Visiting with the Florey's in La Cruz

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle with Karen and Carlos Florey February 3 to 11, 2020

"The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure." Tibetan Proverb

Stephen and I arrived at La Cruz on February 1st after a nice few days in Chacala. We really needed some time at anchorage before heading to a busier place again. La Cruz is a great gathering place for many cruisers, especially with kids. They have a “Kids Club” and a radio net run by kids only. The area also affords many resources to include: Thursday's night FREE movie night in an outdoor amphitheater setting (we took Karen and Carlos to see Rocketman), an amazing Sunday market with food and wares, and many gatherings regarding cruiser’s interests. We pulled in just before sunset and got into the anchorage with plans to move to a marina slip in the morning of the 2nd. We would do some last minutes chores, house cleaning and food/booze shopping. La Cruz is also about 45 minutes away from the Puerto Vallarta airport and so it is a good spot to meet up with friends who want to visit cruisers. 

Our Soulstice is a 1993 40ft Caliber and has 2 heads (aka bathrooms) and 2 sleeping quarters. We have what is a called a Pullman Berth, it is slightly smaller than a queen-size bed that is forward on the port (left) side of the boat. It is not all the way forward like many boats that have what is called the V berth. Our forward head is closest to the bow of the boat instead and in front of that, unseen, is our anchor locker. The extra sleeping room for guests or crew is our aft cabin, as it is called in sailing lingo, and is full of our gear.  It is packed with fishing gear, 2 inflatable SUPS in backpacks, water filtration system, extra food boxes, extra rigging equipment, a very large and unshapely loose bag with our spinnaker in it and “extra” stuff etc…. We now needed to make all this disappear and find places to put it! We needed a bed for Karen and Carlos!!! 

Surprisingly, with some more organization and some serious packing of our forward head ( aka the bathroom), particularly the shower area which we have never used except just for storage, we were able to clear out the aft cabin and make it a sleeping space! Phew! Mission accomplished. Now just top off on some food, Tequila, and limes and we are set! Oh, I also added dirty martinis to my drink list. We are trying to experiment with other drinks as beer drinking makes more trash/recycling and well…. 5.0% if your lucky is hardly what we consider a worthy drink. There are lots of olives in Mexico, vodka and I did find vermouth. So far, I am happy with my new choice drink. 

Last cruising season, Stephen and I did not encounter a drop of rain! We truly had a dry season and the 2 little umbrellas I packed never saw daylight and my dry bag only got wet from dinghy rides and swimming with it to get to shore. Well, it was a downpour when Karen and Carlos arrived! It was raining the day before and the 2 days after their arrival. Not just a sprinkle but that nice hard rain that will get you soaked in a full minute. It is warm, so at least despite being very wet, you are not cold. These guys are professionals and that did not get them down.  We did end up having great weather after that and tolerable temperature. Last year it was much hotter here and I was grateful for some overcast days during this past week. 

Inviting friends to the boat is something you think about… It is a tiny space, with rules… how to use the bathroom can be complicated as well as just wanting to use water.  Seasickness is also to be considered if you want to take visitors sailing and not just hunker down in the marina. These guys like to run rivers in big water and are used to the water so we knew they would be ok. It is not exactly the same but they have an idea what it is like to have your floor move underneath ya'! An overnighter in the very rolly anchorage of Yelapa proved they can hang with seasoned sailors as well as multiple day sails. 

Additionally, Karen and Carlos, besides being the most kind-hearted and thoughtful folks are also well versed in the backpacker style living. They are environmentally conscious, respectful of energy usage, and appreciate simple living. They were a joy to have on the boat and share our tiny floating home. They are like us and just appreciate being in nature. They like hanging out, making good food and having thoughtful conversation. OH, and they like to play cribbage. I definitely cleaned up my cribbage playing, they are sharp, have skilled cribbage tactics and quick with counting! They follow the rules to "T"  so touche,  in regards to living on the boat. We had a great visit with them and appreciate the time they took to be with us in Mexico!

A special bonus was meeting Carlos’s son’s girlfriend, Tatiana, a Mexican native, who has been living in Puerto Vallarta for the last 5 years and prior to that Guadalajara. She came for a day sail and dinner on the boat as well as met us in PV for breakfast on the departure day back to MT for the Florey's. She was a delight to meet and Stephen and I look forward to seeing her again before we leave for the S. Pacific crossing. 

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Mark Twain

Day Sail in Banderas Bay - Tatiana, Carlos's son's girlfriend joined us. We had many whale sightings!

Cooling off!

Captain Karen :)

What?? I don't owe you $200 pesos to hold that Iguana??? How about $20? 

We did a day sail/overnight to Yelapa to hike the waterfall (Cascada) and enjoy the most delicious meal at Los Abuelos!

Yelapa Cascada. The water was cooler this year. 

Homemade blue corn tortillas!! The food was the BEST food I have had in Mexico besides in San Jose del Cabo! You can only get to Yelapa by boat so we will need to make another trip before we leave so I can eat there again fo' sure!

A real Mexican grandma - Una abuela mexicana! Hence the name of the restaurant I suspect :)

Pushing down the blue corn dough to make DELICIOUS tortillas

La Cruz anchorage

We liked watching the little hummingbird camouflaged in the flowering bush. I would love to have multiple hummingbird feeders one day. There was a B&B in Canada that I stayed at once that had 3 close to the outdoor breakfast table and it was awesome to see these little stealthy fliers enjoy some nectar. 

One of the many beaches by La Cruz marina ( I paddled over and yes I definitely let air out of the board and brought the pump! Lesson learned way back when in Santa Barbara! )

Karen, Carlos, and Tatiana - took a walk after breakfast along the Malecon in PV

Sunrise 2/12 in La Cruz anchorage

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Soulstice!

Whale next to Soulstice in the anchorage. This year has been an outstanding year for whale viewing. Last night after Karen and Carlos left I was in the salon and got up due to hearing a whale creating a hug splash by continuous breaches in the moonlight in the anchorage.

Sunrise 2/12 in anchorage