In the La Cruz Anchorage

I'm slowly catching up with blog posts. This post about staying in the anchorage describes time we spent out of the marina in April during Semana Santa/Pascua when Kyle didn't have any school.  


We have spent a lot of time in marinas so far, so we decided it was time to try out the La Cruz anchorage. We had heard from some of our friends how great the neighborhood was – regular dolphin sightings, peaceful breezes, and invitations to dinner at neighboring boats. We also heard even more people complain about how rolly it was in the anchorage. 

Dinghy and paddleboard tied off the back. This was a pretty calm day.

View to the West of the marina and the town.

View toward Nuevo Vallarta to the East

Kyle was a little sad to leave his friends Shandro and Matero, from Kenta Anae, and the fort that they built. We broke down the fort and set off for the anchorage on Thursday the 5th of April. We were just a short dinghy ride away from the marina and we still found lots of time for Kyle to play with Shandro and Matero.  

Matero, Shandro, and Kyle working away on the fort. 

The ocean breeze at night was great and the first morning Kyle jumped out of bed and yelled to us to come out on deck to see the fish swimming around the boat. We also regularly saw dolphins. It's too bad it's too late in the year for whales. 

We enjoyed the new 'hood.' We had tea and cookies over at Lungta and practiced our Spanish with Dan and Kathy.  Kyle had a chance to visit his friend Savannah (from Endorfin) out in the anchorage. As for overall comfort, it seemed like a very rolly week with a lot of swell, so we may have timed it badly. We got used to the rocking and the swell, but didn't  sleep terribly well some nights. Even with our flopper stopper set up, the boat rocked a lot. The afternoons in the bay are typically windy with breezes of 15 to 25 knots. Being on the boat in the afternoon is tolerable but not peaceful. Going in on the dinghy in the afternoon can be a somewhat wet affair, but we learned to take dry clothes if we needed them.


We came into the marina on Easter Sunday for an egg hunt at the marina pool.  

Savannah and Kyle hunting for eggs 

Savannah had a nice bunny bag, Kyle had a handy trashbag for his eggs 

Kyle and Lisa, Savannah's mom.

We found the neighborhood was nice, but the boat was rocky and it was harder to get land based exercise and run our errands. With the afternoon thermals (winds generated from the heat on land) you cannot expect a particularly calm setting. At the La Cruz anchorage you have 15 miles of fetch across the Bay during the afternoon thermals. 


When we anchor we try to find a place that is protected. One of the things we have been most disappointed about is that there are really no nice protected anchorages in Banderas Bay. It would be nice if there were some coves you could anchor in. It is surprising that for the largest bay in Mexico there are so few options for anchoring.


All in all we didn’t have too much trouble with it, we just agreed that life was easier in the marina. Plus, with Kyle going back to school, it would be easier to be in the marina. So after a week out we decided to head back in and tie up in our slip again. As soon as Sea Biscuit was close to the dock Kyle jumped off and ran up the dock to play with his friends.


Two of our friends were worried we were giving up on sailing completely after just one week in the anchorage. We assured them we are happy with Sea Biscuit and still like sailing, we just like calm seas and sleeping well too. As another neighbor pointed out - it's supposed to be fun.


Next post - dinghies and dinghy motors....