Yep, Santa found us...

We left Chacala on Friday, December 21st bound for La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in the northern part of Banderas Bay. We anchored there for a few days while we tried to secure a slip at one of the marinas to make our visit with my sister Pat more convenient.

The anchorage at La Cruz is quite pleasant with just a bit of swell. The small town of La Cruz is very nice with cobblestone streets and plenty of inexpensive (and not so inexpensive) restaurants and tiny markets. While there we took the bus (about 1 hour and 14 pesos) to Puerto Vallarta to do some reconnaissance on the marina there. It's very nice and surrounded by many hotels, tourist-y shops and restaurants. We hit the new "Mega" store in Bucerias on the way back to La Cruz for groceries.

Over the weekend we realized that we really should have secured a marina slip in advance- "Christmas in Puerto Vallarta" is apparently a rather popular idea among cruisers. Although we had called Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta previously- and been told a number of times they were overbooked- we tried them on the radio again Christmas Eve morning. Thankfully, this last time the harbormaster himself, Dick Markie, answered the radio. He told us to call back in 1 hour, if he could find space we had to get there quick as they were approaching a significant negative tide. When he hailed us on the radio and told us he found us a spot we upped anchor and beat cheeks for this very ideal location (pool, shops, gorgeous grounds).

We're now enjoying a relaxing Christmas morning... and we want to wish all of our friends and family a joyous holiday and a very Happy New Year.