After two days in Matachen Bay, we sailed on to Chacala Bay.  The pueblo of Chacala is surrounded by beautiful cliffs, coconut trees and banana plants.  Again, we dingied to town to replenish our provisions.  This time we found a full dusty bottle of Tequila which Kim purchased for a mere $38.  This turned out to be a less than excellent purchasing decision.

After one night at Chacala, we determined that the anchorage was too rolly and the margaritas too weak.  We ventured on for calmer seas and new horizons.

We pushed on past the tricky entrance to Banderas Bay headed at last to our goal of Puerto Vallarta.  However, we were unable to secure a slip in a marina so we anchored in the small town of La Cruz only eight miles from PV.

La Cruz turned out to be our favorite town.  However, by this time the generator had stopped which prevented us from making water.  We had also chaffed through the lazy jacks which fouled the main halyard and forced Kim and Kayce to flake our big main by hand.      

A local gringo helped to arrange for panga to deliver water to the boat and for a mechanic to fix the generator.  Unfortunately, neither the panga nor the mechanic showed up.  After two days (or was it three?)  with no showers, the Captain again detected a rumbling, growling noise among the crew.  To head off further insurrection, the Kim dingied to shore in search of aqua purificado.

The first step was to hire local labor to help transport approximately 100 gallons of water.  Kim found a strapping fifteen year old, Ramon, on the beach and secured his labor for a mere $10.  Another bad purchasing decision.   Ramon turned out to be a weak, whiney kid who wanted to be paid with Cervezas.  Nevertheless, Kim and Ramon found a small store a half mile from the beach which had 20 five gallon water bottles.  This was apparently the biggest sale ever from the store since a small crowd began to gather to see the crazy gringo who paid so much money for mere water.  Unfortunately, all the taxis had stopped running, so Ramon and Kim begged for an amigo con coche to take the water to the beach.  After 30 minutes, a pretty senorita showed up in the biggest, shiniest, Ford pickup ever.  Kim and Ramon sat on the tail gate struggling to hold back bottles of water weighing a combined total of 833 pounds while the senorita attempted to set a new speed record for cobble stone streets.  On the beach, the senorita offered to help unload the truck and refused to take any money for her trouble.  La Cruz is a very friendly town. Four dingy trips later the water was safely ensconced on Georgia J.

With happy and clean marineras, we ventured to town to celebrate Kayce’s birthday and the close of a fabulous adventure for the tres amigos.  We found an excellent restaurant with live music from the Muy Mango duo. Following dinner we continued the night by dancing to a rock band at the local gringo hangout, Philo’s.  Capitan Kim was much envied for his lovely female crew. 

Sadly, the day arrived when Kayce had to return to cold, snowy Seattle.  We dingied her to the beach to say our goodbyes.  When we started the trip, Kayce had never slept on a boat or spent time at anchor.  Despite the aforementioned queasiness at the beginning of the trip, she embraced and enjoyed the cruising life more than Jack London ever did.  We only regret that she never got to see Puerto Vallarta or perfect her figure eight knot—maybe next time!