La Cruz

[GPS: N 20° 44’ 53” W 105° 22’ 13”]
We left Tenacatita Monday morning. The winds that had been off the coast were supposed to stop and actually turn to a little southerly. So we figured if the seas had calmed down enough we would just run through the night and go all the way to La Cruz in Banderas Bay. It was comfortable enough that we did just that, anchoring off La Cruz just after sunrise on Tuesday.

John and Jan aboard Jabiroo had sailed up from Tenacatita just behind us, and anchored about a hundred yards away from us. We enjoyed spending three nights at La Cruz (except that it was a little rolly) in the anchorage:

There is a new marina at La Cruz, which we used for the dinghy dock when we went into town. It was fairly empty:


It was actually sad what the marina has done to the view from Ana Bananas, a local restaurant with live music several evenings a week. It’s a popular spot for cruisers which was right on the bay, but now overlooks construction of condos near the marina. One day there was a sign up that they were closed because the water was off. Water was on in the rest of town – probably due to construction – perhaps the marina was just trying to push them out?

We spent some time just poking around the town of La Cruz – very authentic Mexican feeling still:

And the nearby town of Bucerias – much more touristy – a short bus ride away or a couple mile walk up the beach.

We enjoyed dinner, music, and dancing Thursday evening at Philos with John & Jan. It was open mic night. One of the musicians was a one-man band with a washboard etc – well known and popular in the community. After a while this 90-year old man, who had been dancing up a storm with his upper-80’s wife got up in a similar gig – but somewhat mocking the musician. Turns out it was the musician’s father.