03-07 to 03-20, Banderas Bay

03-07, Tues. to 03-20, Tues. – Aaaahhhh…. We are now in a state of “what to do”. We were hoping the FM3’s would be taken care of by 3/13 or 14 so we could prepare to head south for a few weeks before heading north into the Sea of Cortez for the summer. However, this was not the case…. This is Mexico after all. So, we will not be able to head any further south this season.

We went to the Britannia (Tues), Ana Bananas (Fri) and Philo’s (Weds) and I got to sing my now “signature song”, “Stormy Monday”, at all three places. It was fun as usual. I also got to sing another song and sing some backup to the groups. (She hit the trifecta of La Cruz venues in one week. The highlight was finally getting to sing at Philo’s with Philo playing the harp. Philo’s live streams so there is an online recording available. As soon as I can find where in the recording she is I will post it – D)

The races continue this week, and there is a LOT of activity in the harbor.

We made some trips to the Mega store. It is much easier to provision when we are at the dock and we fueled up on our way out to the anchorage.

We have been enjoying our friends on “ShantiAna”, Bill, Shanti & Keene. They will be leaving soon on the “Puddle Jump” for the Marquesas, Tahiti and on to Australia. Shanti is a nurse and will be going to work there. So, we are trying to spend time with them before they go.

Also our friends Bob & Sherry from “Nirvana” came over to the anchorage on Thurs. when we moved back out to the anchorage. They have been in the Paradise Village Marina since they got back from their visit home to the US. So, we have been having fun getting together with them too. They will be heading up to the Sea of Cortez to sweat all summer long with us too. They are heading there sooner than us though.

We are now able to see how the season works down here. All kinds of boats we know are coming back into the Bay here after having been south. They are either heading north to the Sea of Cortez for the summer, “Bashing” back up the coast to home, putting their boat in a marina or boat yard and going home for the summer or they are leaving on the “Puddle Jump”. So, lots of comings and goings here.

On Tues, 03-13, our friend Cynthia came to town to stay with us for two weeks. She needed a break from the Bay Area life and arrived at 2:30 this afternoon. We met her at the airport and brought her out to the anchorage.

The races are easy to see out in the anchorage, so we've been having fun watching the boats go by and/or race right in front of us.


We’ve been having fun sharing all the wonderful restaurants, music and people with her. She is enjoying the friendly people here in La Cruz. Cynthia comes from a very musical family and works in the business herself. She has found that her grandfather is known and loved amongst the jazz musicians here and they are quite impressed to have his granddaughter visiting in town.

The owner of the La Cruz Marina also owns a resort hotel down the highway towards Punta de Mita that is really lovely. We took advantage of the ability to purchase a day pass and we three spent the day there. They had a three-tiered pool with waterfalls running down from the top falling into the next pool. The view of the ocean was wonderful and it was easy access to the beach. For $200 pesos you got $100 pesos towards your food and drinks. Nice day!

Cynthia & I went into Bucerias to do some shopping and have lunch. Our favorite singer at the “Fat Boy” restaurant in Bucerias is a little Mexican fellow who looks like Mr. Myagi from “Karate Kid”. He only speaks maybe 20% English and is so darling when he tries to sing American rock songs like “Pretty Woman”. It comes out “Pretty Puma”. He sings very well and has a voice that sounds like Rod Stewart. So very cute and entertaining!

After about two weeks at anchor we took the boat back into the marina for easier access to the town and transportation for the next week while Cynthia is here. We want to take a bus into downtown PV and to Bucerias again for some shopping and clubbing.

The Banderas Bay Regatta is coming up this week beginning Tues., 3/20! So on Monday we took a ride over to Paradise Village Marina to see if we could get a slip there later this week, but they are full up. It was a nice ride for Cynthia to see Nuevo Vallarta and we had a lovely lunch at the Vallarta Yacht Club and headed back to town for dinner and music.