Yelapa Waterfall Hike - With Directions

1-28-13 – Yelapa, Jalisco, MX

 

Yelapa Mooring Balls

While Yelapa may not be the sleepy, electricity free village without  the “necessities” of our everyday life it used to be a few years ago; (as I have internet access/cell coverage here in the anchorage and there are lights on everywhere and we passed some little houses today with kids watching TV in them)  it is a very cool place to spend a few days.  We are moored about 60 yards off the beach in 116 feet of water, so I’m quite happy to pay for a mooring from Rafael Gonzales who has treated us well with free water taxi rides to and from the beach each day.  Yelapa is a small, picturesque village tucked into a little bay on the South side of Banderas Bay.  It seems to be doing its best to catch up to the increased tourist demand and expectations; and it seems that many people here are doing quite well for themselves working hard to satisfy those demands.  You must remember that everyone knows everyone here.  Rafael, who rented us our mooring ball, was in a panga named Lizeth with two other guys.  These guys, Romeo and Daniel, work at Domingos restaurant, owned by their dad Ramiro and help Rafael fish and rent pangas.  Their dad Ramiro is the one who actually owns the panga Lizeth, named after his daughter.  Daniel the youngest seems to do most of the chauffering of us back and forth.  There have been other examples of this interweaving of work and family throughout our stay whenever we ask who is who and how they know each other.

Elizabeth with a very attentive dog at Domingo's
There are lots of dogs in Yelapa!

The Village area of Yelapa

The start of the river

The waterfall hike was one of the things we wanted to do while in Yelapa.  We hailed our ride in the morning and talked to Ramiro outside of Domingo’s restaurant asking for directions.  He said to get to the waterfall all you had to do was walk thru the village and follow the trail.  You’ll cross the river twice and walk about an hour and a half.  That was it.  How hard could this be?  We should have known it might be a bit more challenging when we found ourselves in someone’s backyard with their clothes drying before finding the trail.  We did find the trail thru the palapas and village and followed it down the river.  We crossed a bridge over the river and carried on up the river.  Was that one river crossing already, or did he actually mean you will be in the river when crossing it?  We carried on thru the little village, commenting on their new underground electrical and transformers placed next to open air houses many with dirt floors.  Passed a cattle gate that was locked with a chain and commented how most of them in Nevada were never locked, you just closed them behind you when you went thru.  We carried on, and on, and on.  We crossed the river, actually in it this time, about four times and the trail sort of ran out near some pretty pathetic “waterfalls”.  You never know.  We were thinking Yosemite here, and they may have been thinking Truckee River.  We had a snack, a little disappointed that it took us two hours to do what most did in apparently one and a half hours, and headed back.

 

It's obvious the way - right?

We made it back to the strange cattle gate and saw someone exiting from a little square hole in the fencing next to it and looked and there it was.  The sign for the waterfall trail.  We squeezed thru and followed the trail.  It split again and we took the wrong branch until it petered out.  Then we took the correct branch which finally deposited us at the waterfall.  While it may not be Yosemite quality it was a good destination and made for a refreshing swim after all out hiking.  Let’s just say the trip back wasn’t quite as adventurous now that we knew the way.

Elizabeth enjoying the pool

Happy to have made it

So the real directions to the waterfall off the palapa beach (not the one from the little village area to the South):  Once you make your way behind the palapa restaurants head to the left a little and find a path that heads up the river valley.  It will soon turn into a cobble path and after about ¼ mile it will cross the river on a bridge.  Go left after the bridge.  (you are basically following the river upstream)  Keep following the path.  You will cross the river twice more, actually in the river, so bring flip flops or take off your shoes.  After about a mile and a gradual rise you’ll see a conspicuous field on your left that seems out of place.  Just after this on your left is the cattle gate and the wood hole you need to squeeze thru.  It actually says “waterfall” on it.  Follow this trail and stay to the right.  It will deposit you on a rock above the river but below the waterfall.  From there it’s up to you to find your way down to the river and the waterfall.  It’s only another 200 yards but it’s rocky and there isn’t a clear path.  The pool under the waterfall is great for a swim and to cool off before heading back.  So there’s the real directions if anyone needs them.  Definitely worth the trip, and if your worried about it, just stop into Domingos and rent a guide or some horses.  Although part of the fun is finding your way as you walk up a Mexican jungle river valley and the trail gets smaller and smaller until…

Lunch in Bucerias

1-25-13 - Bucerias, Nayarit, MX

About 1/2 way to Bucerias

We have been slowly trying to readjust to the cruiser life now that the parents have left us, but Paradise Village still hasn't let us go.  We spent a day doing boat stuff and a little bit of nothing and then found ourselves with an open day with no plans; something we used to be accustomed to, but with visitors around for the last two weeks we have been busy enjoying their company.  What to do with a free day?  How about a nice walk on the beach?  The beach from Paradise Village stretches for about eight miles, unbroken, to La Cruz.  So we headed to La Cruz figuring we could always take a bus back to Paradise Village once we got there.  Why not?  There wasn't anything else pressing to do and it sounded like a good way to relax.  It looks so close when you are standing on the beach,but trust me, eight miles is still eight miles even if it is along a beautiful beach.  We set out at about 10:30 to see how far we would get.  It's really hard to beat just walking down the beach; especially a beach that just never ends.  Six miles later we made it to Bucerias which is the next town along the beach from Nuevo Vallata where Paradise Village is.  Oddly enough it's probably a 30 minute drive or more, and a two bus excursion to get there by public transportation; but you can just walk there if you have enough time.  So we did.  We eventually stopped at the far end of Bucerias at Breakers restaurant for some so-so fajitas and the obligatory beach cerveza.  Then for the best surprise of the day, we walked back thru Bucerias on the streets just up from the beach and found a great little town.  We hadn't experienced this part of Bucerias before, and while it certainly had its share of Americans and Canadians, it wasn't overrun with tourism in these areas and had some great little shops to explore and many restaurants I wish we could have traded our lunch at Breakers for.

About 1/2 way back to Paradise Village

As mentioned, it's a little bit of a pain to get back to Paradise Village from Bucerias via bus.  But if you just walk back to the first hotel in Nuevo Vallarta it's a one bus affair.  That sounded good to us so we started the walk back thinking it would only be a little further.  Well one thing let to another and once we made it back to the Nuevo Vallarta territory it occurred to us that there was a cool looking beach bar about two more miles back, but still 2 miles from the boat.  Figuring the exercise was good for us we started walking.  Etc... (that's the name of the bar) was as anticipated.  Even if it was a little pricey.  Once again it's hard to beat looking out at the Pacific Ocean under an umbrella with a big margarita in your hand.  I felt like I was is in one if those Corona commercials; thankfully without the Corona.

Elizabeth enjoying a break (and a margarita)

Now we were down to two miles, it was getting on towards evening, and we remembered that there was a baby tortuga (turtle if you couldn't figure that one out) release just down the beach at 6:30.  The previous night we had made the trek to release baby turtles and none had hatched that day so the lady proudly said that she was certain there would be some the next day; just as she was announcing all of this about 50 little tortugas came crawling out of the hatchery, instinctively scurrying towards the ocean.  Apparently drawn by the setting sun.  She promptly collected them all up and put them away until a more opportune time to be released, I guess.  So we thought there must be some tonight, since last night we saw about 50 of these little things get put in a bucket for future release.  What do you know, no turtles available tonight?  Something seemed fishy (or turtley) but we weren't about to argue with the turtle experts.

Escaped baby tortuga - from the previous night

Now we were down to one mile left so we made one last push for the boat and made it before sunset.  In the end we went for a 12 mile walk to get some mediocre lunch in Bucerias.  Once back we felt we deserved a good dinner at the yacht club after all that work.  (yes Yacht Club!) Doesn't everyone belong to a yacht club in Mexico?  Actually, you get a fifteen day trial when you stay a the marina, and we tried to take full advantage of it.  Dinner was excellent and I even put on a shirt with a collar, which equals dressed up in our world.

Now we feel like were back in the world of cruising again.  We really didn't do or accomplish anything today, but somehow had a full day, explored some new places in Mexico, had some good food and had some fun.

Hard to beat that!

(Oh yeah, and before any of this we took the bus to the port captain to check out, checked out, rode the bus back and distributed all of the required paperwork to the marina and port captain.  I guess we did accomplish something today.)

Don't forget the legal stuff

Making Money in Paradise

1-23-13 – Paradise Village Marina, Nuevo Vallarta, MX

Who doesn't have 3 story tall Mayans
in their lobby?

We have left the cruising world for a short sabbatical into the world of resort living.  Recently we have finished with a round of parental visits, which they claim was just to say hi and have some fun in Mexico.  But we know that they really wanted to make sure we were still alive and not in the grips of the ever present drug wars so eloquently reported on in the States.  The foray into resort living started with our stay at the Grand Mayan Resort.  For the first time in more than seven months we left Autumn Wind for a night all by herself.  I’m guessing this is how mothers feel when they leave their new babies at daycare for the first time.  I kept telling myself it was just more convenient to spend a few days with Elizabeth’s parents at the Grand Mayan and that I would really rather be back on Autumn Wind; probably more for Autumn Wind’s sake than mine.  I mean who would want to spend four nights in an air conditioned suite at a five star resort, with a lazy river and a big water slide, a little personal pool on the patio and nice enough that you aren’t allowed to take your own bags up to your room?  When just across the 

Our very first non-floating bed in 7 months

harbor is your own little house with no AC, only a 5 minute walk to the bathroom and showers without warm water?  Honestly I did feel a little separation anxiety.  We fell into the tourist roll well; partaking in the Rhythms of the Night excursion aboard a big power cat out to an anchorage on the South side of Banderas Bay for a great dinner and show and then back to Nuevo Vallarta.  Free cocktails helped to ease my pain of not seeing Autumn Wind for that night.  A city tour on a large tour bus with a bunch of five day vacationers was a little bit of a let down as the tour guide counted everything that was bought at the stops to collect her cut of the kickbacks.  It was just too obvious to ignore.   It was tough but we floated around the lazy river a few times and rode the water slide a bunch of times; lounged around the pool (with our own beers from the Deposito of course, we are still cruisers at heart)  and played some ping pong; a luxury we just couldn't fit on Autumn Wind. 

Boat ride to the Rhythms of the Night show

No trip to Puerto Vallarta is complete without a walk down
the Malecon

After a few days of this my mother showed up and we moved back onto Autumn Wind and then she stayed at Paradise Village, basically looking down on the boat; also affording us the ability to continue our, now accustomed, resort lifestyle.  When we checked in to the marina at Paradise Village we were informed that while we have the ability to use all of the facilities at the resort, they were not able to give us towel privileges because apparently cruisers are just to hard on the beach towels; polishing stainless and cleaning boats with them.  We showed them and signed in under moms room number.  I almost washed the boat with a resort beach towel, but refrained because that seemed too much like work and we are resorters now.  We took full advantage of mom’s stay at Paradise Village as well.  

1.  They have a caged tiger at the resort
2. They have to tell you not to touch it
3.  maybe as a cruiser I'm used to a little more self preservation than
the average tourist

Sitting under the little beach palapas reading books and ordering drinks like blue margaritas and pina coladas from the waiter.  “charge it to the room” may be my new favorite saying.  I just wonder how long I can get away with that now that’s mom has left.  We watched a little playoff football in the hotel lobby bar with people who seem to have seen more than one football game this year and even attended an authentic Mexican fiesta complete with blanco tequila by the gallons (that’s actually the not so great tequila for those of you who haven’t spent time in Mexico refining your tequila knowledge; but tourists don’t know that) a tugboat race and some acrobatic pole walking for more free tequila. 

Fireworks are standard fare in Mexico

I almost made it

Mom and me on the beach before the fiesta

  That is what an authentic Mexican fiesta is all about right?  Either way we used our time in the resorts to it’s full advantage and had a great time visiting with the parents.  Now they know we are alive and safe.

Always time for a street taco

John, Susan and Elizabeth ready to ride ATV's
SMILE

To compliment our resort stays I even had the opportunity to make some money.  As I've previously stated, one of the hardest part of all this is watching hard earned money fly out of your accounts while there is nothing going in.  It is a very disconcerting feeling that makes you instantly super cheap about everything.  After innocently enough inquiring about an ATV tour we were signed up for a time share presentation at Paradise Village.  All we had to do is pretend that we were staying at the Grand Mayan (not on our boat in the marina at Paradise Village, because there is apparently much higher profits in stealing people from other resorts than from the resort they are staying at)

Ready to go.  Yep, on a city street in shorts
and flip flops (don't worry there was only
one tequila tasting during the ride)

say that we were employed and making 40k or more and pretend to honestly be interested in a timeshare property.  No problem we said.  For our 2.5 hours of attendance we would get $200 (yes US dollars) off the ATV trip and $800 pesos to spend at the grocery store.  We narrowly made it out of the presentation without taking advantage of the one day only special, deal of the century they offered us.  I was in, thankfully Elizabeth was sceptical of most everything so she drug me out without 2 weeks of great family vacations every other year at a greatly discounted price, that would last forever, and in fact is an investment for our unborn children.  So I made some money there, or at least spent less on the ATVs and made 70ish dollars for groceries.  Incidentally the ATV tour turned out to be a blast and one of the highlights of the week.  To complete my money making this week, at the Mexican Fiesta there were some high stakes betting as to who could reel in a plastic tugboat fastest across the pool.  We dug deep and put a 50 note down on number three….and doubled our money!  (did I mention it was $50 pesos, so we won about about 4 bucks) 

Making Money

 As you can see, hanging out in paradise has paid off for us. Unfortunately making 850 pesos every two weeks probably won’t keep the cruising dream alive very long.  Until a little better gig comes along I think we’ll keep looking for long term employment, using the free internet in the hotel lobby and be content knowing I could have used a hotel towel to clean my boat; they got off easy this time.

Tasty Coincidences

1-14-13 – Punta de Mita, Nayarit, MX

As you may remember from past blogs, we believed that we drank the last good beer in Mexico a while back.  This was especially hard on Elizabeth as she really likes good beer and there is none to be had here in Mexico.  Me on the other hand; I certainly miss my good beer that we had become accustomed to in the States, but let’s be honest; I’ll get by with whatever you’ve got.  So Pacifico and Modelo it is, with the occasional treat of a Bohemia or a Negra Modelo.  We have actually discussed where we should go in the States to potentially get our Visas renewed, and the decision mostly revolves around where a good brewery is.

Punta de Mita

As you can see from the SPOT tracker map (last post or on the right) we have come up from Punta Ipala to Punta de Mita and are spending a few days here.  It’s a large anchorage that we are comfortable in.  We’ve been here before and know what to expect.  This time we dropped the hook waaay out from the beach just to have no conflict with anyone else and sleep good.  I get the binoculars out to see who is around us and what do you know; there’s s/v Willow off out port bow.  Willow, an awesome little Pacific Sea Craft Orion 27, (or Wendy the lady who is single handing her down the coast) was a friend of a friend we met on the Baja Ha Ha.  We had talked to Willow over the VHF on our trip South and we saw her pull into Cabo San Lucas, but never met her.  Then in San Jose del Cabo we had dinner aboard s/v Alcyone and Willow was there as well.  We had a nice dinner and then went our separate ways.  300  miles and six weeks later; there she is bobbing at anchor right in front of us.  Another case of “It’s a small world”.  We eventually made it over to say hi and get reacquainted as we would be hanging out behind her for a few days.

Me, Elizabeth, Francois, & Ken on s/v Mariah

Next “It’s a small world” moment:  As we are talking to Wendy one afternoon a boat comes sailing into the anchorage and we see that it is s/v Mariah.  We know him and he sees Autumn Wind, but we are not on her.  He then coincidentally passes close enough to Willow to see us and Wendy.  We wave etc.. and he goes to anchor.  We met Ken on s/v Mariah in the California Delta for the Delta Doo Dah many months ago when we had first left the dock back in California.  Since then we had seen him on the Ha Ha but didn’t stay in touch.  Then, same story here, there he was.  He had single handed straight from La Paz and after four days out he pulled into this anchorage at the exact time we were sitting in out dinghy talking to Wendy.  Interesting to say the least.

Happy Elizabeth with her IPA

So none of this is really the story.  Later in the week Ken made his rounds and asked many of the people in the anchorage over for happy hour and a surf movie.  We of course accepted and also told Wendy we would pick her up in our dinghy for the ride over to Mariah since she hadn’t launched her dinghy yet; and these dinghy things are sort of a pain to put together and get in the water.  Wendy had taken the liberty of reading our blog and when we showed up she casually leans over and produces a cold California brewed 22oz micro brewed IPA of all things.  We probably looked like little kids on Christmas getting our first bike from Santa.  We had all but written off ever having a good beer, let alone a good IPA – Elizabeth’s favorite, until we went back to the states.  The people who own Island Brewing Company were friends of Wendy’s and before she left they had given her a six pack of these little beauties.  She had been saving them for special occasions and now 2 months later she gave us her last one.  The beer was delicious and I must recommend Island Brewing Company in Carpentaria, CA.  somewhere in Southern California, near Santa Barbara I think. Next time we are in the area; who knows when; we will definitely be looking them up to say hi.  If they give beer to cruisers then they must be good people.  Needless to say we were happy sailors and we had a nice get together.  So there were a lot of coincidences that lead to a very happy moment for us.

Check Out Our Trip North so Far

1-9-13 - Punta de Mita, Nayarit, MX


Lets see how this works.  Check out our trip North so far at the link below.  It should take you to the SPOT track of our route and I even included some pictures, since I know that's all anyone really looks at anyway!

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=319030

FYI you can also access this, and all of our past tracks on this trip from San Francisco all the way to now, at the link to the right named "Archived SPOT Adventures"

Hope you like it (and it works)

Random Pic of the anchorage at Tenacatita
(since I know it's the pictures that count!)

The First Rule of Cruising

1-8-13 – Punta de Mita, Banderas Bay, MX

We officially broke the first rule of cruising this week.  There really aren’t that many rules to this game.  There are some pesky ones about lights at night.  (Why not run a masthead tricolor with your running lights?  Heck turn on the steaming light while you’re at it.  The more lights the better right?) But besides these there really aren’t many rules.  People even seem to give you a break for poor radio etiquette.    Just don’t spend too much time chatting it up on 22, the cruisers hailing channel, or some self-appointed radio police do good cruiser will tell you to change because he is worried that someone else may have to wait five minutes to find out what time bocce ball starts today.   Nope, it’s really pretty simple.  You go where and when the weather lets you.  And this is the basis of the first rule of cruising.

Shrimp boat following us

Never commit to being in a specific place at a specific time.  You can commit to a location and when the weather lets you, you’ll get there.  You can commit to a time and where the weather lets you go is where you’ll be.  But to commit to a time and a place, inevitably leads one to move when the weather isn’t good.  Or at least it leads you to second guess yourself and the motivation behind your decisions.  “Are we leaving today because we want to and the weather is great? Or are we leaving because we know we need to be somewhere soon and don’t want to miss this weather window?”  The weather is one of the few things you simply can’t control.  They can half correctly, sometimes predict the weather three days in the future, but beyond that It’s just a guess.  Being a small sailboat we are a highly weather dependent operation.  The wind need to be enough to move us but not too much to hinder us.  Waves generated somewhere in Japan can slow us to a crawl, (literally a slow as you could crawl, no exaggeration) so we need to know about them.  Top that off with the fact that sailboats can’t go into the wind; the direction of the wind is important as well.  Sometimes it seems like a miracle that we get to move ever as all those factors line up to make it a travel day.  Add the factor that we are now heading North and the prevailing direction for most of these factors is against us and those weather windows seem to get smaller and longer in between.

Elizabeth sailing on a beautiful day

If someone asked you if you could go 145 miles in 17 days, I’m guessing you’d say yes.  That’s only 8.5 miles a day.  We figured it would be no problem either, and it actually turned out not to be.  But the thought that we needed to be in a place at a time dominated our thinking as we analyzed the weather for days at a time.  Wondering if it was a good time to head North or if we were moving because we had to get there.  Would we have waited if we didn't have commitments?  What if we don’t go now, how long will it be until the weather is good again?  When we found ourselves “stuck” in Tenicatita for seven unplanned days and a weather system heading our way; our plan to slowly hop up the coast and enjoy every little anchorage went out the window.  Now we were making a break for it and hoping we weren't making a foolish decision.

The tea cup on the coast

Sometimes you can't trust that chartplotter

Early morning departure

One of the many whales we saw

Needless to say we had a fine trip North and our decisions proved to be good ones.  Yesterday we were greeted back to Banderas Bay by whales everywhere and we narrowly missed running over a couple of turtles out in the middle of the ocean.  They don’t seem to look around very much to see us coming, but pop their heads up and glance at us as we slide past, sort of annoyed that we woke them up.  While it seems easy to scoff at the first rule of cruising, it has been repeated to us so many times I can’t count, and for the first time we actually understood it’s meaning and how important it is.

Cool clouds

Bahia deTenacatita Part II

1-3-13 – Bahia de Tenacatita, Jal, MX

We find ourselves back in Tenacatita again.  It’s not a bad place to be I suppose.  The intent was to be here only a few days and then head north; the weather has had different plans for us.  It takes a transition in mindset, as well as some available time, to plan you travels around what the weather will let you do.  The last two days we have seen the first rain since we left our slip in Alameda, CA at the end of July.  Unfortunately, with that rain came some unsettled weather and wind from the wrong direction, or from the right direction but too much of it, or from the right direction but with big seas to stop our forward progress, or from the right direction for this anchorage but the wrong direction for the next anchorage.  So with all of these considerations we have spent a few more days than intended here in Tenacatita.  Thankfully the weather predictor people have yet to get much of this right and different sources say different things, so we feel it is prudent to stay put until everyone can agree, for at least a day, that we won’t get walloped with big winds or waves in the wrong direction.

Brian leaving for La Manzanilla to restock on supplies along with other  cruisers

Morning sunrise over the anchorage the day after the squall

Our first whole fish lunch in Mexico.  Good but fillets are a lot easier and just as good

I think of it like that time you drove to see your family in blinding snow, uphill for Christmas.  It was probably not a smart thing to do and you could have spun off the road and been in trouble.  You probably did it because you had 4 days off and it was now or never.  If you had more time you probably would have waited until the roads were cleared and you could lessen your chance of serious disaster.  Now think about doing that trip with your house in tow.  “spinning off the road” and potentially destroying your house may make you change your mind.  That’s how we feel.  No need to risk your boat/house to gain a day here or there.  We have a lot of days on our hands, and not so many boats/houses. 

Reinforcing that idea is the boat that was saved within about ¼ mile of going ashore yesterday when they lost their rudder, only three miles after leaving the anchorage.   Let’s just say they very calmly asked a boat to stand by in case they had to “ditch the boat” (i.e. their house was about to be destroyed) . Not good to hear over the radio.  Needless to say they were able to pick up a line and got towed back into the anchorage after many hours of trying, and a little assistance from a panga and the “Mayor of Tenicatita” (by the way these people had already sailed from the West coast, thru the Panama Canal to the Caribbean and back, so not completely inexperienced).  Where they then went about anchoring right upwind of us in about 40knots of wind and horizontal rain.  But they made it, which is what counts.  So I guess we take the weather seriously as there seems to be a lot on the line when that thing that never happens, does happen.

We have run the generator more and watched more movies in the last two days than the last four months.  With no sun we get no solar power, and without running the engine to move the boat we don’t charge the batteries, so we are forced to run the generator.  I must say thanks to that guy we bought it from in a 7-11 parking lot back in Reno off of Craigslist.  It has worked great.  We now know where the boat leaks, so that gives me something to do.  The best thing about all of this is we got a free boat wash without having to be at a marina.  I even collected a couple of gallons of water to shower with.  Lets just say I had a LOT of time on my hands.  I had a solid upper body workout yesterday, raising the anchor five times.  That’s a long story, but it has to do with the impending squall, and then the boat without the rudder that anchored a little too close.  But who can blame him; he didn’t have rudder and was thankful to still have a boat.

Took a nice long hike hoping for tacos and beer - ended up at the freeway instead

View of the anchorage in Tenacatita from our hike

You can tell it has been a long couple of days on the boats when today the sun came out and eight dinghies full of boat bound cruisers showed up on the beach in the morning, just to not be on their boats.  We are ready to leave Tenicatita now, although todays morning walk on the beach and tasty fish and cold beers for lunch at the beach palapa may make us change our minds.

We saw the sign but thankfully no crocodiles

Collecting free shower water