Emerald Star

We left Chacala and arrived in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (at the north end of Banderas Bay) on January 4th. After several days in the anchorage in La Cruz we moved to Marina Nuevo Vallarta. We were having a few generator and watermaker "technical" issues and ordered parts. Meanwhile we needed to be plugged in to  electricity and have water available so we needed to be in a marina. While we were there Ray decided to visit friends and relatives in California for a week. It rained the whole time he was there, so he was glad to return to sunny Banderas Bay. While we were in the marina we took the bus to both Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias a few times.

Marina Nuevo Vallarta

The beach near the marina was about a 5 minute walk from the boat.

"Hunting" for crocodiles in Nuevo Varrarta

There´s a croc by the water´s edge. It was about 6 feet long. This one was the only one we saw, and that´s OK. We heard later that there is a 15 footer in the area.

Puerto Vallarta from the water

We left Nuevo Vallarta February 11th and stopped at La Cruz (one night) and Punta de Mita  (three nights) before heading north to Chacala. We couldn´t go ashore at Punta de Mita because the swell was too big, but the surfers sounded like they were having fun. Every now and then during daylight hours we´d hear a loud "Whoohoo!!!"

On the trip to Chacala we saw several whales, a dozen sea turtles and a pod of about 50 dolphins. Lots of fun.

Some of the dolphins

A Sea Turtle

On dinghy rides Luna enjoys "falling" in to the water. We usually let her swim a bit before pulling her out. In Nuevo Vallarta we always pulled her out of the water immediately. She didn´t understand that she was a potential lunch for a crocodile.