2016 Puerto Vallarta - Day 5 - Ocean Grill

November 16, 2016

Today, we woke up to a lazy morning.  I got up and grabbed my laptop and worked an hour or two.  There were some things to do at the office.  It was nice to work outside as the mornings here are pretty nice.  I worked on my computer as the crew showed up to work on the building going up next door.  It is pretty amazing to watch these guys climb the rebar towers they are creating getting ready for cement to be poured.

At 9:30 AM, we went back to the 'orange' bus...the only bus that takes you south towards Mislamoya. Only this time, we were going to the end stop of Boca de Tomatlan.  What a beautiful place that is...as small harbor.  There we waited for the boat to take us to the Ocean Grill.  It picked us up at 10:45 AM. We had a reservation for 11 AM.  They have 3 settings...11, 1 and 3.  The two latter times were already booked out...so we had to go with the 11 AM one.  But boy...pretty neat.  The place sits over the water in a cove around the corner from Boca de Tomatlan.  The menu was pretty simple.  We ordered Ceviche...which was so good...with chips as a starter.  Denise ordered the Catch of the Day...which was Red Snapper.  And I ordered their specialty....Octopus.  It was buried in an olive sauce.  I was in heaven.  It was a pretty unique experience.

After eating lunch, we walked back to the very small beach in the end of the cove.  Boats were constantly coming in and leaving.  Some were water taxis bringing a small number of people.  But a couple of times, tour boats came in for people to snorkel and play around.  They brought a ton of people.  Nonetheless, Denise hung out on the beach and I went out snorkeling.  The snorkeling was better than I thought it would be.  Lots of coves where the waves were crashing into the rocks.  That caused the water to bubble a lot.  But down deep...pretty clear its lots of sea life.

We met some folks there, believe it or not, from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  It was cool to visit with them.  It is a small world sometimes.  At about 2:30, we headed back to the restaurant to catch the boat back to Boca de Tomatlan.  There we caught our 'orange' bus back to our condo.  It was a fun morning and afternoon.  

At the condo, we just relaxed.  We did get a chance to FaceTime with both Ashley, Dustin and Kerri for a few minutes.  It was great to see them.  For dinner, we headed down to 'Derby Burgers'... Which was recommended by Armando...our security guard.  He grew up in San Diego and he said it iis the best burger he has ever eaten.  Well, it was huge and very tasty.  We both said that we should have shared a burger.  But it was too late...so we just ate both of them.  Not good.  We got the burgers to go and ate them up on the roof of our building.  That was fun.  Last night here....but we're ready to go.  So ready we did two loads of laundry!  That sounds odd...I know.

It has been a great trip.  We fly home tomorrow at 4 PM through SFO.  I hear we might be going back to snow.  I only have shorts.  It could be a cold ride home tomorrow evening.  Oh well....we'll be glad to be home.

Pictures...

Our orange bus....we have taken this 4 times this week round trip......

The bus did get crowded a few times...and quite hot.

Waiting for the Ocean Grill Water Taxi to retrieve us....

Water taxis at Boca de Tomatlan....

On the pier...waiting....

Our purple water taxi cometh.....

About a 10 minute ride around the corner to the grill....

Ocean Grill.....pretty amazing.  The floating dock there had a hammock that you could swim out to and lounge in.

The restaurant....looking out into the water.

They provide you with icy towels...which felt so good.

My meal....octopus.

After eating, they had a lounge area with comfy couches to relax in....

Snorkeled extraordinaire!!!  So darn much fun...I love it.

The small beach and cove by the restaurant....you can see me walking out to sea to snorkel.

Our water taxi driver.  He had his son on board.  Cutest little guy you'd ever see.  There to help his Dad finish his day.  

Hamberguesas on the roof.......nice way to close the day out.

2016 Puerto Vallarta - Day 4 - Scuba Diving

November 15, 2016

Today is the day we came down to Puerto Vallarta.  It is scuba dive day.  Travis and Mackenizie are to arrive at 10 AM here and then we were to meet in Mislamoya to meet our Dive Master.  Travis and Mackenzie said they would call us once they were in port.  At 10:10 AM and having not heard from the kids, we decided to go get on our bus and head to Mislamoya.  As we travelled on the bus, Travis called and said their boat had arrived.  He had messed up the times.  The times he was given on the boat was MST....but PV is on CST.  They were on hour behind us.  Nonetheless, after a long nice visit with Mark, our Dive Master, they showed up.  We all loaded up in a boat with a young man and an older guy.  The young guy was going to be our dive master for the 2nd dive.  They were all so patient with our tardiness.  Denise asked if she could pay to get on the boat...and Mark said it would be great...just leave a nice tip instead of paying him.

Upon getting on the boat, we started out when Travis yelled out...'I left my GoPro on the hood of the truck.'.  The tour operators immediately swung the boat around and headed back to shore.  Mark jumped out and ran to the truck.  He was surprised, he said later, that it was still there.  Travis was lucky.

We then headed out to Los Arcos....two big rocks that have arches that you can pass through.  We didn't swim through the arches...but that was fine as we headed out to a wall that drops 1.5 miles into the ocean.  It was pretty cool. The visibility was average.  But, sea life was plentiful.  You looked up and you could see so much sea life floating around.  Chris, the young man, he grabbed my fin and pointed out a large sea turtle, probably about 80' down.  We were at about 60'.  Anyway...both dives were tremendous.  I love it.  I must say, I was nervous doing it again.  But once I was in the water...it was all coming back.  Now I cannot wait to do it again.  Where next?  We need Brent and Ashlye here.  We need Dustin and Kerri to get certified and come too.

After we concluded our dive, we asked Mark to take 3 of us into town where Denise and I are staying.  That is all his truck could take.  Beau and I caught a bus there.  We wanted to show where we were staying and give them a tour downtown.  We went up to our swimming pool on the roof and swam for awhile.  We then came down to the condo and got cleaned up.  After asking around, we decided to go back to Pepe's to get tacos again.  The kids wanted to do that...so we took them there.  We walked there...about 1+ miles, following the Malecon.  It was hot and muggy.  But it was fun.  We all ate a ton of tacos.  I think Beau and Travis each had 6.  I had two tacos and a quesadilla.  All very yummy. 

After we were done, I put Travis,  Mackenzie and Beau on a bus headed to Walmart knowing that it would get them close to the Cruise ship.  After texting and waiting a bit to hear....they made it.  In plenty of time.  Denise and I caught a bus and headed back thinking we knew the right bus to get on.  But once we got into the old town, the bus took a turn east when we thought it would go west.  Another American sitting there started to question where it was going.  We all three figured we needed to get off.  And we did.  We struck up a conversation with this fellow and guess what...he was from Murray, Utah!  We about fell over.  He was there visiting his God children.  He's been down there a lot.  He really loves it down here and says he has a hotel that costs hardly anything.  It was nice to meet him.  We stopped off at the OxxO to get some water and then hit our panaderia to get some pastries for breakfast tomorrow.  And then we went back to our condo to relax the rest of the evening.

Another fun day...so good to see our kids here in PV.  Wish we could have seen others that are on the cruise ship.  That would have been fun.  But it sounds like they are having a great time!

Pictures....

Travis, Mackenzie and Beau....

Getting gear on and going overboard!!!

Life cannot be better....

Boys without their suits....suits are in the dryer.

Preparing the 'Al Pastor' meat....it is stacked layer by layer.

Trav and Mackenzie at the pastry shop....

Beau practicing yoga on the Malecon....

They ate 12 tacos between the two of them....better than Taco Bell!

2016 Puerto Vallarta - Day 3 - El Canopy, Malecon Walk

November 14, 2016

Another nice day in paradise.  We had another lazy morning although the workers for the building going up outside our balcony were there bright and early.  Not enough that they woke us up though.  Our breakfasts now consist of the bakery goods that we get each evening before retiring.  I, well, I always find some chocolate milk somewhere and use that to wash down my 'healthy' breakfasts.  

Today was 'El Canopy' day.  Zip lining across the jungle where the movie 'Predator' was filmed.  I had booked this tour online before coming down here.  I think there are a few zip line options...but the price was right...two for the price of one on this day.  It started with us meeting our driver just two blocks from our condo building.   We walked there a few minutes early and watched the surf come in.  We then boarded an open air truck bed that ended up having about 11people in it.  That was our group.  We had some folks from Crimia, Chicago, Guadalajara and Houston.  All very nice and fun to be with.

The ride was about 45 minutes south...same route as we went the day before down to Mislamoya.  At Mislamoya, we then turned east, passed through the 'town' of Mislamoya and up a dirt road for about 20+ minutes.  It takes about 25 minutes to get to Mislamoya.  We passed the Vallarta Zoo (really odd looking) as we wound up a very bumpy dirt road.  The driver called it a 'Mexican Massage'....if we would relax.  It was jungle like territory.  Eventually we ended up passing through some doors that reminded me of Jurassic Park doors arriving at an area where a restaurant was on the river.  There we were outfitted with our harnesses and helmets.  We were given some instructions on how to stop ourselves...which was much different from the zip lines we did in Playa Del Carmen.  Nonetheless, we did a couple of small runs to practice and then we started hiking up the mountainside...stopping along the way to zip across the canyon.  It was pretty cool.  I was a sweaty mess by the time the zip lining finished.  Our bus driver indicated that we had an hour to relax, eat at the restaurant or swim in the river.  I chose the latter of course.  I was hot.  And the waterfall coming into the river was too tempting for me.  The river water was awesome.  A bit cold at first.  But then it felt great.  There were fish everywhere.  I wondered if they were piranhas at first!   :-)  Anyway...it was a great trip.  We really had a lot of fun.

After returning to the condo, we showered and relaxed a bit.  We did FaceTime with Ashley, Cassidy and Karlie.  We are going to try Dustin later this evening if he is not working.  It was great to talk to them.

At about 3 PM, we decided to find Pepe's Tacos.  A place highly recommended to us.  Now you'd think it was a 5 star restaurant, the way it was recommended to us.  Oh no...it is a street taco, hole in the wall place.  We decided to give the bus system a whirl.  And with GPS...it is easy to know when to get off the bus at the right time.  Let me tell you, those tacos were awesome.  90 cents per taco.  We ate, drinks and all, for under $10.  Pretty good stuff.  Yummy.

We then decided to walk the Malecon...their boardwalk that is full of bronze statues, shops and restaurants.  It was a nice walk.  It was about a mile long.  And yes...we were so sweaty when we returned.  But no worries, the night completed with a nice dip in the pool upstairs as we watched the sun go down on our day.  Pretty great times...no complaints here at all.

Tomorrow....Scuba Diving with our kids at Los Arcos off the beach of Mislamoya...should be fun.

Pictures....

Leaving for our zip line adventure in the back of a truck....

Our Mexican Massage vehicle....

All set to fly through the jungle!!!

One successful ride...with Predator waiting to jump me!

Denise had the guide ask if he could cross with her....so they went together.

Good times...lots of fun for both of us.

After the zip line adventure...a nice dip in the river!

Happy campers.  They put these stripes on our cheeks trying to make us look like warriors....Denise's have washed off.  Mine are still there...kind of.

Predator(s).....

Downtown Mislamoya....I almost booked an AIRBNB room here!

Guess who sales Real Estate in PV?????  

Pepe's Tacos....one plate minus three tacos.  One to go!  Yummy!!!

The stacked meat on the skewer.  They refer to this as 'Pastor'....and it is the BEST!  You can see the pineapple on top that they add to the taco after they carve the meat off.

Pepe's place.....5 star dining at its best in PV.

Denise on a corner just up from the beach....

The north entrance to the Malecon (Boardwalk).  We walked this for about a mile.

Bronze statues line the Malecon.  This ride, to me, looks uncomfortable!

Last weekend they had a street art festival.  The works were amazing.  This is one of the more colorful ones.

Los Arcos...a mid point on our walk on the Malecon.

PV and two of its tourists...

This is what is going on just outside our window and balcony.  Great view!

A great end to our day...on the roof, in the infinity pool watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  Pretty nice.  Beats work all to heck..... :-)