20°44.885N 105°22.665W

Merry Christmas from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico, in Bahia de Bandaras, which is about 10 miles from Puerto Vallarta. We are now in a slip at the Marina Rivera Nayarit here in La Cruz. Nice place, reasonably priced, actually quite reasonable, new and modern facilities. The little town here is pretty cool; it is not a tourist Mecca, almost no hotels and no big ones, or big stores either. All our groceries come from "arraborates" which are little grocery stores located on almost every block. Most people here have little or no refrigeration and shop daily. There are "carnecerías", tortillerías and panaderillas along with other services, barbers, beauty salons and of course restaurants and cantinas disbursed liberally, mostly for us gringos. This little community has a small fishing fleet, but generally seems to be a suburb of the greater P.V. area with a principle source of income from facilitating the marina and cruising community. The streets are beach or river rock stone set in a deliberate pattern. Many of the homes and businesses are kept clean and painted but like in any area without zoning restrictions the neighborhoods can be an eclectic lot. There seems to be quite a few ex-pats here on a full time basis and quite a few local businesses that cater to us cruising tourists are owned by those folks.

We arrived here on Sunday, December 19 after a short 8 nm passage from Punta Mita. We had arrived there from Guyabitos the day before but it was a pretty rolly anchorage so we left the next morning. We anchored out here in the open anchorage with about 30 other boats, including Sirocco and So Inclined. It was good to catch up with them again and because it was Sunday we all took our dinghies ashore and went to "Tacos on the Street" a local restaurant that is only open four evenings a week and serves a limited menu of rib-eye steak tacos, quesadillas and tostados and they do it well. We have included a few photos of the place in our photo album from La Cruz that Marisa has already posted. If you ever get the chance it's really good, cheap and fun. They only serve soft drinks but you are welcome to supply your own beverage of choice. It's so good that the tourists from PV come up and there is a line out front to get in, but since it's an open air kinda place there is no door and they put tables in the street for the over flow. Like everywhere, here the custom is not to rush the patrons out by bringing them their bill, you don't get "la cuenta" unless you ask for it and you can sit and talk after dinner without concern. It is a refreshing custom, but I understand why it can't work that way at home.

We have spent several days working on the boat, getting things cleaned up, laundry and a few repairs and projects as well as exploring La Cruz. The marina here has worked hard to entice the anchored fleet into the marina with discounted rates and services. There is a wonderful bar/restaurant atop their facility that has hosted a happy hour daily. Despite these efforts this marina is only about 2/3 full at the most. On Tuesday, 12/21 we cruised out to the Tres Marietta's Islands that are about 10 miles out into the bay from here to meet So Inclined. On the way we were trolling with a blue green Rapala Magnum lure and hit pay dirt. With some considerable effort we landed a 32" yellow tail that weighed about 25-30 lbs. Once we got it to the boat it wasn't easy to get it aboard or finding deck space to clean it. Pacifico is a small sail boat set up for cruising and with a surf board and now a paddle board on the rail, a kayak tied to the deck and towing a dinghy. Figuring out how to land it, then clean it, took a while, but it was fun! We ended up with several large zip lock bags full of fish! By the time we got to the islands it was almost time to go. We dropped a "lunch hook" paddled over to So Inclined to see Mike, Amanda and Abe for lunch and it was time to leave. No snorkeling that day.

I've spoken about security issues here in Mexico previously. While I'm not naive or think that bad things don't happen down here most of the bad news that is reported at home is pretty specific to areas involved with narcotics trafficking. Generally people here are typically friendly, giving and remarkably generous with what little they have to share. As an example; last year when I was here with Sirocco we went into a little abarrotes and the owner asked if we wanted to share his lunch of ceviche that his wife had sent with him. He gave us crackers and hot sauce off his shelves as well. No charge! Today on the bus the lady next to us was helpful answering as best she could our questions about where to find certain products. She opened a bag of chocolates for her kids and shared them with us. Not only that, but when we got off the bus, she had her daughter take one of the bags Marisa was carrying and carry it for her. Later we went into that same abarrote and yep, that same clerk/owner was there. This time he was sharing a bottle of tequilla that he was taking home for his Christmas party, opened it and poured everyone shots!

With all the rain at home, people keep asking us what's the weather been like here? Typically it has been warm, mid to upper 70s, mostly clear with sometimes a little haze and no rain. We have been having a typical land effected sea breeze with an off shore flow in the early morning and on shore flow in the afternoons, up to 18 knots the day we came back from Tres Mariettas, so pretty nice for sailing. We have not seen any rain since we left Oceanside, November 16! The nights have been typically upper 60s, nice for sleeping. There has been quite a bit of humidity and we have wet decks in the mornings, which is good because when you're anchored out you can take a towel and clean the boat! The night of the lunar eclipse was clear and we had a great view of that event. I set the alarm for midnight and we watched it without getting out of bed, just opened the forward hatch over the V berth and looked up, dozing off and on until it was in full effect at a little after 0200 here. Also, this area adjusts their clocks to Central Time, so we are two hours ahead of the West Coast.

Today, Friday, Christmas Eve day we jumped on the bus towards PV to do some shopping, our first time in real stores in a couple of weeks and we needed some re-provisioning. There is a new Wal-Mart in Nuevo Vallarta that was our first destination, and then on the way back we stopped at Mega, a large Mexican grocery store chain outlet in Bucerais. You have to remember that this is all by bus, carrying everything that you purchase, we're learning to choose wisely. We couldn't find a couple of items, but had to get back to pick up our laundry before they closed for Christmas. Yes, we did a lot of it ourselves, but did take some bulky stuff in for service. Remember, when we wash it on the boat it has to fit on the life lines along the rail for drying, which is difficult with sheets and the like. Anyway after lugging all that back to the boat we jumped on a bus and headed back to Bucerais for one last attempt at finding a few things, just like Christmas shopping at home! All settled in and back at the boat we bumped into a Christmas Eve dock party. The cruising life style, that's where your days go!