Gelina and Dave's Adventures

Puerto Vallarta is on the Pacific coast of Mexico along Banderas Bay, Mexico's largest natural bay, in the northwest corner of the state of Jalisco. This was our first trip the western coast of Mexico and it has a completely different feel than the Caribbean side - more of an older, more established, unhurried, colonial seaside town. It's still a tourist town, but think mariachis, not discos.

We stayed with our friends Mary and Trent at the Crown Paradise, next to the marina at the north end of town. The hotel had a great view of Banderas Bay, a decent beach with lots of little palapas for shade, and a nice pool with a swim-up bar.

The food was okay, but the sister hotel next door had a great Mexican restaurant and we took a couple of trips to town to sample to great food available down my the River Cuale. We were also able to get out and do some sailing, a little snorkeling, and had our first experience at whale watching (try that in the Caribbean).

All-in-all it was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip.

With the Sierra Madre mountains in the background, the expanse of Banderas Bay in front of you, and a cold cerveza in your hand, Puerto Vallarta is a damn-near ideal Mexican paradise.	This is old Mexico - tile roofs, cobblestone streets, sombreros, with just a very little glitz. We had a great time touring the area, whale watching, snorkeling, and just hanging out and watching the sunsets.
Our first day started with room service sending up 12 glasses of beer instead of the 12 cans of beer that we had ordered to stock the fridge . Oooooops. Damn tourist Spanish. Mary and Gelina indulged in the breakfast of champions.
Gelina settles in with a book and a Swimming Pool.	Dave in the hotel pool with his color-coordinated drink .
Beach vendors abounded, selling everything for gorgeous hand-woven table cloths to toe rings. They were annoying, but were much better behaved than many of their American customers, who were rude, ignorant, condescending, boorish - all the things that get us labeled as "ugly Americans."
Gelina did buy a toe ring and an ankle bracelet from a beach vendor and paid a more-than-fair price for them.	Dave taking it easy. He never did tan, but his freckles sure got bigger.
Mary takes a break from the sun.	Trent bobbing in Bahia Banderas.
Gelina and her Miami Vice drink.	Trent in the hotel pool.
Trent and Dave met the operator of this catamaran, Liñdo, one day while they where out swimming. Liñdo was giving instruction to an older couple on how the handle the boat. When he thought that they were ready to solo, he had them swing in close to the beach and he just jumped off the boat and swam to shore. We started talking to him about the boat. Pretty soon, Liñdo pulled out a bottle of whiskey and they all did a round of shots. Soon after that, we became best friends. Later that day, we rented the cat from him and the 4 of us sailed down the bay and back. Dave took the helm and we had a blast sailing it up the northern end of the bay.
We took a day and wandered along the Malecón (boardwalk) in downtown Puerto Vallarta.	Pelicans by the local fish market. That's a 16-foot boat, so these are some BIG pelicans.
Of course, where there's fish, there're kitty cats. These two little guys were hanging out by the marina.	This guy was taking a siesta under a nearby truck.
Gelina and the Arches amphitheater at the end of the Malecón.	A statue of a mer-couple. Note where the bronze is shiny on the mermaid.
Gelina looking forward to eating camarones (shrimp) at a local restaurant.	The entrance to one of the outdoor bars in El Centro. The "Happy New Years" hat is from 1979.
Marietas Islands The Marietas Islands are a national marine sanctuary at the north end of Banderas Bay. Mary and Trent found a whale watching tour out to the islands aboard the Bloodhound, a 98-foot wooden sailboat. The sailboat is modern recreation of a 1874 British ship. It was beautiful and the crew was great. They even caught a mackerel and made us really fresh ceviche.
These are northern humpback whales. Banderas Bay is one of their winter breeding areas, so we saw lots of baby whales. These babies start out life weighing almost a ton.
Trent got a couple of nice shots these 2 whales. The one on the right has some barnacles on his fins. Not bad shooting for an analog guy.
Here is a whale about to dive. The large sailboat in the background is the La Marigalante, a replica of the Santa Maria.	To get a idea of how big these guys really are, that's a 50+ foot catamaran in the background.
We were lucky enough to see these 3 whales swimming together. These are 2 males competing to " win the "favor" of the female. In the winter, Banderas Bay becomes the humpback whale version of a disco on a Friday night.
Dave settled under the shade of the mast with a little 10oz Pacifico. Years of breading have produced a lime designed to fit it in the neck of a beer bottle - limones pequeños - science is a wonderful thing.	The details on the Bloodhound are exceptional. It's a modern re-creation of a ship built in 1874. This block is just one of several dozen that are used to control the sails. The coin in the center is the same type of English coin that was used for decoration on the original boat.
At the Marietas, we got to do some snorkeling. Here's Dave, Mary, and Trent in front of the Bloodhound.	We saw lots of Angel fish. This was Dave's first real chance to try out his Ikelite Auto35.
We swam through an archway in the island to a little beach.	Here we are on the beach at the end of the cave.
After snorkeling, Gelina found a great spot for a nap in the bow of the boat.	Looks like Trent and Mary were enjoying themselves as well.
Pizota and Yelapa Pizota and Yelapa are 2 small villages south of Puerto Vallarta on Banderas Bay . Neither can be reached by road, so you have to come in by foot, mountain bike, or boat. We took a cruise on the Bahia Alegre, a very poorly-run 50-foot catamaran. This is the view of Pizota as we motored in. From here we had to take a 20-foot panga (fishing boat) to the beach.
Pizota is undeveloped and beautiful. There are about 60 fishermen/farmers in the area. Unfortunately, it's become a bit of the Mexican Appalachians. The local people are being exploited for the tourist trade and most of the money is going back to Puerto Vallarta.
Dave went snorkeling at Pizota. It wasn't great, but the guide did bring up this blowfish.	This puffer fish was almost the size of a soccer ball and was very bright blue.
While Dave snorkeled, Gelina took a walking tour to see this 500 year-old banyan tree.	She also got to meet the meat.
We limited our exploitation of the locals to getting some lunch. They grow coconuts for both oil and food. First, they chop a small opening so you can sip out the milk. Then they chopped it open, scraped out the meat, and served it to us with lime, salt, and hot sauce. It was great!
Next, we sailed to Yelapa, a considerably larger village closer to Puerto Vallarta. It has become kind of a US ex-patriot hippie hang out.	There are a few places to stay in town. This is the view of the pool in front of the Lagunita hotel.
When our pilot tried to land our panga at Yelapa, the surf was too much and he swamped us. Mary got dragged under the boat, Gelina got bounced around in the back of the boat, Dave got knocked down by a wave, and Trent got dunked. Here we are recovering from our adventure. We were all pretty bruised up. Trent lost 2 cameras and Mary spent the next day picking sand out of places where you really don't want to have sand. We were all just happy to be in one piece. So Gelina celebrated with pie. Trent dried out his gear and he and Dave celebrated with raicilla, a vicious local moonshine. The Alegre crew celebrated by going up to the top deck and getting stoned, which might have been part of the problem to start with.
The beach at the end of a long day, sigh...	Gelina taking a dip after a pretty wild horseback ride to the falls.

Our Adventures in Puerto Vallarta

Marietas Islands

Pizota and Yelapa