San Blas to Banderas Bay

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December 14, 2012 – La Cruz

San Blas is less than 60nm from Banderas Bay, but we would not be this way again, so we took the slow scenic route, sailing as much as possible and stopping at a number of beautiful anchorages along the way.

Lunch with Breeda and Bruce from Sojourn in Chicala

Chicala

We spent two nights at anchor in the unspoiled bay off Chicala. Its only downside was that the anchorage tends to be rolly so everyone adds a stern anchor to keep the bow pointed into the swell. This was our first time using a stern anchor and the procedure presented the usual challenges of putting theory into practice. That coupled with a change of wind direction before the stern anchor was set resulted in a modicum of mayhem before we were finally settled by a long stretch of rode off the stern with a bright yellow float indicating the position of the anchor.

The most suitable dinghy landing area is conveniently located beside the Port Captain’s office who warmly welcomed us and signed us in and out on the same sheet of paper. The town is a short walk away. There are a few restaurants and shops. We found everyone extremely friendly and the shops were selling much of the normal tourist items for very reasonable prices. There was a slight problem with the electricity the day we arrived so internet was out but the restaurants were in full swing. We met up with Breeda and Bruce from Sojourn and joined them for lunch at one of the beachfront restaurants. We had our first introduction to mahi-mahi and have all fallen for this delicious fish with its firm flesh and delicate flavor. We had a lovely walk on the beach before returning to Sea Reach.

Jaltemba

We also spend 2 nights at the more touristy and boisterous Bahia Jaltemba. The beach was a hive of activity with many street vendors walking the beach selling everything from barbecued shrimp on a skewer to beachside massages. We tried the shrimp but ours were overcooked.  It seems to be a favoured spot for Mexicans to visit. A number of party boats brought people on loud trips around the bay. They found the few ‘yachties’ who were anchored off quite an attraction and circled in close proximity so that their passengers could wave and take photographs. That was a bit of a turn around – Mexican tourists taking photos of us! About two miles offshore lies the small island of La Pena where pangas bring visitors across for day trips and snorkeling. We took the dinghy across and enjoyed some snorkeling on our second day. The snorkeling was so-so. Not our favourite anchorage but lovely to see the Mexicans enjoying some of their own spectacular coastline.

La Cruz

We sailed most of the way from Jaltemba to La Cruz in light winds. Though the winds picked up when we rounded Punta Mita we seemed to get caught in a current and our speed over ground slowed down to half of what we would normally expect for the wind speed. At 12k of wind we had slowed to 3knots. Thoughts of dragging a piece of fishing net crossed our minds at one point as Sea Reach lumbered on in an uninspiring way. This persisted for about 30 minutes until we finally broke loose and Sea Reach started to pick up speed again. When we got to La Cruz Marina we discovered that our timing coincided with the Banderas Bash, a weeklong festival to mark the final arrival of this year’s Baja Haha fleet to the Banderas Bay area. We had already made friends with some of this year’s fleet enroute from Mazatlan so we decided to participate in some of the activities.

We hitched a ride with Younger Girl the following morning and headed to a brunch at Paradise Marina hosted by the Vallerta Yacht Club. Later in the afternoon there was a friendly race back to La Cruz. Younger Girl is a 38’ foot lagoon catamaran with Capt. Mark and first mate Debbie on board (and stinky the dog). We were delighted to crew for Mark as he directed us to haul, grind and ease as we proceeded to try and convince Younger Girl to pick up the pace. The colourful gennaker was raised after some confusion and we enjoyed the banter exchanged between the competitors. Profligate looked as if she was going to glide past us despite her late start but the wind fairies stole her air and bestowed it upon us allowing us to complete under sail while the crew of Profligate had to resort to the iron jenny to cross the finish line. Party night at La Cruz Marina featured some excellent musicians.

There is an excellent fish market here at the marina and Mike and Breeda ventured out to find us some mahi-mahi to put on the barbecue. They brought back a beautiful piece, perfectly filleted and we enjoyed a wonderful meal in the cockpit with the boys on ‘barbie’ due and the girls making salads and dessert. I love barbecues!

Next day we participated in a race to Punta Mita and placed a $50 bet with Sojourn and Ojo Rojo that the loser would donate the money to the Children’s School fund. Very light winds had us drifting along at rates we would normally never tolerate seeing who would break down first and forfeit by putting on the iron jenny. Ojo Rojo had a brilliant start accelerating across the start line leaving us all in her wake but lost interest when the wind disappeared and was the first to declare a DNF (did not finish). Sojourn had the weather gauge on us for most of the time though we threatened to overtake her a few times. In the end we took the inside route while she took the outside route and we agreed to check our gps positions to decide on a winner before turning on our engines (2 of the last boats to do so) so that the committee boat could join the beach party. Rather than do the math we declared her to be the winner as she had showed us her stern for most of the race. It was all good natured and when we got to the restaurant later decided that all 3 boats would contribute to the fund. Richard Spindler of Latitude 38 and skipper of Profligate is the grand poobah of all this shenanigans but along with a penchant for reverie comes a strong philanthropic streak to give back to the country where he spends so much time. He not only leads the charge down south each year which brings lots of cruising dollars to Mexico but he also coaxes and wheedles many of the cruiser to contribute to local charities in addition. All of the main cruising destinations have local charities supported by cruisers and there is a keen sense of mutual appreciation between cruisers and the communities where they spend their time and dollars.