Good morning from beautiful Banderas Bay! We’re in the marina at La Cruz just up the bay from Puerto Vallarta. The rain has finally caught up with us, but we knew that would happen eventually as we moved south. Fortunately, it’s light and refreshing and has brought the temperature down to 73° from the high 80s. It’s nice to be at the dock again for several nights, as we had a few very rolly polly nights underway and at anchor before arriving here.
Good morning from beautiful Banderas Bay! We’re in the marina at La Cruz just up the bay from Puerto Vallarta. The rain has finally caught up with us, but we knew that would happen eventually as we moved south. Fortunately, it’s light and refreshing and has brought the temperature down to 73° from the high 80s. It’s nice to be at the dock again for several nights, as we had a few very rolly polly nights underway and at anchor before arriving here.
I’m sorry we’re a little behind on our blog post updates as we know all of you are interested in where we are, what we are seeing, and how life is going on the boat. As you might imagine, moving around from place to place and trying to keep up with schoolwork, bills at home, boat maintenance, meeting new friends, and seeing new places. It’s not all fun and games and lounging about!
La Cruz is a small fishing village that was much sleepier 10 years ago until the Marina Riveria Nayarit opened their doors (slips?) 10 years ago, bringing many more visitors to the village. We’ve already discovered a delicious Italian/pizza restaurant, German restaurant (and beer), plus the usual smattering of Mexican fare. Jess and Janet Coburn are the proprietors of Todo Vela Mexico, a small but well-stocked chandlery, with very fair prices compared to most chandleries we’ve come across, including a place in Cabo that stocked half their store from West Marine at triple the prices. In my view, this is another version of modern-day piracy. Jess is also an excellent rigger and helped me with a couple rope splices I’m learning.
While we are here we are trying to catch up on everything, including some blog posts. The girls have been trying to finish the semester and take their tests to earn some holiday vacation. We are trying to finish up teak varnish and treatments to protect our wood from the strong sun, install new dinghy wheels to make beach landings easier, get window shades made, have our laundry done, and more. As we’ve found everywhere, the marina staff is very friendly and helpful. We found some local help on the dock for our wood projects, so we don’t have to sand and clean so much. Parts and materials are 30% or more expensive here, but the lower cost of labor helps make up for it.
Tomorrow we’re moving further into the bay for several more days at Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta. Our friends Craig and Trish Unger are flying down for the holidays and we’re excited to meet up with them for a few days and get in some fun gaming time. Please let us know what else you’d like to hear about in future posts. We hope everyone is ready for an enjoyable holiday season!