bahia Careyes - a whopping 15 miles north of Tenacatita. We made our way in by
braille, each crew member with their own idea of just which point we were really
passing. As usual, the scale of our charted information was deceiving...there were
not 3 large bays, rather 3 bays (between large rocks) that could fit 3-4 sailboats
(snugly) if you could manage to turn around once you were in between rocks. We
chose the little bay in front of the Club Med, and anchored bow and stern alongside
Spirit. Earlier in the day we had commented on the fact that this beach would no
doubt be off limits since Club Meds never go out of business. Lo and behold, this
place was abandoned, and parts were being demolished. Duke was thrilled, the
beach was his to conquer! Unfortunately, we couldn't get our anchors to grab hold in
the coral/shale bottom. We ended up with one bow anchor and two stern anchors out
which limited our movements, but we still moved around quite a bit.
The second day we ventured over to the hotel which had a beautiful swimming
pool. We had lunch at the poolside restaurant, while Maureen tried to decide which
was less painful- the cheese quesadilla for $10.00 or a caesar salad for $15.00. The
$18.00 hamburger was simply out of the question. When all was said and done, a
couple of drinks, salad, order of French fries, and a cappuccino totaled $65.00. We
had no qualms about grabbing some towels and lounging poolside in their lawn chairs
for the rest of the afternoon.
Polar Bear was anchored just off the hotel beach and was familiar with the area
having been enjoying the cruising life for several years. Jan informed us that the
hotel/condo development had been the result of an Italian, who now owned the
hillside just above where we were anchored (note photo of house w/suspension
bridge). She also knew that the club med had been purchased by a Mexican family a
few years prior. We would have loved to have stayed a bit longer in this picturesque
anchorage, but weren't comfortable with our anchor situation. We did the math and
decided a noon departure with a straight shot north would get us to Cabo Corrientes
around 4 am, perfect for the least amount of headwind! Off we went!
Sadly the wind stayed a steady 20 knots right on our nose, and the seas were not
insignificant. We began varying our course to keep about 30 degrees off the wind,
running with the engine and main sail with 1 reef. Back and forth across our track we
made our way north. Maureen had the watch starting at 11 pm At 1:30 am things
were not improving, so she awakened David and they decided to bail on Corrientes
and pull into Ipala for a rest. At 3:30 am the anchor was dropped outside of 3 other
boats at anchor.
At 8:30 am or so, we drug ourselves up on deck and noticed that we had the
anchorage to ourselves. Maybe we should have kept going? Around 10 am here came
Willow back into the anchorage, giving up on their attempt to get around Corrientes.
Maybe we weren't weenies after all? We decided to set our alarm for 4 am and
hope it was calm enough to leave.
The wind was howling thru the rigging at 4 am, back to sleep. At 7 Katherine
came in and suggested the sea was glassy and weren't we leaving? (She had a friend
from Boulder staying in Paradise Village and had incentive to get north). Sure enough
we took a look (Willow was just heading around the point heading north) and decided
to get moving. We stayed very close to shore (I think our track on the GPS shows us
crashing right thru the lighthouse at Corrientes), the wind stayed around 18 knots
true but the seas were under 4 feet, and at 10:30 we rounded the point and headed
east for Puerto Vallarta!
We had hoped to get a spot in Nueva Vallarta marina in order to avoid the
dusting from construction work in La Cruz. This happened to be the last big weekend
of the month long sail fest in Banderas Bay and we were out of luck. Back to La Cruz!
Again we found the Day family and managed to anchor within swimming distance of
them (OK, less than swimming distance, we contemplated a who can jump the gap
contest once or twice). More pizza at Philo's with the kids playing pool. Another
afternoon of music at Ana Banana's. One afternoon swim abandoned due to a 'red
tide', the water really does turn an ugly red! We checked on space at the Puerto
Vallarta marina, found out they had openings, and headed in for a few minor repair
jobs, and a professional bottom cleaning (by someone with a dive tank).
Surrounded by restaurants, it's hard to go wrong, but one of the best dinners
ever had was enjoyed at the Argentine steak house right here in the marina! (no
doubt David will have something about this on his food page if he prioritizes projects
and gets to work on it).
We finally pulled the stainless bow pulpit off the boat and David trundled the
whole kit and kaboodle down the road a mile to the machine shop for
modifications/repairs (Maureen gallantly offered to serve as a pilot w/a red flag,
Duke decided it was too hot to tag along).
Nueva Vallarta then La Cruz
