New Years Eve

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico

Just playing tourists...

We have taken the bus into Puerto Vallarta a couple of times, to see life in the big city.  The buses and collectivo taxis run up and down the road from Punta de Mita to Puerto Vallarta, passing through La Cruz and Bucerias along the way, almost continuously - the most we have had to wait has been about 2 minutes.  For 16 pesos (about $1.25 CDN) you can catch a ride to or from La Cruz to PV, a trip of about an hour (it would be quicker but the buses do tend to stop a lot.)

Puerto Vallarta, unlike Mazatlan, seems very busy - tourism is still thriving here.  We are not really used to crowds any more and could only stand it for a few hours before retreating to the much quieter streets of La Cruz.

As usual, we walked a lot of the town, from Marina Puerto Vallarta all the way through El Centro to the South Side - a total of over 15 kms on the one day.  Along the way, we found the local Honda dealer, who handles mostly motorcycles but also deals in Honda generators.  They had one of the small EU10i generators in stock and I was tempted, but I really wanted the larger EU20i version.  As luck would have it, there was a Honda EU20i generator at their store in Tepic, about 170 kms away, and they were more than happy to transfer it to the PV store for us.  Thus we ended up buying ourselves a Christmas present.

Note: A lot of the boats around here have these generators but we have resisted the temptation up till now, preferring to rely on our main engine and our solar panels for our power requirements.  However, with our current plans to head south, we may be facing more extended periods at anchor with potentially overcast skies and less ready access to diesel to refill our tanks, so we thought it was prudent to have a backup power source for charging our batteries.  Time will tell if we actually use it or not.


View of the whale statue at the entrance to Marina Puerto
Vallarta, as seen from the Starbucks on the corner.
Does it get any more touristy than this?

While we were in the area of Marina Puerto Vallarta, we stopped by the only significant marine chandlery in the area.  They have a pretty good selection of items and I am happy to say that we found very little that we needed.  Is it possible that we have finally got everything we could possibly want?  No, not really - it is just that we cannot figure out where to cram any more stuff on this little tiny boat.  Of course, as I am typing this, Susanne is making up a list of items that we may go back to the chandler for next week.  Sigh!

Other than our exciting trips into PV, our time here in La Cruz has been pretty laid back.  We quite often go out for breakfast at YaYa's or Ana Banana's, sometimes getting into discussions with other cruisers, which has a tendency to extend breakfast to about noon.  Then maybe a walk down the beach, or a short trip into the nearby town of Bucerias (they have banks and a Mega grocery store there), dinner at any of the variety of small restaurants, then maybe watch a movie or read a book, then go to bed and repeat it all the next day.


View from the marina restaurant, La Cruz

Entrance to the marina at La Cruz

The weather here has been just about perfect.  The daytime temperatures are about the same as Mazatlan but the nights are a little warmer, thus it is shorts, T-shirts and sandals all the time.  Today we woke up to a bit of drizzle and it has been overcast all day.  It is still warm, so really all it means is you don't need to wear your sunglasses outside for a change.


Panga dock, in front of the fish market, Marina Riviera Nayarit, La Cruz
 

Our current plan is to be out of here around the 3rd of January.  Really, the only thing holding us here is that we want to get some laundry done before we leave, and a lot of stuff is closed today and tomorrow for New Years.  As for New Years for us, we will probably just go out for supper at a little fancier place and be home long before midnight.  If we are really ambitious I guess we could go up to the Sky Bar at the marina office, where they get a view of the entire Banderas Bay and will be able to see all the fireworks from Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta across the water.

Anyway, we hope everyone had a great Christmas and we wish you all the best in the coming year.

Marina Puerto Vallarta

Idle time

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico

Merry Christmas from the crew of Sine Timore.

Not a lot to report - just hanging out until after New Years.

La Cruz is a very laid back kind of place.   Cobblestone streets, shady huanacaxtle trees, and an incredible number of restaurants.  Although La Cruz is in the state of Nayarit, because it is located on Banderas Bay, also home to the larger centers of Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta, it operates as if it was in the state of Jalisco - thus we are now using CST instead of MST for our time.

Because of the great availability of food here, we have been eating out a lot.  Our favorite breakfast spot is Ana Bananas - mostly an older gringo crowd in the mornings - sort of a meeting place for discussing world events over cheap food and serve-yourself coffee.

Sometimes you just don't know where you are going to end up.  A couple of nights ago we decided to head for the Britannia Pub for some reportedly great fish and chips.  It was closed so we crossed the street to the Octopuses Garden where we had so-so fish and chips, but were treated to an energetic Aztec song and dance troupe.  A good time was had regardless.
Last night we had some incredibly good Hungarian Gulash and Apfelstrudel at a German restaurant called the Black Forest.  There is a lot of variety around here.

Yesterday was a farmer's market day at the fish market, right next to the marina.  This was a very busy market with lots of food and crafts - a very happening place.  I guess this goes on every Sunday.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we have booked a traditional turkey dinner at another of the local restaurants.  And in the spirit of Christmas we have put up our spectacular solar-powered light display - be careful to not look directly at the picture as it could overwhelm you.

La Cruise to La Cruz

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico

Our worst passage in a long time.

 We left Mazatlan at around 10:30AM on Tuesday.

Leaving Mazatlan behind

When we got to the narrow channel through to the breakwater, we found it blocked by the dredge and had to back off and wait a bit.  They were very nice and moved over so we were able to proceed after only about 15 minutes.

As we exited the breakwater, we found some large swells coming in which gave us quite a ride.  The combination of the stress of passing the dredge and the rolly conditions was too much for the crew.  Susanne was quickly very sick and I was not feeling at all well either.  I have a slight cold (caught no doubt on one of the bus rides to or from the Copper Canyon) and this wreaked havoc with my usually iron stomach.  I never got violently ill but I never felt completely OK either, for the entire 2 day trip.

On the first day we were able to sail for only a few hours before the winds died and we motored slowly for all of that afternoon and night.  The sea conditions calmed down a lot but neither of us was feeling great.  I found that I could not seem to sleep either - not sure why as I was plenty tired, especially after the 2nd night.  The only wildlife we saw was one dolphin, one small whale that looked us over before diving under our bow, and the usual collection of sea birds.

Sunrise on approach to Banderas Bay

Around 7:30 on Wednesday morning I shut the engine down and we were able to sail for over 24 hours straight, not always very fast and not exactly in the direction we wanted to go, but that was OK as we had a lot of time in hand if we did not want to arrive during the night.  We ran into a small collection of panga fishing boats, just before dawn, when we were about 25 miles out of Banderas Bay but otherwise saw virtually no traffic on the entire cruise.

As soon as we entered the Banderas Bay, the wind died off and we had to motor for the last 2 hours into the marina here at La Cruz.  It was an easy entrance and the marina seems very nice and modern.  After checking in with the marina office and the Port Captain, we had a very tasty lunch at the Sailor's Bar, and then promptly fell asleep for the rest of the day and right through the morning.  We both feel a lot better now.

The Marina Riviera Nayarit office

It is interesting to note that at least 3 other boats that left Mazatlan the day after us, all arrived here at the same time as us.  They all motored the entire way at around 7 or 8 knots.  I figure we could have just done it, with our maximum motoring speed of around 6-1/2 knots, but we would have burned a lot more diesel, and we feel that if you have a sailboat, you really ought to try and sail when possible.  Considering how we were feeling for most of the way, maybe they had the right idea.

Statistics:

Total distance for plotted route: 172 miles
Total distance travelled: 194 miles
Total time: 48.5 hours
Total time motoring: 20.3 hours    Sailing: 28.2 hours
Total distance motoring: 96.1 miles   Sailing: 97.9 miles

We consider it a successful sail if we actually spend more time sailing than motoring, so this does qualify.

{GMST}20|44.88|N|105|22.82|W|La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico|La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico{GEND}

Running away from winter

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

Suddenly winter has arrived in Mazatlan, or at least some form of it.

The last two days have been cool and overcast.  Actually it has not been real cold, maybe falling to the mid-teens at night, but with a bit of a breeze if the evenings it has forced us to consider wearing long pants after dark.  It is still shorts and T-shirts during the day, but how long will this last?

This turn in the weather has lit a fire under us to get moving further south, so tomorrow we will start the journey to Banderas Bay, specifically to the town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (commonly know as La Cruz), just 6 miles NW of Nuevo Vallarta.  This is a distance of about 175 miles, mostly south.  Since this is too far for us to go in one day, we will make it into a leisurely two-day voyage, leaving around noon tomorrow.  I imagine we will stay in the marina there rather than anchor out, and will hang around until the new year - sounds like a great place to be for Christmas and New Years.

The boat is all ship-shape and ready to go and, as I write this, the clouds have cleared off and it is blue sky and sunshine again - go figure!

Regardless, we are prepared and are leaving tomorrow.  Yesterday we walked the 5-1/2 kms to the Mega grocery store and did most of our re-provisioning - we took a Taxi back with our load.  Today we walked the much shorter distance to Henderson's Meat shop where we stocked up on some Canadian "Maple Leaf" brand products - the best beef in town!  The freezer is full.

Quick Trip - Days 4 and 5

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

The last two days have been about nothing but travel.

We had a very lazy morning, with a late breakfast at the lodge, then made our way to the train station to catch the 11:47AM train.  The day started off nice, but by around 11AM it got cloudy and a cold wind started blowing - just as well we were leaving - we are simply not acclimatized to these cold temperatures any more.

The train was on time and we again were able to travel in second class, saving even more money this time since it was a longer trip.  We took the train all the way back to Los Mochis, where we arrived around 10PM.  It started raining after about the first hour into the trip and drizzled on and off for the entire way.  With the rain and clouds and the windows getting wet, and getting dark around 6PM, there was very little to see on this leg of the journey.

When we arrived in Los Mochis, we shared a taxi with a couple of Mexicans who were staying in a nearby hotel.  We elected to continue our deluxe tour by staying overnight in the nicest hotel in town, again a Best Western.  We had made a reservation when we were in Creel but I doubt it was necessary - it did not look very busy.

In the morning, it was still overcast but it was not raining any more.  We walked to what we thought was the TAP bus terminal, but misjudged and ended up taking an Elite bus instead - we had to wait less than 10 minutes before we left at 8:40AM.  The Elite bus was not quite as luxurious as the TAP bus, but it was not bad, and it only had one stop along the way.  Six hours later we were in Mazatlan, where we reversed our previous route and grabbed a local bus back to the marina.  The weather remained dreary and overcast the entire way.

When we got back to the boat, there was some water on the decks so we were happy that we had closed up all the ports before we left.  All in all, this was a good day to be travelling.

{GMST}23|16.19|N|106|27.30|W|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}

Quick Trip - Day 3

Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico

A picture perfect day!

We were very happy that we splurged on a nice hotel - the temperature last night reportedly fell to around -9C - there was frost on the windshields of cars this morning.  We were nice and cozy with our gas fireplace.  Breakfast was good, with lots of hot coffee to warm our hands - they don't really heat the lodge all that much.

During the day, the temperature rose to about 15C, just perfect for us.  The sunshine and blue skies amid a forest of pines made it seem just like fall in the mountains back in Alberta.

We took a short tour, organized by the hotel, to some nearby sites on a Ramamuri Indian reservation.  Some of these people still live in caves amongst the various rock formations in the area.  We visited an area called the Valley of the Mushrooms and Frogs - the reasons should be self-explanatory if you look at the accompanying pictures.

Wherever tourists might stop, you will find native crafts spread out for sale, especially the various sized baskets woven from pine needles.  Susanne bought many small baskets during the day.

We did not visit the waterfalls as at this time of year there is little water flowing.  We shared this tour with a Mexican family of three but our Spanish was not up to following what the guide was saying most of the time - we left them at a pretty little lake for some reason and were driven back to the hotel - I think they were going to hike up to a waterfall somewhere.

One great bonus on this trip was being able to witness some of the Indian celebrations going on for the holiday today.  Pretty low-key but very colorful.

Once we were back in town, we tracked down Rafael at Tarahumara Tours and arranged for a more personal tour for just the two of us.  He spoke good English and was a terrific host, driving us in his Suburban to some great spots along the canyon, and some 45km to the town of Divisadero, where we had stopped briefly on the train yesterday.  This is really the center of all activities in the canyon and the views are magnificent.  One odd site along the way was a "landing strip" just off the highway, created by drug runners - the army has placed rocks all over it to discourage its use - just a dose of reality regarding the current plight of Mexcio.

Just outside of the town of Divisadero is a relatively new state-run "adventure park" development where we were able to take a 3km cable car ride across a portion of the canyon.  It is possible to zip-line this route one-way and take the cable car back but we did not feel we had the time for it.  Needless to say, there were magnificent views to be had.  Note: On the far side of the cable car route we ran into the Trafalgar tour group, so we had lots of company on the ride back - just when we were getting used to having the place to ourselves.

After we got back from the cable car, we were able hike along a cobblestone trail all along the cliff top, back to Divisadero, where we met our guide and had another meal at the food court at the train station there.  By 3PM, we were back in Creel.

In the evening there were more celebrations in the streets - this went on for several hours and was fascinating.  Another meal at Restaurant Veronica and we had a fitting end to a perfect day.

Originally we had thought we would take the train back only as far as Posada Barrabcas (just 4km from Divisadero) but we now feel we have seen the best this area has to offer and are ready to start heading back home.

{GMST}27|44.9478|N|107|38.085|W|Creel, CHI, Mexico|Creel, CHI, Mexico{GEND}