Final hours at the Iberostar, and the trip home

After our diving and whale-watching trip, we came home to the hotel to shower and have lunch. Neil had a nap -- not me, for a change!
We were treated to a great sunset, which we watched from the rooftop lounge, while we listened to the music of an Indian wedding party. It was warmer than it had been, and the sunset lingered.

Eventually Kevin joined us, after work and a trip home to freshen up. We met Kat for dinner (she had also been home and even done some laundry, now that the hot water was fixed!) and lingered outside the lobby bar for a while, with drinks, and did some serious people-watching. So many different people, all ages, origins, languages and attitudes. The large wedding party of Indo-Canadians certainly added to that.

Friday's adventures meant that we slept soundly. Saturday morning, we did most of our packing, then met K&K for breakfast, then packed some more. I went down to the dive shop and hung out with Kevin, who was not very busy just then.  Neil came along, a bit later.

The turtle and birds were calm. 

There were preparations and music all over the hotel for the big wedding.

I wanted to take a picture of the hummingbirds that visit these lovely flowers, but they were too shy.

The pelicans were wave-skimming.

We went to the room to close up suitcases and await the bellhop to take them away, Kat came back from town, and gave us a lovely Christmas present, the first 2 t-shirts she's having made. We get the slightly-imperfect, one-of-a-kind ones, which is special!

Back down to the dive hut, because Kat had to man the desk. So we said our goodbyes to her there, and Kevin drove us up the hill in the noisy dune buggy. Then we waited some more, till the bus came. The traffic flowed well and we were there in good time.

Colourful whimsy along the road

Puerto Vallarta airport was pretty calm, and check in was easy, although we had to pay for our third bag (Air Canada: why not on the way south when it was so heavy?). We had some lunch at a nice restaurant called Wings, and made our way uneventfully to the gate, though miles of shopping opportunities. Once we were ready for takeoff, I saw this odd configuration of planes on and near the runway.

It was a bit cloudy and we were on the wrong side to get pictures of Kevin's beach, but it was clear over most of Mexico: so dry, mountainous and empty-looking. There were many lights twinkling through the American Midwest.
Toronto: walking, baggage, walking, customs, walking, and finally, the plane to Ottawa.  Cynthia met us, and so did the snow. Just a light snowfall and less than a centimeter on the ground. And we slept in our own bed last night. Laundry, unpacking, buying a Christmas tree and groceries... back to Real Life.

 It was a lovely trip!

Dive Day! (Friday)

Finally, we had calm seas--calm enough, anyway. We packed gear and ourselves into the truck (Kevin riding Mexican-style in the back!) and headed over to the harbour at Punta de Mita. It turned out the boat captain thought he was picking us up at the hotel, but he returned quickly and we loaded everything in. And by "we", I mean mostly Kevin and Kat. Neil and I hoisted a couple of small bags and ourselves.

My new underwater camera worked well. We all remembered how to dive (Kat hadn't been out in months.) and the dive site was beautiful and very fishy. Kevin took us through a swim-through and as we came out, I saw a ray (probably an eagle ray) but no one else did and I didn't get its picture.

Here are a few of the better pictures.

After our dive, we did some whale watching, but only had one brief sighting of a pair of them.  

Kat always looks great while on whale safari!

The point, Punta de Mita.

Days 3, 4, 5 and 6 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)

Actually, it's all a bit of a blur. The days here are sunny and cloudy and windy.

The food is very good. The drinks are included/free. Seeing K&K several times a day is great.  On Monday evening Neil and I went to the ROCK show, which was rather lame, although there were a few good singers.

On Tuesday, Kevin did our pool-check for diving, and we did a written test, too, kind of testing the refresher test. We are good to go.

The waves were still pounding on the beach day and night. By Wednesday, so many stones had built up they were using machinery to move them. They scooped them from the beach front and dumped them at the foot of the erosion points on the dunes

I walked down the beach to K&K's house, and the tide went out as I walked there and back, which was pleasant.

I also amused myself by adding to my tropical Christmas decoration collection:

The little tree at the dive shop.

On Wednesday evening, Kevin and I went to the Mexican Folklore show, which was lively and colourful. For each show we only stayed about an hour.

By Thursday morning, lots of stones had returned and a man with a rake and few with small shovels were trying to clear the beach so the lounge chairs could be put out. The backhoe came back and moved some....Black or red flags have flown over the beach most days, and the beach was closed off with yellow tape. Very discouraging.

On Thursday it was our intention to have a family dive day (or half day) so we got up relatively early and saw this sunrise. But it was still wavy, windy and cloudy, and I was feeling a little ill, so we postponed. But on the way to breakfast I captured this lovely sunrise. Kevin and Kat had lots of work to do that day, with new guests in the hotel to talk to about diving and excursions, so it worked out well.

In the evening, after a sunset so cloudy it really didn't happen, we went to the fancy restaurant, the Pacific Express, which is built in the style of a grand old European train.  Here are pictures from the Iberostar Star magazine:

The food was excellent, but we didn't make a long night of it, because of our planned dive day in the morning.

catching up: days 1 and 2

Hi everyone,
It's December 17 and we are in the Iberostar resort hotel at Playa Mita. We came to visit Kevin and Kat, as well as enjoy some sunshine, swimming and diving.
We arrived on Saturday evening, having left Ottawa quite early in the morning. There were time changes, plane changes, customs lineups, a 40 km bus ride, etc., plus the plane ride itself (from Toronto to Puerto Vallarta is 4 or 5 hours). So it was almost dark when we arrived and it was raining quite heavily. We asked at the desk where Kevin & Kat might be, but they weren't found quickly so we came to our room.
Kevin had been here earlier and arranged a Happy Birthday banner on our bed, and added festive flip flops for each of us, and whale pictures, too. Soon they appeared and we had some beer from the minibar and made some plans. When the luggage was delivered, we unpacked items we had brought for them, especially books for Kevin. Quite a bit of catching up to do, even tho we had seen them recently, in October.  We all went to dinner in the main restaurant.

On Sunday, K&K had planned a day off, away from the hotel. Their new truck can't take 4 people, so they rented a car (quite a process!) and we were on our way by 10. Kat thought we should stop at McDonald's for "second breakfast", so we did. It's in a pretty plaza on the north side of Puerto Vallarta and there was a Christmas "tree" and crèche.

 

Then our journey took us through downtown Puerto Vallarta... and lots of traffic... and out the southern end, to go around the Bay of Banderas. We stopped to watch waves and butterflies.

 

We made a stop at Boca de Tomatlan where K&K expected to show us a lazy river wandering through a sandbar, but instead we were treated to big muddy waves. The beach restaurant was friendly tho, and the drinks were cool.

 

Moving on, up and down medium mountains (up to 700 metres above the sea), we went as far as the little town of El Tuito, where we walked around the main square, admired the Christmas decorations, and had a local lunch, complete with a drink of an alcohol similar to tequila, and some fresh, fresh lime lemonade.

 

El Tuito is a tiny town. From this corner, you can see the town square and, turning around, the end of town. It reminded me of Echenevex with barns in the centre of town.

 

 

That was the far end of our explorations for the day. We returned to the Botanical Garden and spent an hour or so admiring orchids, bromeliads, and other exotic native plants, with good explanations. Neil and Kat took some excellent pictures. These are mine.

 

 

I was intrigued by this stone creature

curious about these curios in the gift shop,

and amused by this "sign" on the bathroom wall (Caballeros side, of course).

 



 

It was getting to be sunset time, so we headed for a fancy restaurant/bar called Le Kliff, where the architecture was impressive (it's built right on the rocks and into the cliff), the drinks were lovely and the sunset perfect.

 

But the Christmas tree was unimpressive!

 

Back through PV and to a steakhouse near the marina. Wonderful service and great steaks! Then we strolled along the marina and saw some lesser yachts (the larger ones were farther from the eyes of wandering tourists). On the sidewalk, we encountered this lovely cecropia moth.

 

 

Kevin drove us carefully and swiftly home to the hotel and we went to bed very happy. A lovely day! All our thanks to K&K, because it was our birthday treat!