing, and going wherever needed.  As Brenden let out the stern anchor I moved Exodus slowly forward into the swell until we were at the point we wanted to drop the bow anchor.  Then, Alex let that go, and I backed up slowly until we were were tightly set between the two anchors.  The trickiest part was backing up, because Brenden had to then pull in the stern anchor line at just the right pace so it wouldn’t foul the starboard propeller.  He nailed it.  This was one of those times we were very thankful for our extended crew.  Alex and Brenden are showing how they are capable of contributing as well as any crew member we could have on board.

We made a stop in Matanchen Bay with the main goal of going on a jungle tour up the Rio Tovaro. This area was legendary for No-See-Um activity, and this was enough for me to protest a bit about even going here, given my previous experience with No-See-Ums. However, Lady Carolina had done the tour the previous season, so they gave us a full briefing on how we needed to do it in order to minimize the damage done to our bodies by the no-see-ums.  Here was the drill:

#1) Anchor as far out in the bay as possible in hopes that the no-see-ums don’t find you.  The funny thing is that in this area of the coast it shallows very gradually, and we were in 40 ft of water when we were still 2 miles out.  But we did anchor pretty far out, and the good thing (for us) was there was already one other boat there so we anchored on the outside of them a ways, so that they could be the sacrificial boat.  (This boat turned out to be s/v Moments, a fun, young couple that we ended up meeting later on in La Cruz).  Lady Carolina and True Blue anchored outside of us.

#2) Close up the boat.  We closed all hatches, portals, and our sliding salon door before dropping anchor.  We suffered in the sauna, but this was better than being eaten alive.

#3) Dress to protect yourself for the morning beach landing.  This includes long sleeves, pants, and socks, and tuck your pants into your socks.  OK, we didn’t quite follow this advice.  First of all, Alex doesn’t even have any pants that fit him except the jeans we bought for Danna’s wedding.  Second, I knew it would be a wet beach surf landing, and I didn’t see any reason to get our socks and pants all wet, as long as we got off the beach quickly.  Tim, Brenden, and I wore pants that we could roll up for the landing, and then we high-tailed off the beach as quickly as we could.  Tim had to linger a bit longer to arrange to leave our dinghy in front of one of the palapas, but he escaped the beach with minimal damage.

#4) Be back to the beach well before dusk, since bug activity is the worst around dawn and dusk.  We were able to manage this easily even packing in a full day of jungle tour, bus ride to San Blas, exploring a bit of San Blas, and then taxi ride back.

#5) Do not pay the palapa who watched your dinghy by staying and eating at the restaurant, since it is imperative to get off the beach before dusk.  Pay them cash, and get out of there.  Check.

#6) When you are back at the boat, jump into the water fully clothed to kill any no-see-ums who have attached themselves to you and/or your clothing.  OK, here we deviated a bit as well.  We simply undressed on the swim step and bagged up our clothes and sealed it tight, then we jumped in and rinsed ourselves off (except for me, I went straight to the showere and rinsed off there.)  We left the clothes bagged until we got to our next laundry opportunity.

So, all of this worked pretty well, and if we had any no-see-um bites at all, it was in the single digits, and manageble.  As we were leaving the bay the next morning, True Blue radioed to let us know that they discovered tons of no-see-ums under their cockpit cushions, so although they didn’t penetrate into the cabins, they definitely found the boats and started setting up shop in their cockpit.  Their cushions are dark colored, which apparently the bugs preferred.  So, we did an inspection of our own cockpit, and they were in or under our cushions, maybe since they are lighter colored, but there was some dive gear on the floor of the cockpit under which we had our own little infestation.  Thankfully we got the heads up from True Blue and we were able to exterminate the little devils before they started chomping on us.