2006-2007 PV to Barra and Ziaut

Jon and I flew down for my birthday in 2006 and had 2 great dives on the Tres Mariettas. 88 degree water and 50 foot visibility, the divers in the group were all experienced so we went thru the tunnels and into the caves with good visibility. We flew the Bonanza down in around November 1st and then returned to Prescott for Thanksgiving. We hosted Jon, Carey, Hamilton and Edwin, and Carol, Jim, Matt and Jim's girlfriend Candace for the holiday. We returned to PV in early December to get the boat ready to leave in January, returning home briefly before Christmas, and then flew back to Roanoke, Va to spend Christmas with Cat, Chad, Cooper and Parker. We stayed at Cat and Chad's ski condo in Wintergreen and enjoyed skiing with the kids both of whom ski very well. Parker "got it" this time and really does well for a 4 year old. Chad and I played golf on the course at the bottom of the resort and then we all skied that night! We enjoyed spending Christmas with the grand kids and assembling the gifts the night before. Cat held an open house on New Year's Day so we got to meet all of their neighbors.
We returned to the boat on January 7th to get ready for the trip south. Larry and Sandy Arvidson arrived on the 13th to go south with us. We enjoyed showing them around Puerto Vallarta and Larry, Sandy and I took out one of the J-80s at the J World Sailing School on a really windy day on the bay. Larry got to race with us on Bright Star before we left PV. Unfortuantely, after going to Punta Mita for the night, we awoke to a rainstorm and big winds, especially around Cabo Corrientes which kept us in Punta Mita for another 2 days. On the third day the wind lay down enough to round the point, but we did not get started until noon due to a stuck solenoid on the starter motor. I replaced the motor and we departed for Chamela, expecting to sail overnight, however, the wind and seas pushed us along at nearly 8 knots so we arrived in Ipala (50 miles south) in daylight and anchored for the night. I wanted to anchor close in to the rock that provides most of the protection from the prevailing wind but Linda said it was too close to the fish trap. She was right, a boat that anchored there had to hire a diver the next morning to get their anchor unstuck. We stopped in Chamela for a couple of days and had a nice snorkel . Larry (a marine biologist) identified over 60 species of marine life. We took them on the jungle river cruise in Tenacatita and then left the next day for Barra. Dick and Carol of Tanoshii were waiting for us on the dock. It was great to hook up with them again. We had 3 knock down drag out tennis matches with Larry and Linda losing to Sandy and me. We introduced Larry and Sandy to the pleasures of Barra de Navidad including mango margarittas. We watched the Super Bowl at the Grand Bay hotel with Frank and Dayna of Snowgoose and other cruisers. Linda and Sandy added to their salt and pepper collection. Sandy really wanted to get to Zijuateno, one of her brothers favorite places, but we did not have enough time to take the boat there and allow them to return by bus to PV for their flight out. So we rented a car and drove for 9 hours (it looked like a 5 hour drive on paper) being searched 4 times by the military who was cracking down on the methamphetamine plants that are all over the state of Michoacan. We stayed at a hotel on Ziuatenjo bay (I am not sure of the spelling) and enjoyed seeing several cruising friends as it was Ziuafest. We delivered mail to fellow Cal owners Houston and Gayle on Blew Moon, and went to the cruiser beach pot luck. We had a nice dive at Los Gatos, where the water is clearer. Larry took us to a tamale specialty place with 16 types of tamales. I introduced him to tacos del pastor (slow roasted pork with pineapple) The drive back was also grueling and we got lost again and discovered that every village has at least 2 topes (speed bumps) which are not necessarily well marked. We had one more tennis match at Barra and then it was time for Larry and Sandy to leave.