November, 2010
We really expected to see a mass exodus of boats leaving the marina once hurricane season was over, but only a few boats joined us as we left Paradise Village and headed to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. We anchored for a day and then headed in to be hauled out so that the shipyard could look at our propeller hubs which were loose. While the mechanic worked on them, we busily cleaned the hulls from the months in the muddy lagoon. After 3 hours, the consensus was that we need new hubs on both propellers but that they would suffice for a while. The haulout was almost worth it just for the ease of cleaning the hulls. Sure made it a lot easier!!
Back in the water, we spent a night in La Cruz and then headed to Punta de Mita to join Toothpick and Lyon Around. There was a great breeze all morning so we had a fantastic sail for the first time in ages. That afternoon, Toothpick came aboard for cards and then we all headed over to Lyon Around for a lasagna dinner.
We spent one more day on the point with a quiche dinner aboard Neos and another card game. The extra day gave us a chance to get the watermaker going again and we filled our tank. The next day we all headed across the bay to Yelapa where we took moorings for a few days. We had a relaxing meal on shore, followed the next day with a BBQ chicken meal aboard Toothpick.
We visited both waterfalls and did a lot of walking about town, including some language lessons with the local waiter. After a few days, both Toothpick and Lyon Around had left to return to Nuevo Vallarta and we were on our own. We spent the month cruising just south of Banderas Bay. On the trip north back in May, we rushed past most of the coast and we decided to go enjoy it for a month before heading back to California.
First stop was Tenacatito where we were one of three boats. Pretty quiet out here!! One of the other boats was a couple we had seen in Yelapa; Chris and Amanda of “Liberte”. We enjoyed visiting with them and shared what we could about points south of Mexico. They are on the fast track to get to the US East Coast by next summer.
We took advantage of the calm winds and took the sailcover down to do some repairs. The wind came up before we could finish so we had to drop the main and tie it with ropes until the next day. But the project was completed and all is well. We were visited daily by a number of dolphins, one of which is recognizable since he has a chunk missing from his dorsal fin. Cruisers have nicknamed him Chipper or Nacho and he loves to scratch himself on anchor chain and is quite sociable. The mornings have had heavy dew so I love to start the day out by wiping down the boat with the fresh water the dew provides and watch the dolphins play around the boat.
After a couple of days, we headed to Melaque and were surprised to see Liberte at anchor there. They had planned to get to Manzanillo but the wind was not favorable. So we took advantage of seeing each other again and swapped movies and books. They joined us for sundowners on the bow of Neos and we enjoyed a gorgeous evening.
A couple of days later, we headed to Las Hadas. The coast here is a cruiser’s delight. The anchorages are no more than 30 miles apart so they are easy day hops and if you time it right, you get a good breeze and can actually sail a bit. Once in the anchorage, we were again one of three boats. We spent five days in Las Hadas, enjoying the resort’s pool and walks. One day we ventured into the big town of Manzanillo, then shopped at WalMart on the way home. Two other boats arrived towards the end of our stay and we enjoyed an evening together on Joss with Mike and Deedee. They are quite the fishermen and actually shared some mahi mahi with us. It was fun to chat with them about Bocas del Toro in Panama. They had spent 7 years there and knew a lot of “behind the scene” information. David and Gene from the other boat joined us that evening and David had almost bought a boat in Bahia del Sol where we had spent a month earlier in the year.
There is a power plant just south of Manzanillo and we got tired of the smoky air and started our journey back north. Our first stop was just around the corner in Bahia Santiago. Biggest attraction here is the local who runs a motorboat hauling kids around on a huge yellow inflatable banana. He does his best to dump them and is often successful. There are still no huge crowds and we were the only boat in the anchorage. I tried to snorkel on a sunken ship here, but the visibility was nil. I was able to do a little snorkeling in the “aquarium” and saw some purple coral and colorful fish; the first true snorkeling I have done in Mexico!
Next stop was Carrizal, a secluded cove with beautiful greenery and absolutely no resorts at all. We spent Thanksgiving here, all by ourselves enjoying the solitude. There were occasional tour boats that brought in divers and we even had two huge shrimp boats anchor behind us for a few hours one afternoon. But, by and large, we had peace and quiet.
From Carrizal, we hopped back up to Melaque. There is a couple in Barra de Navidad who made an inquiry about the boat so we sent them a note inviting them aboard NEOS for sundowners. They never showed up, so we headed back to Tenacatita the next day.
Tenacatita had quite a few boats when we arrived, many of them familiar from Paradise Village. Liz and John of Outtahere joined us for sundowners and we finally got to see their boat. It is pretty doggone nice and must cost them over $5K to fill the gas tanks. We swapped hard drives with them for an afternoon and were able to share music and movies. One of the nicest things about cruising is running into people over and over again.
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