May 9, 2014  Yelapa and La Cruz, Mexico

We finally arrived at Banderas Bay and are glad to be here!  We’ve traveled over 4,100 miles since leaving Victoria last August and Banderas Bay is our home for the next few months.

Though we met a couple of other cruising couples we were still ready to do some more exploring on Falcon VII.  On Thursday morning, May 6th, we decided to head for Yelapa, a tiny isolated community on the far side of Banderas Bay.  Yelapa is a very popular destination for those tourists wanting something a bit different and a bit off the beaten track.

Yelapa’s small community of 2,500 lived around the sandy beach and rocky shoreline and along the winding Rio El Tuito River.  Others have houses perched in the thick lush forest and mountains.  Yelapa is unique because it is not accessible by car; adventure catamarans make day trips from Puerto Vallarta and others, like us, arrive by our own boat.  Other than that, there are only dusty winding horse trails that join it with Chemela to the south.  Because of its remoteness, there are no cars at all!  The ‘road’ is the width of a sidewalk, just wide enough for horses, donkeys, people and the occasional ATV to pass each other.

It is also unique because it is part of the indigenous community of Chacala and, as such, all land is owned collectively and has been for centuries.  Many generations of the families live there where such modern improvements as a cell phone tower stood next to the local hitching post outside the only grocery store around.

We left La Cruz for Yelapa under calm conditions but were able to put up the headsail for the last hour as we leisurely made our way across the bay. To give you an idea of the size of Banderas Bay, the distance is similar to the distance from Victoria across Juan de Fuca Strait to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula.

Banderas Bay traditionally receives strong afternoon winds because of the thermal effect.  This occurs when the breeze from the ocean moves into Banderas Bay as the land heats up in the late morning or early afternoon. The hot moist air above the land moves further inland, providing much appreciated offshore winds to get pushed towards shore.

The bay at Yelapa had a reputation as not only rolly but very deep so we opted to tie to a mooring for two nights.  Edgar, who oversees the moorings, brought his panga out to greet us and showed us which mooring he wanted us to use.  It was $200 pesos a night or about $16.00 US.  Paying to use the mooring meant Edgar provided free panga taxi trips to shore whenever we wanted to go so we had him run us into the beach for a few hours.  We noticed the variety of houses right away.

Edgar, an extremely experienced panga driver, drove the panga right up and onto the wave lapped sandy shore where we were greeted by a waiter from “Domingo’s” seafood restaurant.  We happily followed the young waiter across the extremely hot sand until we were under the protection of a massive thatched roof over the outdoor restaurant.  Within a few moments we were bombarded by local merchants trying to sell us homemade jewellery.  We were even invited to take a picture with Pedro, a huge iguana that was carried on his owner’s shoulder all day long.  We quenched our thirst with icy cold limonadas as we watched Falcon, the anchored bucking bronco, get slapped with waves and swells coming from all directions.

We asked our waiter how to get to town and he pointed to the end of the sand spit beach and told us to walk that way then turn left and head up the stairs.  We followed his instructions and found ourselves walking onto a small construction site, crossing it carefully before climbing up two sets of winding cement stairs bordered by terraced dwellings on both sides.  It felt like we were intruding into someone’s private space but the builders just smiled, pointed towards the stairs and went back to work getting ready to lay a cement ceiling/floor above them.

These are the branch braces used to hold up the floor / ceiling.  The
path to the stairs went right through this space and then to the right.

The construction site from a distance.  The public stairwell
wound up to the left of the construction and climbed above the
orange structure.

Once we had recovered from our trek up the uneven steep steps we followed a cobblestone sidewalk through ‘town’.  We found a few quiet restaurants and numerous little non-descript cocinas for those who wanted a quick taco.  We wandered by a tiny hardware store, the two room supermarket, a spa storefront and quite a few bed and breakfasts, which were much more rustic than in other towns. 

While we enjoyed the view to the north overlooking Banderas Bay we were reminded that it was a week day by all the kids around.  Adolescent teens in school uniforms hung out in small clusters.  A four wheel ATV passed us and stopped while four younger boys jumped onboard for a short but fun ride. A cleaning woman on horseback packing a mop and wash bucket passed us too.

We encountered another construction site where a big house was being built by two Yelapa cement mixer – the human kind of cement mixer.  One mixer was around our age, obviously strong but wiry thin.  The other was younger and very much buffed.  Strength was mandatory, given what they were doing for a living….they were making cement the old fashioned way!  Initially the bags of cement were dropped off at two beach locations by pangas.  The younger of the two mixers led four donkeys down to the beach where a pile of cement bags stood carefully stacked.

Retrieving cement bags stacked on the beach

Unloading the bags at the top of the road.

On the far side of the pond are bags being filled with sand
to be mixed with the cement.  We followed the hoof marks
along the pathway from 'town'.

He loaded each donkey with two heavy bags of cement balanced cross its back then led the donkeys off the beach and up through town to the construction site.  They sweated unmercifully as they unloaded each enormous bag and deposited it in a covered storage area.  The process was repeated until all bags were transported.  While hiking the next morning we spotted where they were gathering bags of rinsed sand to add to their hand mixed cement.  What a process!

A huge iguana climbed straight up the side of this building!

As mentioned,  we went on a big hike the next morning to one of two well-known waterfalls.  It took us 1.5 hour each way but we enjoyed it immensely.  We passed towns people going about their business and gauchos saddling up and heading towards farmlands cut out of the hillsides.

These saddles were ready for use when needed.

A half dozen gauchos getting ready to head out to the farms.

Look at the beautiful angel bell plants on the right.

This little guy was being left behind by Dad and the other gauchos.
That is his own little lasso in his hand!

The thick overhanging vegetation and cumulous clouds often blocked the sun, providing much appreciated shade. Cultivated gardens gave way to invasive vines that wound around trees until they blended and looked like one.

 Eventually the old cobblestones ran out after a half hour and our path turned into a dusty trail that crisscrossed the very shallow riverbed before following the middle of a dry riverbed, gouged out last summer during torrential rains. 

The 'road' beside the river we were following.

Later we found a small but pretty trickling waterfall.  The landscape was breathtaking with huge boulders and gigantic tropical plants interspersed with the flowing river.

This is the 'fruit' from a towering tree.



A spider nest next to the path.

Thousands of ants were busy moving across the path we were on.

We stripped off for a quick dip to cool down before taking up residence on a tiny shaded beach.  By early afternoon we began our journey back to the beach drenched in sweat.  We had a beautiful view down the lush valley and quickly spotted a fire on the eastern ridge. We were concerned but the locals we encountered paid no attention to the crackling wood, smoke and flames.

This is a parasite cactus growing at the top of the tree
above us at our little beach

This is an unusual flower at the top of the same tree.

The trail, which became a raging river in rainy season.

Seeing flames made us a bit nervous til we found out it
was a controlled burn done each spring.

When we made it back to Domingo’s for a quick lunch we found out it was a controlled burn done each year to wipe out the underbrush.

We were hot and tired after our hike and spent the rest of the day at anchor while Falcon rode the crazy waves.  It was like living inside a carnival ride…all day, all night, all day, all night.  You get the idea.

We waited until near noon to leave Yelapa and take advantage of the growing thermal wind so we could sail back to La Cruz.  The winds were perfect and we flew through the choppy waves until we made it back to the anchorage at La Cruz.  Windsurfers were sailing through the anchored boats.

We visited with other cruisers and spent a couple more days anchored near La Cruz before motoring an hour south east towards Paradise Village Resort and Marina in Nuevo Vallarta.  While at the marina we bused into Nuevo Vallarts and hit Walmart, Home Depot and Mega stores while we researched, shopped and bought a small air conditioner.  We had plywood cut up and paint tinted for the custom box Jim’s going to make to house the air conditioner.  We know this summer will be humid and hot and we want to be ready for it.  Many cruisers invest in air conditioner to survive the summers.  They’re usually mounted above one of the hatches, then boxed in with plywood, directing the cold air down, the warm air up and the moisture out through the system and a hose.  We expect torrential afternoon rains will help cool things off a bit as well.  Falcon VII will be safe and secure in a marina in case a hurricane comes through.

We were planning on heading back to Paradise Village Marina for the summer but after a week in La Cruz Marina and anchorage we decided to stay put instead for the next five months.

Morning sun over Banderas Bay

In closing, Yelapa gets a big two thumbs up from us and we look forward to visiting it again during the summer and in the fall.  Between now and then there’ll be one more blog entry about living in the marina at La Cruz.  Until then…