Yelapa!

 

After being in the La Cruz area (marina and anchorage) for over 5 weeks - which I thoroughly enjoyed -  we left the La Cruz anchorage on March 10th headed to Yelapa.  Yelapa is on the south side of Banderas Bay and is a really pretty village that you can only get to by boat or hiking.  Tom fished along the way and caught 2 Bonitas.  We threw the first one back but the second one was too injured by the hook so Tom filleted it and made ceviche that he ate later for dinner.  

I love fishing - I was my dad's fishing buddy - but the swells were huge when we stopped moving so stopping to land a fish was uncomfortable, especially since I didn't have my sea legs and I had to be the gopher and go up and down the companionway to retrieve fishing gear because we weren't prepared to catch fish...anyway, I was being a little bitch (sorry Tom!) and just wanted to get to Yelapa and not be distracted by fishing so much.....Back to Yelapa....

Because of the mountainous terrain surrounding the bay, the bay around Yelapa is deep with depths over 90' less than 300'  to shore so you can't really anchor there.  But the local fisherman/residents rent mooring balls for $500 pesos or about $25 a night.  The bay has a large beautiful beach and the surrounding terrain is tropical jungle.

Our Boat in the Distance

  

When we were in Yelapa, they had the annual "Environment and Music Gathering" https://yelapagathering.com/, which sounded like it could be a cool experience with yoga, mediation, etc., - it was like a mini-burning man festival - but techno music played all night long literally until 7:30 in the morning so sleeping was tough.  As much as I hate to admit, the older I get the more important sleep is so I wasn't into the whole vibe of the event.  

Tom and I hiked up to both of the waterfalls in the area, one of which was about 2.5 miles from town.  On the way back from the waterfall, we stopped at the "Jungle Bar" about a a mile or more from town in the middle of nowhere to have a cold beverage  (I had a green juice, which was delicious).    

Yelepa is a very cool & beautiful area and I look forward to going back when there's not a music festival going on! 

Note:  There has been talk about building a road to Yelapa but a local expat I spoke with said it's not likely to ever happen based on the terrain, houses in the way, and other reasons; I think having villages or towns only accessible by boat adds to the uniqueness of the area so I personally & selfishly hope it never happens. 

Elementary School