We love sharing our cruising lifestyle with friends and family. Whether you want to spend a week relaxing at anchor and eating out or you want some sailing adventures, there is something for everyone. A good friend and former work colleague joined us at the beginning of April for a cruising experience with us on Calla Lily. You'll see in Glenn's post and photos that we did not disappoint.
5-stars to the SV Calla Lily SailBnB. “Shut up” you say, 5 stars? Hell yes! Mike & Shelby are amazing hosts and, although they do make you assist with maintaining the property, provide a top notch sailing adventure. Seriously!
The first few days we stayed anchored in La Cruz to provision, do boat work and eat amazing Tortas. If you ever get to La Cruz, go to Octopus’s Garden, pick-up some roasted coffee beans and take a moment to meet the owners who, notoriously, sailed from England to Mexico with a toddler on their homemade paper boat. (https://octopusgarden.mx/our-history). Watch the video and be amazed. Btw… their coffee is amazing too! I could hang out there for months I think.
First sail was a short cruise from La Cruz to Punta Mita where we practiced rigging up the staysail. Next afternoon we started south on an overnight sail to Playas Paraiso and the fun really started. Passing the Islas Marietas we saw humpbacks, dolphins and sea turtles. Seeing a young humpback breach was a sight I will never forget. The nightime sparkle of bioluminescence off the bow waves and whitecaps was mesmerizing like ribbons of fireflies in the night. Shyly, I admit having some fun pumping the toilet bowl in the dark because it looked like millions of bright stars disappearing into a black hole. Yes, I am weird. I awoke at 6am for my 2nd watch to a Twilight Zone scene. Absolute silence, drifting, light mist, stern light aglow, eerie music and not a soul in sight. Dinghy was still there so they didn’t abandon me. Did they fall overboard? I must have woken Mike up with my panic screaming and he explains we ran out of fuel and were drifting to conserve so back to sleep. Change of plans to anchor in Perula and find fuel. Soon the winds picked up and we were back under sail to Perula.
It seemed a good idea to keep the spinnaker up as we sailed into Perula but, rounding the point, unanticipated winds overpowered us and suddenly the starboard lifelines were in the water. The spinnaker sheet let loose from the winch, flew free and we turned back to open water to lower the sails. Swaggering back in under motor power like we meant to do that, Shelby thankfully served up some heavy pours of tequila and we met some interesting visitors who greeted us after our amazing entry.
Next morning Mike and I went into town to find fuel and Mike was like a little kid getting to ride a Tuk-Tuk ride to the makeshift fuel station. What fun! Next day we set course for a beautiful sail to Barra De Navidad. That pesky lagoon had a 12” wide entrance channel which turned out to be tricky and we brushed a sandbar. Two fellow cruisers dinghied out to get us back into the channel and escorted us to a beautiful, safe anchorage. Turns out we had met one of the families in La Cruz at that amazing Torta restaurant I mentioned.
Sipping coffee on deck the next morning, what should cruise by? But of course, a French Bakery Panga with all kinds of wonderful pastries. We had 1 of everything and 2 of some things. We explored the town, observed a quinceanera and had the best churros ever. Next day I met my driver for the scenic drive back to Puerto Vallarta to close out the trip. So relaxing… sipping coffee, eating a pastry and glimpsing a fair number of goat slaughters. Farm life.
The cruisers I met and all the locals were so wonderful. Thank you Mike and Shelby for letting me visit your home. You have embarked on an enviable journey and I hope to visit with you again in the future.
