We left La Cruz to move our boat to its summer home to keep it safe during hurricane season which runs from July thru October. Because this marina is located on an estuary at the end of Banderas Bay and surrounded by mountains it a safe hurricane hole for boats. In a later posting we will describe how we prepare the boat before we leave it here.
We are in a temporary slip for now until a more permanent one opens up. In the sailing community everyone’s plans are fluid. There are people waiting for a favorable weather window to head either North or South. We’re waiting for one of these sailors to execute their plans so we can move into their slip.
We’re at Paradise Village which is a huge resort between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta. It couldn’t be more different than La Cruz or any place we’ve been in Mexico. We’ve gone from dirt roads and rustic palapa restaurants to living in a world-class resort. We stepped off the dock into Starbucks. It feels very American here.
With pools and food and outdoor dining, come birds. So Paradise Village has a falconer. He releases his falcon, and points a green laser pointer at a bird on a table in the outdoor dining area. When I saw him, the falcon was ignoring him and his laser pointer but the intent and the training seem pretty clear. I also saw the falconer wandering around with an antenna homing in on where his falcon had gone with a ‘beep beep’. The falcon is a really low key way to keep birds from being a chronic nuisance in the outdoor dining areas. There’s also other animals and birds here. There’s a wildlife preserve on the property including a Bengal tiger named Daisy, an alligator, deer, pet raccoons, flamingos and exotically colored Man of War parrots.
Lots of little things have been happening this week. After being at anchor in various places since we left La Paz (two month’s or so ago), we needed to do some grime removal. We had a diver clean the bottom of the boat, and we’re trying to decide on who to hire to care for the boat while we’re away. (There are a pile of business cards on the table.)
The local sailing community had a small melt-down when Elon Musk and Starlink sent out email informing us (and every other sailor) that we’ve been violating our Starlink terms of service. No one quite knows what this means. Probably a return to a world where it’s just a bit too expensive to have high-speed internet in the middle of the ocean (just like it was in 2021). There’s more questions than answers at the moment but it seems that it will still work when we’re at anchor near shore.
We’ve re-learned that marinas are hot. The breeze is different, and the boat doesn’t swing into the wind, so the vents can’t direct a breeze through the boat as they do at anchor. We decided the smart thing was to order a small portable air conditioner that should be here in about 10 days. Our fingers are crossed that it will make life in the cabin a bit more comfortable.
Since we’re guests of the Marina at the resort we can use many of the resort facilities, like pools, gyms and spas (some for a fee). We’re hanging out adjacent to people on vacation and when a conversation starts about how long we’re staying here we get some funny looks when we say we’re here for weeks and weeks. There’s a gulf between ‘vacationing’ and ‘traveling’. A couple days ago we were in the pool when we heard a splash – an iguana had fallen out of a tree and was swimming across the pool – pretty funny.
We found out that drinks are two for one from 5:15 to 7:15 so we can order one drink and they bring us two. Excellent!
The bikes are out of the storage locker for some exploration in the near future and we’ll soon take a dingy trip up the Crocodile populated estuary that the marina is built on. We’re also planning on doing some sailing out in Banderas Bay to some of the anchorage we haven’t yet explored so we have until the middle of June before we have to safely secure her for hurricane season.
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