Category: 2021 – 2022 Season 3

Up and about breakfast and the net. Plan to get underway and head over to Punta de Mita. We will just anchor there or may go to Chacala around the point. 

We left the marina around 9:30.  There was very little wind but with ~6 kts we put up the sails.  The wind speed increased gradually with speeds averaging 20 kts most of the afternoon.  We were traveling slowly, just enjoying the quiet sail when we watched a sailboat pass us.  It continued to circle us (at a fair distance) with speeds doubling ours.  By the time we’d reached >6 kts of speed while heeling, the other sailboat turned away.😀.  We dropped anchor at around 4:30 at the Punta De Mita anchorage.

We have decided to not go to Chacala, we will hang out here until Saturday morning.

Today we left the boat at 9 to go to church at La Fuente in Bucerias. We made a much needed stop at the bank. It was wonderful to see familiar faces at church, Valerie and Larry Ball, Bob and Iris Ranger, Connie and Dave Gemmer-Allen, the Krahn family (George and Helen and their daughters). The sermon was on the difference the Resurrection makes.

After church we went out to lunch with the church friends at Delicioso in Bucerias. Then we hitched a ride with the Krahn’s to see the home they bought. It needs a lot of remodeling but it has potential.

Then we caught another bus headed for Puerto Vallarta. It took two to get to Zaragoza and we were unhappy to find it closed. Another bus to Home Depot and they didn’t carry the tool we were looking for. A fifth bus for the day took us back to La Cruz. We got about 7000 steps in.

We got up and checked in on the net and found out that the cruisers were headed over to Yelapa for the weekend, we elected to not join them. As in Been There Done That (yesterday!)
We went to the Swap meet and Reneé went shopping and to take in some more laundry. Again a pretty quiet day. Reneé got all of the laundry back, and made coleslaw and taco soup. We took a walk out to the end of the breakwater and then turned in.

We got up had breakfast and got underway. At least that was the plan. We got up, and tried to get underway, but the dock line that we were tied to the mooring ball with, had gotten tangled and did not want to let go. Normally, I deal with the anchor, and Reneé steers the boat, when we tie to a mooring ball, typically we swap places and she deals with the mooring ball. Well she could not get the knot undone, so I went up to the bow and she took the wheel. We moved the boat up a bit to take some of the tension off the knot and then I could drag the float up out of the water and work on the knot. A few minutes later we were underway, about 9 am.

We motored across as there was virtually no wind. Which was true until we got to the channel of the marina and suddenly the winds were up to 18 knots. Ok, we got this…..

We head in and have to turn to port down a channel to get to the dock that we have a slip on. A first glimpse, there is no one in it. As soon as we commit to the turn though, a very large power boat (80 foot?) turns into the same channel from the other end. So, we back out of his way, (remember the winds at 18 knots?) we manage to avoid hitting anyone here. After he gets around the corner we head back in to our slip on Dock 3 A14.
Well, we thought the A side was the far side and we overshot the fairway to our slip and had to turn around, by this time the winds were up to about 20 knots. We started down the correct fairway and only bumped one other boat as we backed into our slip. That was rough, but the only damage to either boat was a broken fishing pole holder on our boat. (West Marine $70/pair).
We got shore power on and Reneé headed off to the laundry and I went and checked us in. Then went to talk to the people on the boat that we hit. A very pleasant conversation, maybe not required but certainly made me feel better checking in with them. They double checked for damage and let me know the next day that all was ok.

That was enough for one day, and we really didn’t do anything else.

We certainly hit this spot at the right time.  There are no big waves and last night was relatively calm.

The Peppers are here as well.  They picked us up in their dinghy at 8:30 this morning.  We found the trail to the waterfall (the one furthest away from the beach).  We only made two wrong turns.  We stopped at the Jungle Garden (half way) for a beverage.  The waitress, Biri, speaks good English.  Then we continued our journey.  We’ve decided the initial info we received on this hike was wrong.  We were told it is a mile and a half to the falls.  Our pedometer says otherwise.  I think we’d gone 3 miles one way.  We enjoyed a rest and snacks at the falls then headed back.  Along our journey we saw lots of horses, donkeys, cows, dogs, chickens, one iguana, and some burros.  Neil ran out of steam on the way back.  He barely made it to the Jungle Garden with lots of breaks.  We enjoyed a beef and broccoli dinner at this lovely garden.  We arranged for a horse ride for Neil the rest of the way. He is still working getting his stamina back after his bout with the parasite.  Steve, Denny, and I arrived at the beach 20 min after Neil did.  As tempting as another cerveza sounded, we got back in the dinghy and returned to the boats. We were all beat!  Good day though overall.