La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Puerto Vallarta
March - April 2010
When we arrived in La Cruz, our intent was to spend about 3-weeks in the marina getting ready for the Pacific Crossing to French Polynesia. Things change. We are experiencing an El Nino year and the weather patterns are off. The tradewinds had not yet developed and more storms were happening. Even with this in mind, we concentrated on being ready if the conditions became favorable. We attended seminars, got our ham radio licenses and continued to prepare 'Victoria Rose' for the passage. It was daily work, and we continued to be optimistic as other cruising friends opted to delay the passage for another year. Finally, we also made the same decision.
La Cruz is a wonderful town. We wanted to avoid Puerto Vallarta with the cruise ships and tourists, instead enjoying a small-town community. A place where the grocery store and laundry know you. You know what places have the best tacos and where to get a good cold beer.
The marina was alive with activity... nothing we had ever experienced. Mexico's President Calderon visited twice; the marina was home base for the International sailboat races (from the big offshore ORC boats to the small lasers) were in the bay and most the boats; Mexico's largest boatshow was here; and heck... the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders visited. The town hosted several celebrations as well. Evenings were often filled with fireworks and events in the town square.
All the time we really enjoyed the company of cruising friends. It was a wonderful community.
Besides our trips to PV boat supplies and shopping, we decided to spend one day as 'tourists' in old Puerto Vallarta. The scenery was fantastic... but after a day of being offered time-shares and vendors hawking their wares... we were ready to head back to La Cruz.
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, known as La Cruz (the cross) to cruisers. A cross is on the main avenue into town
La Cruz' town square is vibrant and full of activity
The 'iguana tree', where we would observe iguanas sleeping every morning as we left the marina
The town square at night. Many celebrations, music, fireworks and food. And liquor.
Rush hour traffic in La Cruz. Actually, part of another celebration... this one lasted for 10-days. No kidding.
And we thought Costco had cool 'free samples'. At Mega, free margaritas!! Gotta love Mexico.
We really enjoyed socializing with our cruising friends. Here, the crews of SV Periclees, SV Naida, SV Mariposa and SV Victoria Rose enjoy dinner. And tequila.
We met up with Adam and Kristina from SV Estrella,fellow 'Cascadians'. In the tradition of the Cascadia Sailing Assoc., we hosted a sail-in.
'Philo's Bar' is a MUST for any visitor to La Cruz. Good food & drink, great music.... and LEON!!
More helicopters, more security, lots of patrol boats and military folks with automatic weapons. Yep, Mexico's Presidente Calderon is back in the marina for his second visit since we've been there. He's observing the sailboat races, in which the Navy has entries. He posed for pics with some other cruisers... but we missed out :-(
We spent time on the docks looking over the racing boats. The one on the left is one of four Mexico Navy entries. Some serious racers here.
But I still think 'Victoria Rose' can take them....
We head over to Nuevo Vallarta to visit Rolande and Angus on SV Periclees. We enjoy the day watching the bird and dolphin exhibits. A great way to spend the afternoon. And all this was right outside of their marina gate.
Later at the marina, more excitement and folks gathering on the dock. This time, Tania Elias Calles sails in... setting a new worlds record sailing from Cabo San Lucas to Banderas Bay in a LASER!!! ESPN is all over this.
Cindy finds an English speaking doctor at a clinic and is able to get all our 'just in case stuff happens' prescriptions filled
Besides open-air markets or a grocery store... you can get fresh veggies from the 'veggie truck'.
In all our preparations for a voyage across the Pacific, we find our transmission is starting to act up. Better to get it fixed here.
Cindy lifts the engine after the transmission is installed so we can re-align it with the propeller shaft
Meanwhile, Steve crawls into the 'hole' to re-align the engine , reconnect the shaft and all the stuff that had to be disconnected to remove the transmission. Aaah, cruising.....
But we make a pretty good team fixing stuff. We've had a lot of practice....
More yachts arrive. Rumor on the dock is that the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are here. Gotta head up the the restaurant for a beer!!
Yep, it's the Cheerleaders here for lunch after a morning of photo shoots.
This table will do....
I guess they wanted this picture for their annual calendar. And we were happy to oblige. We want royalties if they print it
Here they're auditioning for crew positions on 'Victoria Rose'. We only have room for 4 of them...
We decide to be 'tourists' for a day and head to old Puerto Vallarta. A walk down the malecon was nice. We're always impressed with sand sculpures and the amount of detail.
More of the old section of Puerto Vallarta. The photo on the far right shows the crown on top of the old cathedral
Time to leave La Cruz. Here Chris and Joanne on SV Mariposa head out. We'll join them in a few days in Mazatlan and head to the Copper Canyon
Underway again... at last!! Good wind and making decent time as we head north to San Blas and Mazatlan
The windvane doing the steering
Cindy on deck checking things out on our 28-hour passage.
Aaah, sailing...
SV Victoria Rose
SV Victoria Rose
Tayana 37 # 384
Click the 'play' arrow for a sample of Philo's.... and LEON!!
Enjoy a margarita, then head out to the dance floor
