Bienvenidos A Mexico!

The Cabo San Lucas Arch

We are now tied up at Puerto Vallarta, having gently wandered through our first month of cruising in Mexico. We began with a week at Cabo San Lucas, its mellower neighbor San Jose Del Cabo, and a very user-friendly anchorage at Las Friales (“the Friars”). We stayed several days right in the heart of Cabo San Lucas, with all the buzz of their crazy tourist activity swirling around us. Then we moved on to San Jose where we began to meld into the slow lane of Mexican life. But our favorite for the bottom of the Baja Peninsula came at Las Friales. A great beach, doable beach landings, a perfect spot for Salty to play ball, 80-degree water for swimming—what could be better?

One of the recommended activities at Las Friales is to head on up to Cabo Pulmo for snorkeling. About twenty years ago, the local fishermen at Pulmo saw their fish catches declining and banded

Las Frailes

together to make a change. They restricted fish catches (their own as well as any others) to allow the natural coral reef in front of their village to rebound and become the leading spot around for diving and snorkeling. The Government assisted by declaring the reef a protected national underwater park. But the only issue is making the 9-km trek on the rough, rutted dirt road out there and back. We managed to hitch a ride out with a couple Gringo Girls and that gave us time for lunch before the snorkel tour. On the return, things were not looking so good at first, as there were NO vehicles heading our way. Then along came Jose in his ancient Toyota pickup. For twenty minutes, Roger and Jose (sort of) carried on a fast-moving conversation, finding all about ranching in that dry countryside, Jose’s family, local fishing and all sorts of things. At one point, Jose’s beer

When it's Your Birthday, you get to do it your way!

caught up with him and he needed to stop and take advantage of the facilities. In the end we made it back to the boat just in time to walk Salty before dark, we took in a colorful piece of Mexican life, we saw some awesome snorkeling, and we supported the Pulmo fishermen who are trying to do the right thing.  Todo Bien!

The sign says no swimming--
No Joke!

From Las Friales we crossed over to Mazatlán and then sailed down to Puerto Vallarta. There we took moorage at the same dock as our friends, Steve and Peggy Leonard, who have been cruising Mexico for three years. We needed to stay in PV for there or four weeks in order to allow time for our permanent residency permits to be processed. We also will be here for a joint visit with both Kevin and Andy, (and Christian, Loraine and Clark) who are due in this coming week before Christmas and will be the topic of our next posting. Meanwhile we sailed in the Banderas Bay Blast (a three-day PV version of a Snooze and Cruise), celebrated Peggy’s birthday along with four of their friends visiting from Seattle, attended church at the Cathedral, and did touristy things around town. Of course, we

Sunset at San Blas

also did a number of boat maintenance projects, since as we all know, sailboat cruising is nothing more than doing boat maintenance in exotic locations!

That is about it for our first month in Mexico. From our boat in Puerto Vallarta, we pause and wish all of you a Feliz Navidad, where ever you may be this Holiday Season,

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

You can reach us at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com