What to expect

Rants, missives and occcasional updates about where Masquerade is located and what we are up to.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Moving Northward

We are now located in Banderas Bay, at Punta de Mita. Puerto Vallarta is on the far side from us, and we should get over there in a few days.

We have begun the move back north towards Mazatlan. We made short stops in Barra de Navidad, Tenacatita, Chamela, and Ipala. Most of the other boats are ahead of us and we are also at the end of the tourist season (winter) so there are a lot fewer boats and people ashore as well. This is fine with us as we don’t really like the crowds, but it also means that some restaurants are closed or don’t have all their items available. We can tell that the weather is starting to change. We are heading from the dry season (no rain in 4 months) to the wet (hurricane) season, the winds are changing and the humidity is going up. We will soon need to have the boat somewhere safe from Hurricanes.

 

We have been a little disappointed in the water down here this season. When we first arrived the water was warm and clear. Within a week or so the temperature dropped over 10 degrees and made swimming uncomfortable. After a few weeks the temp started to go up and we had a chance to snorkel on the wreck in Santiago. However in a few days we had a huge algae bloom and the water turned murky green or an even worse red/brown with no visibility at all! Heading up the coast it has improved a bit and the algae is in patches, so it all depends on where you are and what the wind/waves are doing. We had hoped to be in the water pretty much everyday during the season, but have gone swimming rarely and only snorkeling a few times.  Our friends tell us that last year was much better for water quality. Oh well, I guess we can’t have everything perfect.

 

I finally added some new photos to the mainland Mexico page, Guadalajara and other pics. I also fixed the guestbook, so that should be working again (thanks to Fran for letting me know!).