S/V Loomba-Loomba

We left La Cruz at 9:30 pm on 1/25 and had the anchor down at 4PM off of the town of Perula in Bahia Chemala on 1/26. (about 100 miles south of PV) This is a beautiful bay with a great beach for walkng and several islands out in the middle to explore or go snorkeling, AND a very good hardware store, AND we can get wifi from the cockpit! The town has several palapa restaurants on the beach and a few tiendas on the main street. Jim looking for a specific plumbing part - everyone in the shop got involved. The fishermen bring their pangas right up on the beach - no panga dock here! Exploring one of the islands out in the bay. Lots of crabs Lots of cacti and pelicans nesting. ...and boobies sitting on cactus plants.

We left Paradise Village Marina (in Nuevo Vallarta) on 1/11/11 and sailed to La Cruz – just across Banderas Bay. It’s a great anchorage, has a good marina, and it’s a great little town. Looking out at the anchorage and Marina from the LaCruz YC Lots of cruisers here - both anchored out and in the marina. There’s a boat yard, sail loft, canvas shop, lots of restaurants with live music in the evenings, several small tiendas,  a very inexpensive laundry, a fish market right by the dinghy dock, free movie night at the amphitheater on the breakwater every Thursday, a Wednesday market, a Sunday market, $2 showers at the marina, a fuel dock with diesel and gasoline and good water to fill the tanks. Cruiser's potluck at the LaCruz YC. One of the local restaurants/bars. The Blessing of the Fleet Celebration - with live music  and a decorated panga parade. Great shrimp from the local fishermen. Sunday market in the zocalo Our favorite internet cafe. While in La Cruz

1/4/11  After checking out of the condo we moved back to the boat in Nuevo Vallarta. It was actually good to get “home”.   While still in PV we went to the dermatologist, got new prescription glasses, had a mammography, re-provisioned, and applied for our FM3 tourist visa   which will allow us to stay in Mexico for longer than 180 days. We need to wait 2 weeks for it so on 1/11/11 we moved to La Cruz and are anchored out. We’ll continue to explore Banderas Bay from here. A few pictures while we were at Paradise Village Marina: View from the cockpit A baby iguana and giant iguana View from the top of our mast (taken by Drew) Our internet cafe - right up the dock At home at the dock The Vallarta Yacht Club has wifi, food and drinks There is a "zoo" at Paradise Village - they have a very successful Bengal Tiger breeding program

We arrived in Nuevo Vallarta (Paradise Village Marina) on 12/19/10, got the boat squared away and then headed for the condo in PV on Monday, 12/20. Drew arrived that afternoon. Our condo has a turtle-release program and we got to participate in the release of newly hatched turtles. We rented a jeep one day and drove north to Sayulita, and Rincon de Guayabitos and then off-roading to Alta Vista Archeological Sacred Site.  We went as far as we could by car and then hiked a mile  and a half to the site. Jaime and Jaimito were mending a fence along the path and offered to show us the way. The petroglyphs were amazing   The spring/amphetheater at the end of the trail were beautiful. This is where offerings are still made by the Huichol Indians. Kelsey and RL arrived Christmas Eve in the afternoon and Joe, MaryLou and Matt Upton joined us for dinner. After Christmas we explored the city and bought hats. On the 26th we sailed to La Cruz, had dinner at