We brought Pacifico back from the Puerta Vallarta Marina on Sunday, 11/23 to a lingering red tide. I had an auto pilot problem that needed to be dealt with, which took a couple of days and ultimately turned out to be ‘self induced’. We took Pacifico out for a sea trial, which went well and had a bonus event, whales breaching here in the bay. It was close enough to be exciting, yet far enough away to not be threatening. Once back in at our slip we decided to stick around for a couple of days to see Oceanside YC friends Lee Pryor and Cathy Sweet along with Ben Farrell who were flying in on the Wednesday the 27th to Lee and Cathy’s new condo here in La Cruz. Fortunately the oppressive tropical heat we had been experiencing began to abate as did the red tide and by Thursday temperatures were in the mid 80’s in the daytime and with less humidity and mid 60’s at night. The red tide is almost gone and fish are returning to the marina. Almost perfect!

The community of La Cruz is nestled in among low coastal hills along the north side of Bandaras Bay that are quite tropical, almost jungle so needless to say it’s quite green. La Cruz services the marina, the boating community and nearby condominiums and residential areas mostly owned and inhabited by either ex-pats or at least snowbirds along with a following of tourists, all very heavily weighted by Canadians and the overflow from the nearby town of Bucarias, also favored by the Canadians. That means we have an abundance of restaurants of various tastes and budgets and as mentioned before a great music scene. In fact tonight, “Los Lobos” formerly of Willie and Lobos is entertaining at one of the local restaurants.

The community has grown and developed, but it still has that Mexican village appeal. The two main streets are cement paved, but most side streets are still paved with stone. Roosters routinely wander the streets, periodically crowing and horses are kept in town. Kids here go to school locally and are always playing in the side streets in the afternoons since there is very little vehicular traffic. The grocery stores, called “abbarotes” are all small, friendly and locally owned, except for one OXXO, which is an equivalent to a 7/11. There is foreign investment here and some of the restaurants are owned by ex-pats, U.S., Canadian and German.

That’s about it for what’s going on here. The photo above is at the gate at the entrance to the marina. The afternoon attendant coaxes some of the iguanas down out of the trees around the gate area with food and this one while still wild has almost become his pet. We saw a few of these fellows around the docks at Marina Vallarta as well, but none were as docile or as approachable as this one. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.