We started to get marina fever about the day after New Year. There was no real reason to be in the marina anymore; we had celebrated Christmas and New Year as we expected and we were now ready to get out and do what we came here for -sail and anchor in nice locations.  We contacted the agent we had used for our check-in procedures, arranged for our “temporary” (10 years) importation papers for the boat and our check-out paperwork. In the mean time we spend 2 days doing runs to various supermarkets, Sam’s Club etc. to stock up for 1-2 months away from stores.

Again finding somewhere to put everything was a big chore, particularly after I found a great deal on Spanish wine at $2:15 US per bottle and it is quite drinkable. So far it’s better than the Mexican wines we have tasted and infinitely better than the boxed California wine that is also available for more money. On the subject of wine, we were told that you couldn’t get good wine in Mexico, that’s misinformation. You can get anything you want at a price, and you then have to worry about how it was stored since leaving France or California. The Foreign wines are about 25% more than we would pay in the markets in Portland. The wine we found was imported by the supermarket chain “Gigante” which is a Spanish company and has the wine bottled for them and only at special times like Christmas. The price actually dropped 40% between Christmas and New Year on all the imported wines; I guess they want to be sure to sell it all. The prices where back up after New Year. I also found a great deal on Imported Dutch beer.  Why, you ask, would you buy Dutch beer, when Mexican beer is so good? Well Mexican beer costs more, a flat of 24 cans of Mexican beer was 150 pesos ($16:50), $3:30 more than the imported beer. We somehow managed to find somewhere to store 3 flats of beer as well as the wine.

After 2 days of shopping and storing we were ready to leave, I paid the marina bill and got a pleasant surprise, the peso was weaker than it had been for quite a while and the bill was 10% less than expected. I still think she made a mistake but who am I to argue in faltering Spanish?? Our new neighbor on the dock next to us asked us if we were still leaving at midday. “Of course,” says I. “Where to?” he asked. “Ipala,” I quickly replied. ”What about Cabo Corrientes?” he asked. “What about it?” I asked. He then proceeded to give me some local knowledge. Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents) is another one of those capes that are all the way down the West Coast, such as Mendocino and Blanco in California. The winds build during the day and get pushed past these points often creating big winds and seas. Corrientes, I was told, is best passed early in the morning, at least before midday. Once again we were late leaving the dock. We wanted to leave anyway and decided to spend a night on the hook at La Cruz de Huanaxtle, about 10 mls NW of Puerto Vallarta, and leave early in the morning. La Cruz and Punta de Mita are two anchorages in the North end of Banderas Bay. Many cruisers spend their time in Banderas Bay anchored up there and use the bus to get into PV for shopping etc.

After one night there we were glad we hadn’t made that decision. It was a very open roadstead and we rocked and rolled all night. I awoke at 4:00 am as we just about got rolled out of bed, got organized and left at 4:30am. Its only 40 miles from La Cruz to Ipala and we arrived at midday. We had only been motoring at 1500 rpm, the limit on engine speed for our water maker, so it took longer than you would expect to get there. But theres no rush, the benefit was we now had our tanks full of good fresh water. We have watched the output from the water maker go from 12gph off the Oregon coast to just about 16gph, the rated output of the system. It is all dependant on water temp, the warmer the better.

Ipala is a tiny village hooked in behind the only sheltered point for 60 miles after Cabo Corrientes, its an ideal place to wait out North winds if you are heading North. The only disadvantage is the small and often rolly anchorage, as the swell has a habit of curling around the point.

We spent 2 nights anchored right in the middle of the anchorage, as we were first in we got the best spot, we had good holding and no swell to talk of. About 15 families inhabit Ipala, they earn their living fishing and catering to the occasional tourist who makes the 8 ½ mile drive down an extremely rough rocky road or the boats that pass thru, and it has 3 restaurants!! We had lunch at two of them and as long as you want seafood it is great. This was also our first opportunity to get in the water since getting to Mexico. I could finally get under the boat and see what the last 2 weeks of sitting in a marina had done to the bottom. It took about ½ hour to clean the growth of the prop. The rest of the bottom just had a light coating of slime and this came off with a wash with a sponge. Within 2 hours of sitting in Ipala we were visited by 3 of the locals, we heard splashing and looked over to see 2 boys and a girl who were taking advantage of their last day of holiday before school started again. This town has its own 1 room school for kids to age 11, after that they must go to boarding school or stay with family in Puerto Vallarta. We practiced more “Spanglish” and had quite a chat as one of the boys was better at English than we were at Spanish.  They were interested to know where we were from and where we were going. We met them later on the beach and gave them pads of paper and pens for their school; something we were told was always welcome here. 

We were anxious to move on, the next bay we were told was a real cruisers dream, the first really sheltered bay of any size and a small town that provided basics if needed. We headed out for Bahia Chamela. Its 53 miles SE of Ipala and no were to hide if the weather got really bad, fortunately the winds at this time of the year are pretty much all from the North, so at least its downwind. We had next to no wind for the first 6 hours, what we did have though was nearly 1 knot of adverse current. This was strange as the trip down from Cabo Corrientes we had nearly 2 knots current with us! The wind finally did fill from the West, and we had a pleasant sail that lasted until 3 miles from Chamela. Chamela is quite a big bay, about 1 mile deep by about 4 long. The middle is broken by 2 large rocky islands and the south end has 5 or 6 much smaller ones. The NW corner of the bay is were everyone anchors. Its quite sheltered behind Punta Perula and great holding in about 24’. The big swells just about make it around the corner but not quite. One thing I forgot to mention since anchoring for the first night in La Crus is the constant noise of surf crashing on the beach’s. All of the anchorages so far have big surf breaks at the shoreline, the noise is non stop and at night you would think you are about to end up on the beach. After a while you get used to it. What you don’t get used to, because they are all so different is the dinghy landing thru the surf. If it’s a big surf break everyone watches the Gringos coming in, it’s a national pastime. The rule is if you don’t get wet past the waist it was a good landing.

We did lots of walking and exploring the bay in Chemala, there is hardly any tourists in the bay and you have the beaches to yourself, we walked about 3 miles around the bay and met one other couple walking back to there hotel. Chemala is also were we got the first real rain we had seen since arriving in Mexico. For a couple of days we had watched the clouds thicken then disperse, one morning they styed thick and it became obvious we were in for some real weather. The previous night had been very windy with the occational crack of thunder. At about nine the next morning it started to rain and for about 15 mins it deluged. We had nearly one inch of rain in that time. We heard later that the same storm to hit us had left hailstones on the Palapas in Nuevo Vallarta, and it was still there in the late morning. But the storm was what was needed to clear the air. The rest of the day was glorious and the days after were spectacular also. On flat calm morning we took a dinghy ride over to the two large Islands in the middle of the bay. These are volcanic islands and very rugged, we found a perfect little cove on the sheltered side of the island. But so had other in habitants, some enterprising local were busy building a beach Palapa to attract tourists from the local resorts to this “deserted island”, but there were other inhabitants also. Many boobies, pelicans and crabs inhabited the island. The crabs were very territorial and cam out to defend their hole in the sand.

We stayed in Chamela for 5 days, then it just felt like the right time to move on.. the next possible anchorage was just 13 miles away. Bahia Careyes is a very small bay that house three resorts, one on each of the little beach’s and bays. To luck at it from seaward you would never go in unless you knew that there was a moderately safe anchorage there. The first resort built here was about 20 years ago. It is the home of the 1^st Club Med in Mexico. Luckily for us, all the Club Meds in Mexico are closed this year, we are not sure if it is lack of tourism, which is evident everywhere, or the fact that the Club Meds worldwide are currently up for sale. Anyway the little bay that Club Med sits in is the best o 3 poor anchorages, we stayed 2 nights as we had good holding but finally the constant swell and close proximity of very ugly rocks drove us on to Tenacatita just another 15 miles down the coast

 The trip down to Tenacatita was very eventful, I caught not one but 2 Dorado’s. A 6 pounder that I was just celebrating having caught, and a 20 pounder. These are beautiful fish, both to look at and to eat. 

So here we are in sunny Tenacatita, we’ve been here for 8 days and not tired of it yet. There are anything from 30-40 boats in the bay at any one time and some have been here as long as 7 weeks. Its pretty much idyllic. Great sand beach’s, palm trees, sheltered waters and a nice breeze to cut the heat. There’s also a lot to do here. Well, I’ve already got too big a file to save on a disk here, so I’ll continue next time with details of Tenacatita.

 Part II
 Photo Album for Leg 6