March 23, Punta de Mita

Captain Aven

The fam arrived yesterday afternoon here in Puerto Vallarta. We stayed the night at anchor outside of La Cruz and then pulled up this morning and headed a short 9 miles northwest to Punta de Mita.  We were hoping to get a little paddleboard surfing in but there really wasn't much of a swell so we settled in to a little beach hut restaurant for some cold drinks, chips and salsa.  After lunch we took the dinghy and paddleboard up the beach a ways where I attempted to surf a little.  I did manage to catch a couple of waves but it was extremely shallow over a rock bottom so we didn't hang out there long and headed back to the boat where Tallen and Aven did a little  bosun's chair swinging from the spinnaker halyard.

After a bit we got kinda board so we decided to put together a little adventure and dinghy out the 5+ miles to Las Tres Marietas Islands.  It got a little rough out in the middle but after 20 minutes we arrived at the island and found "Hidden Beach".  Hidden Beach is an arch in the volcanic rock about 30' wide and about 4' tall above the sea level.  As you pass through it there is a very small, white sand beach tucked up against the volcanic rock.  Sitting on the beach you are in a small crater, surrounded by 20' rock walls on all sides and a narrow view out the arch leading to the sea outside.  Not completely sure it was worth 20 minutes each way in the dinghy in a choppy sea...but it was pretty cool.  We didn't really think things through completely and ran a little low on fuel on the way back arriving back at the boat with about a quart or so left.  Ha...all part of the adventure.

Tallen walking through the arch at Hidden Beach

We will stay here tonight then get up early to head north toward Guayabitos tomorrow.  It has been a pretty easy, peaceful day with the temperature around 85 and we will soon be treated to the nightly show of the sun making it's last appearances for the day as it disappears into the orange glow on the western horizon of the Pacific Ocean.  Ciao for now!

Bret, Tallen, Karla, Aven
SV Liahona