We pushed on past the
tricky entrance to Banderas Bay headed at
last to our goal of Puerto Vallarta. However, we were unable to secure a slip in a marina so we anchored in the small town of La Cruz only eight miles from PV.
La Cruz turned
out to be our favorite town. However, by this time the generator had stopped
which prevented us from making water. We had also chaffed through the lazy jacks
which fouled the main halyard and forced Kim and Kayce to flake our big main by hand.
A local gringo helped
to arrange for panga to deliver water to the boat and for a mechanic to fix the generator.
Unfortunately, neither the panga nor the mechanic showed up. After two
days (or was it three?) with no showers, the Captain again detected a rumbling,
growling noise among the crew. To head off further insurrection, the Kim dingied
to shore in search of aqua purificado.
The first step was
to hire local labor to help transport approximately 100 gallons of water. Kim
found a strapping fifteen year old, Ramon, on the beach and secured his labor for a mere $10.
Another bad purchasing decision. Ramon turned out to be a weak,
whiney kid who wanted to be paid with Cervezas. Nevertheless, Kim and Ramon found
a small store a half mile from the beach which had 20 five gallon water bottles. This
was apparently the biggest sale ever from the store since a small crowd began to gather to see the crazy gringo who paid so
much money for mere water. Unfortunately, all the taxis had stopped running,
so Ramon and Kim begged for an amigo con coche to take the water to the beach. After
30 minutes, a pretty senorita showed up in the biggest, shiniest, Ford pickup ever.
Kim and Ramon sat on the tail gate struggling to hold back bottles of water weighing a combined total of 833 pounds
while the senorita attempted to set a new speed record for cobble stone streets. On
the beach, the senorita offered to help unload the truck and refused to take any money for her trouble. La Cruz is a very friendly town. Four dingy trips later the water was safely ensconced on Georgia
J.
With happy and clean
marineras, we ventured to town to celebrate Kayce’s birthday and the close of a fabulous adventure for the tres amigos. We found an excellent restaurant with live music from the Muy Mango duo. Following
dinner we continued the night by dancing to a rock band at the local gringo hangout, Philo’s. Capitan Kim was much envied for his lovely female crew.
Sadly, the day arrived
when Kayce had to return to cold, snowy Seattle. We dingied her to the beach to say our goodbyes. When we started
the trip, Kayce had never slept on a boat or spent time at anchor. Despite the
aforementioned queasiness at the beginning of the trip, she embraced and enjoyed the cruising life more than Jack London ever
did. We only regret that she never got to see Puerto Vallarta or perfect her figure eight knot—maybe next time!
