Harbour Hopping - Prairie SeaShell Sea Stories

We continue our trek further south thru Mantanchen Bay and Chacala. Huge big crescent shaped sandy beaches lined with palapa restaurants where we enjoy awesome sunsets night after night. However, as beautiful as these beaches are, they can be a little rolly at night when the wind completely dies down and the boats tends to drift sideways to the swells. A stern anchor certainly helps to get a good nights sleep.

One evening after sunset on our way back to the PSS, we lit up the bay with the phosphoresence we created moving thru the water. It was so bright, it was like we had a light on under the dingy. When I rinsed the painter, it was like fairy dust sparkling everywhere. The magic of the sea!

On January 6th, we went into town with our fellow cruisers for a special dinner at one of the local restaurants. The dinner is in honor of the Dia del Rey (Day of the Kings) and they prepare a very special cake. I believe the day represents the day that the 3 kings or wise men, took their gifts of Frankinsence, Myhr and Gold to the baby Jesus.

In my piece of cake, I found a chocolate baby Jesus, and according to Mexican custom, I must now host a party on February 2nd, the day before Mardi Gras starts. Not sure where we will be then, but it will be a small party if it is aboard Prairie SeaShell.

The following day, our party of cruisers, took a collectivo (taxi van) into the neighbouring town of Las Varas. This town rarely sees tourists, and it is a treat for us to be able to shop with out the hassle of souvenir vendors enthusiastically peddling their wares. We stopped at a taco stand for lunch then at the fruiteria where they were offering samples of the strangest looking huge fruit that they said was yucca.

Our next port of call was LaCruz where there is a brand new marina, in fact, still under construction. LaCruz is a quaint little town, that will under go major changes if the mega marina complex goes to completion.

La Cruz is within bussing distance of Puerta Vallarta, so we spent a few days exploring Puerta Vallarta, in hopes of finding some reasonable accommodation for my sister who had booked a flight to Puerta Vallarta at the end of February.

We checked out many hotels in and around Puerta Vallarta, but were not able to find anything more reasonable than the Flamingo Hotel, which Donna was able to book thru Expedia. It was right at the marina, had a nice swimming pool, and was within a reasonable distance of Old Town for entertainment and some shopping centers for groceries etc.

We did a little provisioning for the next leg our our journey, and even found a few gourmet treats for Don. The Mega store, similar to our SuperStore, carried a brand of gluten free donut and waffle mix, imported from Lhian's Kitchen in Thailand. Not only were they very tasty with fresh strawberries & mango, and smothered in whip creme, but the price was incredible. Even at the regular price of $1.18 a box they were a great deal, but I guess gluten free products aren't a big seller in Mexico, as when we went back for a few more boxes, they were down to .38cents. Needless to say we bought as many as our stores could hold.

It was also a treat to find brown rice pasta at the local Wal-mart store, Fruit de la Terre, imported from Toronto. Hope our Calgary Wal-Mart stores will carry it.

Harbour Hopping Photo Album coming soon.

« San Blas
» Harbour Hopping Continued