BANDERAS BAY BLAST – 2018

December 12, 2018

The sunrise on Wednesday morning was stellar.  I managed to get in an early morning run before reporting to Dragon’s Toy for the first day of the Banderas Bay Blast.

Wednesday was a triangular course beginning and ending in La Cruz.  There was very little wind to start, but it did build over time and we had fun.  We had a little trouble with our spinnaker sock getting twisted, but still managed to get the chute up and down almost like we knew what we were doing.

We had beer and snacks in the cockpit after we returned and then stopped by the Poolside Deli where many sailors were partaking of margaritas before heading over to Ana Banana’s for dinner and general carrying on with the fleet.

December 13, 2018

Thursday, we raced from La Cruz to Punta Mita.  There was so little wind at the start that participants were instructed to start their engines and motor for thirty minutes at no more than six knots.  There was a light breeze by the end of thirty minutes and we all managed to make it to Punta Mita before dark.  Unfortunately, there was some confusion about where the finish line was to be.   We went to the lighthouse, as we had interpreted the directions, but should have gone to the light at the mouth of the panga darsena.  That hurt our time considerably.  We were doing very well up to that point.

Marc and Rosie at El Coral

It took ages to get the water taxi to shore.  No one told us that we needed to get back to the boats before dark, so we barely had time to wolf down our food before we had to leave.  It was a nice party and would have been a lot of fun if we hadn’t arrived on the last water taxi load.  I was pleased to see that my landlubber friends, Marc and Rosie, had managed to score a ride on one of the boats.  The Banderas Bay Blast is a fundraiser for local schools, so the general public could ride along for a small donation.

Richard and Cat - What Are They Up To?

On the night of the dinner in Punta Mita, the El Coral restaurant is transformed into the Punta Mita Yacht and Surf Club.  New members are initiated by climbing onto a table and being paddled by the commodore.  An initiation fee of one dollar buys a lifetime membership.  We barely had time to initiate everyone before we had to run for the water taxi back to the boat.  The surf was a bit high and the pangueros didn’t want to be launching in the dark.

Waiting for the Water Taxi

December 14, 2018

The Crew of Dragon's Toy - Argh!

The water taxi delivered us all to shore in time to eat breakfast before the school children came to put on a show for us.  The fundraiser was called Pirates for Pupils and many of the sailors came in pirate attire.    We dressed in our pirate best, doing what we could with temporary tattoos and silly party hats.  El Coral looked like a den of pirates.  

El Coral Was a Den of Pirates

Andy in His Pirate Best

The children arrived about 11:00 to put on a show for us.  They were all quite young.  Some didn’t look old enough to be in school.  They did a couple of folk dances for us and then each student chose a partner from our group and danced with us.  The children were fascinated with the pirate costumes and those of us costumed were the first to be chosen as partners.  I danced with a little boy who barely came up to my waist.  He was adorable.

The Children Waiting to Perform

When the show was over, Andy, from the Vallarta Yacht Club, showered the kids with candy and they scrambled to grab as much as possible.  Each child got a set of markers, too.  I donated a bag of pencils and all the money raised by the event would be used to purchase school supplies to be donated to the school.

Slowly Racing Towards Nuevo Vallarta

The last day of the blast saw us racing from Punta Mita to Nuevo Vallarta.  Once again, there was very little wind.  Even the catamarans had a tough time getting going.  Many boats never bothered to start and others dropped out along the way.  We persevered, which we believe earned us second place, although we missed the results on the net.

Tom and Cary at the Vallarta Yacht Club

The last party was held at the Vallarta Yacht Club where we had a nice Mexican buffet dinner which included a margarita.  There was pumpkin pie (and other things) for dessert.  Having missed decent pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, I was happy to correct that lack with a small slice of honest pie after dinner.  It was a beautiful evening and I felt very lucky to be there.

December 15, 2018

Bait Seller with His Customers

I woke up quite early on Saturday and sat in the cockpit to watch the dawn.  There was a panga anchored right in the middle of the channel and the driver appeared to be sleeping.  A large sport fisher arrived and seemed to be maneuvering to get around him.  The panguero sat up.  It turned out that he was there to sell bait.  The fishing boats backed up to him one by one to buy the day’s bait.  By the time it was fully light, he hauled up his anchor and went home.

Man Fishing from a Defunct Jet Ski

I also observed a man fishing with a net from a small boat made out of a defunct jet ski.  The motor and seat portions had been removed and the fisherman sat on what had been the nose and paddled with a double ended yard rake.  There was a lot of interesting activity in the early morning although the dawn itself was dull for Banderas Bay.

We were in no rush to leave on Saturday morning.  A slip in the Paradise Village Marina includes the use of the hotel facilities.  We ate oatmeal on the boat and then enjoyed the pool and hot tub.  We picked up a few groceries and strolled through the mall.  It was noon or so when we pulled out of the marina.

It was a lovely day and there was finally some wind, so we decided to go whale watching on the way home.  We sailed out towards the Marietas.  We were just about to give up and go home when we saw a whale spout.  We did see whales, but they were not playful like they had been the day before when we were occupied with racing.  I went below to take a nap, figuring that was the best way to induce whales to appear.  We didn’t see them, but I could hear humpbacks singing through the hull.  It was an eerie sound, but unmistakable.  I had often seen whales but that was the first time I had heard them.

We got back in plenty of time to shower and get ready to go to Octopus’ Garden to hear Media Luna.  Cary and Tom had told me about three young kids they had seen playing amazing guitar in Puerto Vallarta, but they didn’t know their names.  It turned out that they were the three guitarists from Media Luna.  The band features three guitarists, a bass, and drums.  They play modern flamenco fusion music and the energy was astounding.  They were also quite innovative.  One of them broke out a telecaster at times and later played a flamenco guitar with a wah-wah pedal.  The bass player, who played left handed, was missing two fingers on his picking hand but it didn’t slow him down.  He was also a talented vocalist that we would have liked to hear more.  The percussionist was also very talented.  It was a great show.  That night was Media Luna’s first gig in La Cruz and they had only brought five copies of their CD.  I had to run up to the counter to be sure to get one.

December 16, 2018

Sunday morning, I got up early to be sure to get in a run.  I did a couple of laps around the marina while the vendors were setting up for the La Cruz Farmer’s Market.  It was a beautiful sunrise.

My friend, David, from home in California had arrived on a boat and we had agreed to meet so that I could show him the market.  We met at the marina and walked through the whole market.  Then we went to Oso’s for eggs Benedict.

I spent the afternoon lounging and practicing the guitar and then headed out to meet my friend, Karen, who was picking me up at the highway to take me to see the local chamber orchestra.  The concert was held at the Colegio Americano or American School in Puerto Vallarta.  The orchestra was a volunteer organization and had some very young members.  Unfortunately, they had a tough time with the pieces in that night’s program.  The first half of the program was classical pieces and the horn section struggled.  Apparently, some of the regulars were absent.  The final number was a flute concerto and the flautists, at least, were excellent. 

The second set was Christmas music and we hoped it would be better.  It wasn’t.  The horns were better, but everyone else failed to stay together.  The American School provided a choir which was cute, if not particularly tuneful.  Two older girls sang a duet and they were very good. 

After the concert, we went down to the Malecon to attend a musical performance at the amphitheater by the three arches.  We walked quite a way down the Malecon to get there, enjoying the Christmas lights along the way.  There were very few tourists about but the street was filled with dancing horses and fans of the soccer team America were celebrating a major win with parades of honking cars.

When we got to the arches, we found clowns instead of music.  We stayed for half an hour or so, hoping they were just the opening act, but then gave up and headed back to La Cruz to get dinner.

My friend, David, had asked me where he could get tacos al pastor.  I asked around and was told that Tacos Junior was the only place in town.  Tacos Junior was also one of the few places in town that was still open at 23:00.  Karen and I stopped there and got plates of five tacos al pastor for 70 pesos.  They were perfect.