Brightnest Returns: Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

Today is one of those intensely sunny days in the tropics - another astonishingly beautiful day in Mexico.  My Pacific Northwest eyes clearly haven't adjusted yet.  On my walk to the crocodile slide pool, I slowed down to take it all in - the shivering coconut palm fronds set against a clear blue sky, bright green banana plants, red bougainvillea, hibiscus and a variety of pink and orange tropical flowers (that I did not know the names of) shaking in the ocean breeze.  I didn't take a picture of any of this. But I did capture the essence of the crocodile pool.

The crocodile slide pool.  These slides are fast!

When we sailed Brightnest into Paradise Village marina a week ago it represented a milestone:  in 2019 we bought her in this very marina, and three years later, she was returning, from Seattle! The dock hands helping with lines, as well as the diver we hired later to clean the bottom, all recognized her.

I didn't grow up spending any time in resorts, and it occurred to me that I've spent more time in resorts over the last few months than I ever have in my life.  That's because many marinas are also resorts.  The only thing to do is roll with it!  You must be resilient, and flexible.

Beach palapas for everyone!

Brightnest's return to Nuevo Vallarta wasn't the only reunion.  I also met up with my old buddy Miguel from Peace Corps.

We've seen a lot of shit.

A well established cruiser community is present throughout Banderas Bay, including Paradise Village.  The local yacht club held a speaking event by a captain who had lost a boat, requiring deployment of the life raft to save the crew.  After her harrowing tale, one of the cruisers had donated an older life raft to deploy in the yacht club's pool.   It's not often that you get a chance to see a life raft deployed, so I've posted the video here:

Before coming in to Paradise Village, we anchored several nights out at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, where we enjoyed the active cruising culture referenced above, which includes a daily cruisers net on VHF channel 22, and many activities, from movie nights to yoga to guest speakers.  We also treated ourselves to an authentic German schnitzel dinner (satisfying the part of me who is still a military brat who lived in Germany).

Jen doesn't eat schnitzel, but she loves the sides of spaetzle and cabbage.  Nice with a glass of wine.

Authentic schnitzel, with a weizen bier, no less. What a treat!

And how could we not enjoy wandering the chill streets of this town?  We heard music from the beach as we strolled down this little palm tree lined dirt road.

We lucked out that we were scheduled to be in Paradise Village directly after departing La Cruz, because our windlass choked and failed as we weighed anchor.  We managed to get the anchor up, but knew it had to be top priority to get it repaired or replaced in PV.

The windlass.

Stay tuned for the results of that mission, it involves bringing the windlass motor from St. Croix, USVI!