Day 13 : Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Dophins, Whales, Paddleboards and Margaritas

 

After a number of cultural and historical tours, we decided it was time to have a really fun day, so we signed up for a luxury catamaran cruise of Banderas Bay. The bay is a protected area, facing West, and mainly shielded from the elements, so it was the proverbial smooth sailing. We walked off the boat, went around the corner, and immediately boarded the cat. Easy! In effect, we left a big boat and climbed onto a smaller one. 

We sailed out of the docking area for the Mariner and straight into Bay. It offers a great view of the coastline of Puerto Vallarta - mainly hotels, shops and condos.

We'd been sailing for about ten minutes when the dolphins and whales appeared.


And for the next hour, we just had a marvelous display of the local sea life. The dolphins were playful and kept pace with the boat, while the whales seemed to be fighting and posing by slapping their flippers onto the water. The Bay is 3,000 feet deep in places and 26 miles across, making it the largest bay in Mexico and the third largest in the world - at least according to the locals (who knew?). For you geologists out there, the Bay is generally accepted as being the part of the "mainland" where the Baja Peninsula was originally connected millions of years ago. 

There were so many whales and dolphins that we stayed out in the Bay for an extra half hour before venturing closer to shore for some watersports. A few folks went swimming, and three of us (out of almost 40) decided to paddleboard. The boards were longer and wider than the ones I'm used to and turned out to be less stable. That may also be due to the margaritas, but I'll give myself the benefit if the doubt. My two companions sat on the boards and paddled, but I was foolish enough to attempt to stand. 


A few seconds later I'm standing up, and a few more seconds and I fall off. Rinse
and repeat four more times (a miracle, I did not lose my shades) until I finally managed a few minutes. Allison, of course, got some action shots, including a video of me coming a cropper on run #5. 


All in all, a great day on the water. Next up is Cabo San Lucas - and hopefully more wildlife and the iconic arch. 

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