Our last sunrise in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. on Tuesday, December 17
Eric checked out with the port captain and the marina office. We did all of the last-minute things to get Kosmos ready for sea, and we untied at noon for our 22-hour passage.
We are happy to report that the seas were mostly calm. In Bahia de Banderas we had some small head seas. When we went around Cabo Corrientes, we were braced for bad conditions since that patch of water was notorious for being confused and turbulent, but it was actually pretty good conditions. Beyond Cabo Corrientes, the swell was from the rear at long intervals and there was little wind chop.
Continued from yesterday…. We were shocked to see that there was even an area with a cemetery! This is one of dozens of headstones
There were more walkways that explored the outer areas of the gardens. We were warned that these outer trails were long and could be arduous.
First, we did the Vanilla Trail, which was a loop that had several offshoots from the main trail. We may have missed one or two of the offshoots, but we did most of them. There weren’t signs with plant names, so we weren’t sure if this was natural rainforest or if non-native species had been planted. It was hilly, with many sets of staircases and a suspension bridge.
We skipped our normal routine of morning schoolwork and chores, and instead hopped in the car and headed south. As mentioned yesterday, the flat, wide multi-laned (6 – 8 lanes for most of the way) highway between La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Puerto Vallarta paralleled Bandaras Bay. On the bay side, there were many high-rise tower hotel/condo complexes, a huge resort complex with a water slide park and air tram, a couple of military bases, the airport, and a cruise ship terminal. In between, were assorted commercial buildings. The construction was dense and there were few glimpses of the ocean. The other side of the street was also lined the entire way with buildings, though this side had more industrial-type businesses, car dealerships, and strip malls. Except for the median, there was little greenery. Since it was early on a Sunday, there wasn’t much traffic and we made it to downtown Puerto Vallarta in an hour.
As we also mentioned yesterday, shortly after passing the cruise ship terminal, the road suddenly changed to narrow, one-way cobblestone roads upon entering the historic downtown area. The downtown area also had little greenery. Only a few blocks beyond where we’d parked yesterday, there was another stark line indicating that we’d crossed the threshold from downtown to the part of town called Zona Sur.
Continued from yesterday… after we toured the chocolate museum and tasted the free samples, we stocked up on chocolate (chocolate is an important passage food, especially in rough seas).
We headed south to the Our Lady of Guadelupe Parish, which was a block inland. It was built in the 1930s, and probably the most unique thing about this church is that there is a crown on top of the middle tower instead of a cross. However, there are crosses on the smaller two towers that flank it on each side.
Since we had some time to kill before La Iguana opened for dinner, we decided to check out the new Naval Museum on the malecon. The admission fee was $3.00 for adults and $2.50 for students.
