Mum Goes to Mexico 2025 Part 2
March 18 Tuesday
Another sunrise through my hatch. A leisurely Coffee in the Cockpit and tasty breakfast sandwich before the sails went up just before 11:00 and, with Yelapa receding in the distance, we started on the short trip north to Puerto Vallarta. The winds were mostly taking a break, so it was a power assisted sail before we pulled in that afternoon and tied Karma up at the first slip she had been in since January 2024. Suddenly we were part of a large harbor scene with high rise resorts as our backdrop, having to remember our address as “Turn left at Life is Short.” (the vessel we tied alongside.) and the luxury of just hopping off onto the dock, no dinghy required!
AND!! Our floating address allowed us access to the ritzy facilities…including those spacious, completely stationary, easy flush toilets, no counting of pumps needed! Liam also knew of a set of stairs outside that lead down to showers. I apparently was so excited I forgot the part about grabbing my towel. Lack of hot water (not to be confused with truly cold water) and blotting myself dry with paper towels did not dim the enjoyment of my first shower since Guadalajara.
It was in Puerto Vallarta where I got to see one of Liam’s super powers on display, which is his ability to remain calm, unflustered and take anything in his stride. He showed not the least sign of annoyance when our key fobs letting us in and out of the harbor area did not work…three different times! He would just patiently wait for someone to come along to let us through the gate and back we would have to go to the harbor office for another fob. (The third time, they were embarrassed enough they accompanied us back down to the gate to make sure the fobs worked.)
As we left the first night to explore and find dinner, with the harbor office closed and malfunctioning fobs, unable to let ourselves out, we found a tall metal gate we were able to hang onto, swinging out over the water and around to exit. Liam said if we had trouble getting back in, he was pretty sure he had friends on a boat elsewhere in the harbor and he would ask them if we could use their fob for re-entry. I could see so many things that could go wrong with this plan, but he was unconcerned.
This particular gate served me well for my sunrises, now land based, as I strolled on the beach each day, watching the resort come to life with early morning workers mobilizing to sweep, arrange, set up and generally prepare for when the guests woke up. The first day we had a task, calling further upon Liam’s super power. It was time to register the boat properly as a visitor in Puerto Vallarta. Donning his official looking Captain’s hat, Liam grabbed a plastic folder of paperwork and off we went again to the harbor office.
Liam explained that in these situations it is best to give them all the papers you have, and let them figure out what they want. Also, always ask for a copy of anything they do need or you have to sign, to let them think you know what is going on and are keeping track. All of course while carrying on friendly, unhurried, good humored banter. Some cruisers, Liam told me, even have a stamp made up to ceremoniously stamp all official pieces of paper to add to their credibility.
Liam was worried they were going to ask for a copy of Karma’s registration, which they had had some trouble keeping tabs on in their months of floating and no fixed address. When they did ask, he assured them that of course he had it and assumed an email to them would suffice (hoping he would in fact be able to find it in an email.) Eventually, after much copying and shuffling of papers, the situation was apparently copacetic enough that we could carry on with the next step. This entailed going back down to the harbor, and waiting on another dock for a water taxi to take us to a second location where a further stamp was needed from a different official. A kindly older cruiser, overhearing us, and tending to the same sort of business, offered to shepherd us on this leg of the journey.
Two rides on the water taxi, and time in a line to wait for an official to add his stamp, meant we had a new friend. This lead to a friendly tour of SV - Pelican Express, a Sundeer 67 foot sailing vessel on which this couple, now in their 80’s, had been living for many years. We also had to go by another part of the harbor and have a bit of a chin wag with Jim and Ana, a couple Liam knew from earlier locales getting ready to head across the big water on SV-Balloon. The next social engagement was drinks on board the Van Der Stadt 47, SV-Pickles (named by the kids) with Joannie and Guy, where we heard stories of 4 children raised entirely at sea, and then seemingly well launched into successful adulthood. There was a strong anti-screen time bias aboard this boat, so the kids had been allowed one movie a month. This lead to great consensus building skills as they had to spend the month negotiating for their choices. During a birthday month, a second movie was allowed (presumably with no voting privileges for those other than the birthday child.)
I have always had a fascination for what I call “Weird Little Microcosms” and the cruising life certainly qualifies. I loved seeing Liam in his life and meeting so many of his fellow sailors, sociable, supportive, engaging, living in a world without walls or worries about the expectations of mainstream society. Certainly not a lifestyle for everyone, but for me a privilege to at least get a little glimpse into it.
Before arriving in PV, to keep it simple, I decided to splurge and get us a room in the adjoining resort for when Tristan arrived. I woke up after booking the room, and realized that it might be the most convenient, but it was exactly the type of sterile high rise resort in a long string of similarly soulless hotels that I always avoided. Far from the center of Puerto Vallarta, it was not the experience the lads should be having. It was within the “no cancellation window” but I told such a tedious hardship story that the woman at the other end agreed to cancel the room just to get me to shut up, and I was free to find accommodations with character in town!
The morning of the day our replacement crew was to arrive, we took advantage of a final perk at our resort, using a hospitality suite for proper showers and to make ourselves presentable enough to appear in public. (I had to detour first to the pool because I decided I could NOT miss the opportunity to shoot out of the mouth of a giant crocodile slide a few times.) We happily left resort row behind and got settled into our little airbnb a few very steep blocks up above the malecon. Liam said he wanted to be “standing outside with a cold Mexican beer when Tristan steps out of the taxi.” and that is exactly what happened. Nothing makes a mom smile more than seeing two brothers so happy to see each other.
This is a sailing blog, so too much land based detail would be inappropriate, but what followed was a few days of wonderful time with my sons, who make stellar traveling companions in any setting. This included cheap dental cleanings, sunset drinks on the sand, early morning walks (for me), literally thousands of steps anywhere we went - one morning my phone told me I had climbed 27 flights of stairs before the lads even met me for breakfast - photo ops on the malecon as we explored PV.
My best estimate of my first trip to Mexico was 44 years ago, when I talked my parents into meeting my 2 girlfriends and I for their first trip to a foreign speaking land. During that trip, we had a memorable dinner on a rooftop restaurant high above the surf. When I returned with half a dozen sisters and friends to turn 50, I had found the same restaurant for my birthday dinner and treasured the photo from that night taken by the restaurant photographer. Since I was due to turn 70 the following month, it didn’t seem at all too early to let the celebrations begin! What could possibly be better than another milestone birthday dinner at the Panorama, this time with my sons?!?
I questioned a local early one morning, and turns out the aging restaurant was still there. I stopped on my walk that day to buy a (truly ugly, but cheap) dress so I would have_ something _ different to wear. The lads put on their fancy gear and we walked to my birthday dinner. Meals were no longer served on the roof, but they let us go up for pictures, and I don’t think the table where I sat with my sisters and friends had moved an inch in 20 years.
At our windowside table we ordered cocktails “What would your parents have had?” asked Liam. I was fairly certain an Old Fashioned was a good bet for my mom, so that is what Liam requested. We toasted my parents, and as the sky transitioned to the pearly purples and pinks of sunset, a house photographer showed up to take the 2025 version of the birthday dinner. Having warned the boys I would have to be sharing my story with our servers, (they always listened with bemused patience to my stumbling Spanish) I was ready with the photo of the picture to show the photographer. She became extremely excited, grabbed my phone, and began shaking it the ceiling camera. “What are you doing?” I asked, confused. “I’m showing my boss!! I am the photographer and I hand paint these frames. They are all over the world!” Incredibly, it was the same woman who had taken the picture I was showing her and she continues to make the frames for every shot she sells.
The dinner was a highlight of the trip, with wonderful food and service, a theatrical performance accompanying flaming Spanish coffees and a nice chat after with the photographer. A treasured night to remember with my lads.
After our last breakfast on the beach, where the boys laughed at but didn’t correct my Spanish chats with the waiters, I put them in a taxi back to the boat with a final hug. Liam insisted we catch it at exactly the same curb where our taxi had a flat tire on the way to dinner with my parents so many years ago, when we had had to get out and switch to another mid ride.
A bit later I was making the final sweep of our apartment and found, sitting in plain view on a bedside table in the boys’ room, a key fob for the harbor. DAMN!! DAMN!! They would not be able to check out without turning that in, or paying a hefty fee. Kids….grrrrr… Immediately I began trying to reach them, thinking maybe they could meet me at the airport, but no luck. I spent the first half of the taxi drive calculating whether I had time enroute to the airport to get back to the harbor, and the second half, after deciding to risk it, trying repeatedly to reach them.
At the resort, I leapt out the car to try and leave the key at the taxi hut, but was directed further into the resort to another desk. As I hurried down the walkway, around the corner came Liam and Tristan, happily dripping from hanging out in the crocodile pool. “What would you do without your mother?” I asked as I handed them the fob…but at least I got another good hug from each before they headed off to start the next leg of this Big Adventure.
