A Whale of a Time

After leaving the Guayabitas/Jaltemba anchorage, we headed south for Banderas Bay. We anchored overnight at Punta de Mita (the surf is usually too rough there for us to attempt a dinghy landing, and it is a pretty expensive resort area) before sailing further south to La Cruz. Banderas Bay is a very special place as it is a place where humpback whales visit every year. And this year did not disappoint. As we traveled across the bay to and from La Cruz we were treated to several whale displays.

Almost 20 years ago when we first came here, we anchored where there is now a huge marina. We still enjoy La Cruz, but it has really grown and changed over the years! Now that the anchorage area has been pushed back further into the bay rowing to shore has become a much lengthier affair, further complicated by the 20+ knot winds that regularly builds up in the afternoon as the land mass heats up. One afternoon we picked up a kid “hitchhiking” to a boat he was crewing on that was out in the anchorage. (I say kid here though he may prefer the term young man—I’m not sure when everyone became either a “kid” or “our age”…what happened to all those “older” folks we used to run into?!? Anyway, we agreed to take him to his boat which was anchored just a bit further out than ours with a few “understandings”. First, we let him know that without an outboard we were limited to rowing which would take some time particularly with all the added weight. He was fine with that—it certainly is faster than the prospect of no one else coming by to give him a ride. Second, and most importantly, we had Lily with us and while she likes most humans, there are a few humans that she immediately takes a dislike to and refuses to change her mind (all animals are off limits as in her mind they are either prey or enemies). If he were one of these sorts, a long ride in a short dinghy would be impossible. Fortunately, he was a dog-lover and Lily considered him acceptable as a passenger. And lastly, we have a very small dinghy (the smallest one available as a matter of fact). In addition to Lily and ourselves, we carried a backpack and a bag of groceries. The ”kid”, Luke, had a jug of fuel, a large backpack, and a bag of groceries. Somehow we managed to get everything and everyone aboard for the long row out. As I mentioned, it was the afternoon so those high winds were starting to kick up. The dinghy was fully loaded and sitting a little lower in the water making it a much wetter ride as the fetch was building in the bay. Fortunately the wind direction was blowing us into the anchorage (we would not have been able to make any forward progress if the winds were not in our favor). The tricky part in these situations is to row in a direction that will blow you to your boat without over or under shooting it and blowing right past it. Jim was rowing and it was going quite well—Jim has been rowing this dinghy for many years and has become quite skilled at it. Then about half way out Luke offered to help row. It should be said here that our dinghy has no sort of keel or directional stability making it difficult to row under the best circumstances. Here we were overloaded in high winds and choppy water with a rower not experienced in rowing our dinghy. None of this would have been a problem, after all Luke was a smart kid and given some time he would have gotten the hang of it. However, all of a sudden Jim says, “hey, that’s your boat pulling up anchor…”. I felt terrible for the poor kid as panic and confusion started to take hold of him—it certainly didn’t help him figuring out his rowing pattern while trying to rush to get to a boat before it left without him! While he continued to row he had me dig through his backpack to try to call the captain of the boat, but I couldn’t get an answer. Then I answered as his phone rang, but I could hear no answer. By this time the boat was off anchor and moving. Since we were closer to our boat anyway, I had them drop me off along with Lily and our gear to lighten the load in the dinghy. From the bow of our boat I waved my arms at the other captain and pointed to the dinghy hoping he would get the message. He shouted out that he would circle around to the dinghy to pick up Luke. Crisis averted.

We decided to spend a few nights in the marina while we were in La Cruz to wash off the boat and enjoy a few “real” showers. It was nice to be tied up to a dock for a change, and the showers were wonderful! I don’t think you can truly appreciate a shower of free running fresh hot water until you have gone an extended time without one. While we were at the marina we enjoyed an excellent dinner at the marina restaurant.

Lily got a new dress at the Sunday artisan market

And we took the bus to Costco in Puerto Vallarta to do some junk food provisioning with our friends Frank and Patsy

We weren’t the only ones enjoying life in the marina

Going into the marina at La Cruz required official paperwork for “checking in” to the port. On our first sail down to Mexico every time we set the anchor we were required to go to shore to find the Port Captain’s office to check in. This entailed bringing all your paperwork (vessel documentation, temporary import permit, proof of insurance, crew list, etc), filling out their check in form which included all the information from the aforementioned paperwork as well as where you last stopped and where you are going, and paying a fee based on the gross weight of your boat. You are also required to present your official “check out” paperwork from your last port. This was followed by the official rubber stamp of the port captain on your copy of your check in paper which would need to be presented again along with all your documents to the port captain before leaving in order to receive a stamp for your official check out paper. Now things have changed for cruisers. The tourist visa fee as you enter the country is the only fee we pay—no more fees at every port captain.

This was a good change that seemed to make “checking in” at each port just an often neglected courtesy. It became a problem for us in La Cruz because we had zero official check in or out papers to present. It is true that we had not visited any port captain’s office on the way down, but in our defense we also didn’t receive any paperwork from our home port in Guaymas when we left or in Topolobampo where we checked into a marina for a few days. Eventually, the La Cruz office told us to write a note that we had checked out of our last port by radio (thereby explaining the lack of one piece of paper), but informed us we needed to get an official check out paper to them before we could leave the port which extended from La Cruz to Puerto Vallarta.

So, we spent some time on the phone and email with Guaymas and Topolobampo (both in different states from each other and from La Cruz). I guess after changing the rules, not every state has the same policies and procedures concerning checking in and out of the ports because neither of these places could provide us with any paperwork. In Guaymas where we keep our boat, for example, there is no paperwork to be had. They are required to simply fill out a report weekly or monthly to the port captain’s office with what boats have left the port and where they are headed as well as what boats have entered the port and from where they came. Topolobampo didn’t explain their system to us, but could only provide us with a letter from the marina manager stating when we were there and when we left. With no official rubber stamp from a port captain, I didn’t think this would fly, but it was the best I could get. Hmmmm…so we considered our options. We could stay there and never leave (not really an option). We could sneak out without checking out, but we didn’t know how closely they kept track of these documents—would the Navy come looking for us? Would we ever be able to visit La Cruz again? Would our boat be on some list that would cause us problems if we were randomly boarded and inspected some day? Well, we had the letter from Topolobampo with us as well as the official check in paper the La Cruz port captain had begrudgingly given us when we went to check out.

We decided to try to check out as if there was no irregularity (we did have what appeared to be the normal check in document for this port in hand), cross our fingers, and see what happens. We presented our documents and filled out the paperwork. As we held our breath the man took our paperwork away from the window to a back office where we could not see or hear what was happening. He was gone for what seemed like an inordinately long time. When he returned we let out a collective sigh as he got out the rubber stamp, stamped our papers, and returned a copy to us. Whew, it worked and we were free to leave. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

We decided not to continue any farther south so we would have time to cross over to the Baja side to work our way north in the Sea of Cortez before crossing back to Guaymas on the mainland. Since the winds and the Pacific were staying quite calm, we decided to try another new anchorage for us. Sayulita. Not many people anchor there because it doesn’t offer much protection, especially from the north. After hanging on the hook overnight to make sure we had good holding, we decided to take a day to check out the town. We decided to shoot the gap between some rock outcropping right next to Playa de los Muertos because we weren’t sure if it was a private beach and there was better protection from the surf between the rocks—assuming we made it without hitting the rocks. Then we climbed over the rocks to the small beach to walk towards town. It was immediately obvious why it is called Playa de los Muertos or Beach of the Dead (another reason why sailors may decide against anchoring there). But the name was nothing to do with any dangers to sailors or beachgoers. It is aptly named because the beach sits right on the edge of a cemetery that one must walk through in order to get to or from the beach.

To the north of Playa de los Muertos is a long stretch of beach that is very popular for surfers. Along the beach and in town are boutique hotels, shops and cafes. While we were glad to have checked out the area, it is not a place we would stay long as everything was very expensive there. Here are a few photos from our rambling about town.

By the end of the day Lily was completely wore out!