Winter home in San Blas, Mexico

So after spending last winter moving Estrella around quite a bit here in Mexico, Josh and I decided to spend this winter exploring our favorite places from last season, but at a MUCH slower pace. We left La Cruz in early November and ended up here in San Blas, a little town north of La Cruz and south of Mazatlan.


Needless to say, we have spend the past month or so in San Blas finding no shortage of ways to entertain ourselves. First off, we started brewing our own liquor again. But this time around, local pub owner Billy Bob allowed us the use of his galley and equipment in order to produce larger quantities of our liquor.


Josh has thus far run his homemade still three times at Billy Bob's pub. This particular set-up produced a liquor closest in taste to potato vodka.


The other two distillations produced liquor close to gin. The most recent batch Josh flavored with cinnamon sticks for proper holiday liquor.


Other daily activities include riding our bicycles to the beach. The local horses also provide a viable means of transportation in San Blas and oddly enough, produce the greatest number of traffic jams in town.


A few days ago we hitched a ride in our friends' (Charles and Lori's) VW bug and went driving on the beach. Rocky outcroppings interrupt the otherwise sandy beach and frequently we could see the remains of structures destroyed during past hurricanes. I should note the (mostly intact) house we are standing next to belongs to another friend here.


The columned building on the left is the San Blas cultural center, which was the original customs house when San Blas was one of the ports of the Camino Real. The Camino Real was the Spanish "royal road" between Veracruz, Mexico City, and San Blas. The Spanish empire used the road to transport cargo to San Blas and then onto the Baja California missions, western North America, and the Spanish colony in the Philippines via galleon. Consequently, extensive galleon building took place in San Blas.


The marina here in San Blas is one of our favorite in Mexico. Behind Estrella is a large estuary that continues inland for another fifteen miles. The bird viewing from the marina is fantastic!


Our Christmas tree for 2011. The giant Pacifico bottle was purchased at Carnaval in La Paz in 2008 and had proven to be the perfect vessel for flowers.


The marina also has a lovely pool which is rarely used, except when Josh and I decide to cool off and read there in the afternoon.


We have also traveled inland to Tepic, the capital of the state of Nayarit. A two hour bus ride from San Blas, Tepic sits in the sierras and is full of museums and churches of historical significance.


Over the past five years, Tepic underwent a city-wide beautification project. New parks have sprung up and I found myself on an elliptical machine near the main river, (which is dry at this time of year).

Regresamos a Mexico!

Buenas dias! We are back in Mexico for another season of winter cruising on S/V Estrella.


S/V Estrella lived at Marina de La Cruz, (just outside of Puerto Vallarta on Bandaras Bay), for the summer while we were in Alaska working on M/V Ursa Major. The above photo is of our typical sunset here in La Cruz.


A couple of weeks ago, supposed-Hurricane Jova made an appearance in Bandaras Bay. We took this photo the day of the storm - note the completely calm seas behind us.


In preparation for supposed-Hurricane Jova, we took the head sails off S/V Estrella, tied down everything that could fly off, and added extra dock lines.


Most of the boats in the marina had the same idea as us for supposed-Hurricane Jova, but in the end, we received 20 minutes of 20 knot wind and some rain.


Time was not to be wasted just on hurricane-preparedness. Beer needed to be consumed regardless of the weather.


We did enjoy the company of these mystery songbirds on our docklines during supposed-Hurricane Jova. They didn't seem too worried about the weather either.

Cruisin' aboard Ursa Major

Josh and I in Auke Bay, Alaska courtesy of Ruth and Bill Donovan. Ruth and Bill were aboard M/V Ursa Major for our trip from Seattle to Juneau in May. They are wonderful bloggers so check out the following link to their blog for many great stories and photos from our trip:

http://ruthandbilladventures.blogspot.com/2011/07/trip-to-alaska-via-inside-passage.html

Meanwhile, back in Alaska.....

Sailing on the catamaran S/V Savannah

Shortly before we left La Cruz for sunny Seattle, Josh and I were treated to our first catamaran ride on our friend's sailing vessel, S/V Savannah. Andy, Monica, and their son Jake will be leaving La Cruz in March for the islands of the south Pacific Ocean.


With Monica and Jake in the United States visiting family, we offered to participate in a day-long "sea trial" in Bandaras Bay.


Andy, Josh, myself, and the autopilot shared the steering duties for the day.


After a few hours of sailing, whale watching, and beer sampling, we determined with absolute certainty that S/V Savannah is ready for the islands of the south Pacific Ocean.

S/V Estrella in Marina de La Cruz

In order to properly inspect and adjust the headsail roller furling system, I climbed in our bosun's chair and went up the mast one fine day in La Cruz. Josh was on deck support and together, we fixed the headsail roller furling system in no time.


This is my second time up the mast and as you can see from the photos, the view is spectacular from the top.


I enjoyed the experience and was amused by the birds flying by at my altitude of forty-five feet above the deck.

Puerto Vallarta

On another adventure via the Puerto Vallarta public bus system, Josh and I headed downtown to the old part of Puerto Vallarta for lunch.


The trip took over an hour and needless to say, we were happy to get off the bus and head for the beach. Our first stop was the malecon, where we found a wonderful statue of Neptune (bottom), a pirate (middle), and a lady with a dove (top).


Since we happened to visit old part of town mid-week and almost off-season, the beaches were relatively quiet.


The remains of the winter sand sculpture season were still present. The sculptors continuously maintain their creations and accept donations for their efforts.


Our favorite sand sculpture was this highly detailed "grizzly" bear.


The malecon in old Puerto Vallarta also had bronze chair sculptures of either aliens or octupi, depending on your point of view.


Josh and I ended up at a delicious shrimp restaurant for lunch, which had a great view of Bandaras Bay.


After lunch, we stopped at the old cathedral two blocks from the ocean. This structure contained beautiful stain glass windows and was serenely quiet inside.


Upon exiting the old cathedral, this unknown priest stood perpetual vigil over his flock.

La Cruz

Josh and I spent the month of January and part of February on S/V Estrella in and around the wonderful little town of La Cruz. Located on the northern shore of Bandaras Bay, (and near Puerto Vallarta), La Cruz turned out to be quite the cruiser's mecca and we found ourselves constantly reconnecting with old friends from La Paz and new friends from mainland Mexico.


Our first night in La Cruz found us at Ana Banana's bar and restaurant. Strangely enough, we found the telltale signature of La Paz friends, John and Liz from M/V Outta Here, on the kitchen wall of Ana Banana's.


As seen in the above photo, the kitchen wall of Ana Banana's has proven a popular graffiti spot for cruisers and land-based gringos passing through La Cruz.


Ana Banana's restaurant also has their own version of Margaritaville. This place regularly fills up almost every night as it is a popular spot for local bands to play.


La Cruz is also home to abundant, delicious, and cheap fruit and vegetables. Banana trees line one of the walkways to and from the marina in La Cruz.


Coconut trees were planted along the breakwater at the marina in La Cruz. Part of Puerto Vallarta is visible in the distance across Bandaras Bay.


The marina in La Cruz early in the morning. S/V Estrella is docked just out of range of the photo on the left.

Bucerias y Punta Mita

Following our trip to the United States for the holiday season, I attempted to figure out the Puerto Vallarta public bus system. For those of you who have done so already, you understand that time, a good book, and spare pesos are the keys to this endeavor. Having already taken on the Mazatlan public bus system, I hoped for similar success in spending very little money and lots of time to go seemingly small distances.


I started out from La Cruz with a small juant over to nearby seaside town of Bucerias. With less then 20 stops in 15 minutes, I felt this to be a small victory at the cost of approximately $0.42. I happened to arrive on the day of the craft market and enjoyed a lazy stroll around the town.


The above wall displayed a nice cartoon version of Bucerias I found intriguing. The town square was full of interesting art and all sorts of folks out for a late morning walk.


Most people seemed to already be on the main beach in Bucerias. Eclectic waterfront restaurants were open and serving delicious seafood to the tourists passing through this otherwise quiet town.


After a relaxing morning in Bucerias, I hopped back on the bus and headed next to Punta Mita. The ride from Bucerias to Punta Mita (via La Cruz) took approximately thirty minutes and the bus seemed to stop less frequently. The road from La Cruz to Punta Mita was full of hairpin turns, precarious vehicle passing, and precious little room at the side of the road for waiting passengers.


Punta Mita is also home to a wonderful little beach and was full of tourists out for a walk on yet another beautiful day in Mexico.


Overall though, Punta Mita is more subdued and feels much less "Mexican" than Bucerias or La Cruz.


None-the-less, I spent the afternoon relaxing at a beachside palapa restaurant with a good book and a limonada.


On the way back to the Punta Mita bus stop from the beach, I spotted yet another delightful cartoon (paper) map of Mexico hanging on the wall of a local tour company. Gotta love Mexico!!!