Blog Post 37 – Banderas Bay

3/01/16 - 04/06/16

20.29.40N 105.26.67W

Banderas Bay is a cruisers playground. It is huge, 20NM north to south and 15NM east to west. It includes Punta Mita, La Cruz, Nuevo Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta and Yelapa. It has something for everyone. Perfect winter weather, steady afternoon breezes that are perfect for sailing and beautiful anchorages as well as full service marinas. After we left La Cruz we headed up to Punta Mita which is at the northernmost part of Banderas Bay. We wanted to go out to the Tres Marietas Islands to go diving. The Tres Marietas are a 6NM island chain but there are 2 principal islands, Marietta East and Marietta West. It is a national park preserve and is full of tourist pangas during the day. The plan was to spend the night at Punta Mita and then head out there (it is less than 5 miles off the coast) before all the tourists got there. There are under water caves, there is a hole in one island where the wall has collapsed and there is a secret beach inside. All sounded good to us. It is very rough out there with lots of reefs and no protection from the swells of the Pacific so it is only a day anchorage. Add to that it is almost 200 plus feet deep so you can’t anchor both because it is too deep and you don’t want to destroy the coral so you must use one of the few mooring balls out there. The first day we headed out there we got there too late and there were no moorings available. Cruising boats are not really welcome as there are many local people who depend on taking tourists out there for their livelihood. They don’t like pleasure boaters encroaching on their territory, so to say the least they are not helpful. We decided to head back to Punta Mita and try again the next day.

When we woke up the following morning the first thing out of Jirig’s mouth was “where is the dinghy?” Shit, not again! We had been advised to haul the dinghy up on the deck every night and lock it as dinghy and outboard thefts do happen sometimes. We had not done that so we immediately assumed the dinghy had been stolen. Jirig was freaking out. I picked up the binoculars and started to scan the shore about 600 yds. away.  Low and behold there was what appeared to be a dingy sitting on the sand at the high tide line. After further review we determined it was our dinghy. We were very lucky it had washed ashore on a beach that was part of a very exclusive resort, The Four Seasons, and there was a security guard standing right next to it. If it had washed ashore 1500 yds. further south it would have landed in the village and it would be gone. We were also very lucky that it had come loose (Nico had not tied it correctly the night before) at high tide. Otherwise it would have washed out to sea on the outgoing tide. Now the problem was how to get to it. It was very shallow where we were anchored, less than 20 feet. We pulled the anchor and moved closer to shore. Now we were in 10 feet of water and we have a 6.5 foot displacement hull or draft on our boat. It was 6:30 AM; we rousted Nico out of bed and he and Jirig jumped overboard and swam to shore. In their haste to retrieve the dinghy they did not bring any equipment, like a radio or water shoes, or any documentation with them. When they got ashore there were rocks everywhere. The waves were crashing on them and they had to navigate through the rocks, barefooted. When they got ashore, naturally the guard does not speak English, and the first thing he wants to see is documentation stating it is our dinghy. They had to call his boss who came out. (Remember this is a remote stretch of beach) to work things out. He finally agreed to let Jirig take the dinghy. The dinghy is at the high tide line and now it is heading towards low tide. The dinghy with the outboard weighs about 550 pounds. Too heavy for Jirig and Nico to carry. Jirig had to remove the outboard and carry it to the water so that he and Nico could haul the dinghy to the waterline. Our dinghy has wheels on the back so it was not as bad as it sounds. Lucky for Jirig his water shoes had been in the dinghy, so he did most of the work.  Needless to say it was a total pain in the ass. Meanwhile back at the boat the tide is going out rapidly. We are now in 8ft of water. I cannot contact Jirig as he did not bring a radio. I was preparing to pull the anchor and start the engines and move out to sea (not something that I am accustomed to doing by myself and not looking forward to it!)  When they finally got the dinghy in the water with the outboard attached. We made it out of there with less than 1 foot of water under the hull.  We went out to the islands to dive but after the morning drama it paled in comparison.

Next stop Nuevo Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta was one of the first resort towns in Mexico. As tourism continued to expand Nuevo Vallarta was built. It looks like properties in Las Vegas. Huge complexes with golf, pools and all kinds of water sports. Our dear friends Mark and Cindy from Delta Swizzler had given us a gift certificate to stay for a week at Paradise Village Marina and Resort. We were apprehensive as we are not resort kind of people. But they had great pools and lots of kids so we checked it out. As it turns out we were docked right next to some amazing fellow cruisers. As soon as we pulled in we got to talking and were fast friends. There were John and Julie from Myla and Jacques and Teresa from Jacquo Bateau. They invited us to dinner with them and we were inseparable for the next 3 days. They were wonderful people. Jeff and Julie were from Long Beach and Jacques and Teresa were from Hollywood. We had some memorable times with them and hope to catch up with them again. One night out was particularly wild but I will not go into that here!

Now it was time to move on. There is a place called Yelapa at the very southern end of Banderas Bay that I had heard about when I was in college and had been wanting to visit for a long time. It is unique in that it is inhabited entirely by indigenous people that have been settled there for centuries. It is not accessible by road, you can only reach it by boat, so the amount of tourists it receives is limited. Yelapa is part of the Comunidad Indigena de Chacala or Indigenous Community of Chacala. King Phillip II of Spain granted the property rights of this territory to the indigenous people of the governing town of Chacala and its neighboring villages that include Yelapa back in 1581! It has remained theirs ever since. These folks do not intermarry and can trace their bloodlines back for centuries. They have maintained their culture and indigenous ways and continue to live much as they have for nearly 1000 years. Land here is owned by the community collectively and no one person “owns” or can “sell” anything. It is a very special and unique place. Definitely one of our favorite places so far. As they expatriate saying goes “a palapa in Yelapa beats a condo in Redondo”! It was very deep here, over 250 feet so we had to use a mooring ball to secure the boat. The surf was rough, too rough to land the dinghy safely so we put all our stuff in dry bags, tied them to our waits with a rope and swam ashore. The small cove has a beautiful white sand beach and is surrounded on both sides by towering jungle cliffs to which the village homes cling. The Rio El Tuito dumps into the sea at the head of the cove and during the rainy season it rages and thus the villagers live on the side of the mountain.

The village of Yelapa is incredible. You. Can see why. People fall in love with this place. There are. No roads and. Thus no cars, there are beautiful walking paths everywhere and simple stone homes all carved into the mountains. There are two large waterfalls one in the town and another about 3 miles away. We have a thing for waterfalls so they were a must do. There are lots of societies drop outs here. If you closed your eyes you might think you were in the late 1960’s on a commune somewhere. You can lease a home here for a period of 10 years and the option to renew the lease is up to the community. Most of the Gringos who stay are helping the village in one way or another. Freeloaders are not welcome. The people are warm and accepting, we felt right at home. We are curious to them due to the fact that we live on our boat and are travelling the world so we were warmly accepted here. It was such a pleasure to be in a small village after being in the large marinas and resorts in Banderas Bay. You cannot believe that this village is only 16 miles south of Puerto Vallarta! Jirig met a man and struck up a conversation in Spanish. He was 96 years old and had 11 children. He wife was 94. Life is good in Yelapa….

Our loosely laid plans are to sail the world for 5 years and then return to the place we liked best and settle there. So far we have liked the village of Agua Verde in Baan who was ja on the coast of the Sea of Cortez and this beautiful little slice of paradise called Yelapa. Who knows…..maybe we will be back!