Mexico After the Ha-Ha

Sometimes we’re asked why we don’t schedule the Baja Ha-Ha for mid-November or later. The answer is because the early November weather along coastal Mexico is spectacular!

Ever since we left Cabo for Banderas Bay on November 9, we’ve had 90% clear blue skies. The daytime temperatures have been warm, but not uncomfortable, and it’s been ‘no sheet’ sleeping at night. As for the ocean temperature, the local dive shop says it’s been 88 degrees. We don’t doubt it, as it’s like stepping into a bathtub. Consequently, people are swimming and surfing from first light until after sunset. But the most fantastic thing about early November is that the jungle is as wild as it will get all year. Take a 10-mile ride from Punta Mita up to Sayulita, and you’ll see the thickest jungle you can imagine, with colorful flowers, huge butterflies and all kinds of wild bugs and insects. It’s gorgeous.

But had we not had obligations on Banderas Bay, we gladly would have continued on up into the Sea of Cortez for at least a month. November is a fantastic weather month in the Sea — except for the occasional Northers in some years — with warm water and, thanks to drenchings from hurricanes, the desert as green as it ever gets. If anybody cruising the Sea right now wants to send some photos, we’d love to see them.

The only downside so far has been the pervasive light winds and small surf. But hey, after the ultra-active Ha-Ha, muy tranquilo is just fine for awhile.

The most troubling thing about Mexico is the totally whacked out perception most of the mainstream media in the United States — and therefore most Americans — have about life down here. If you were to believe the media, every other person in Mexico is getting their head chopped off by a drug thug stepping out of a black Escalade, people are dropping like flies from swine flu, nobody has work because of fewer tourists, and the hurricanes wrecked all of Baja.

What a bunch of rubbish! Yes, there are drug turf wars in Mexico, most of them inland between Acapulco and Zihua, at border towns, and in certain areas away from tourists. Why away from tourists? Because drug lords are said to try to launder much of their money in tourist hotels and other services, and therefore don’t want those areas messed with. Worrying about getting killed in a drug turf war while cruising in Mexico is like worrying that some drug turf warriors in San Francisco’s Bayview District will kill you outside the San Francisco YC in Belvedere. We don’t know of any American who has been down here for more than a few months who doesn’t feel as safe, if not safer than, as in the States.

According to the press, tens of millions of people have gotten swine flu in the United States, and almost every school in San Diego had cases when we left on the Ha-Ha. We’re sure there must be some swine flu along coastal Mexico, but it hasn’t been a topic of conversation or concern, and the only people we’ve seen coughing and sneezing are tourists. Coastal Mexico is not a swine flu hotspot. And by the way, when we flew to La Paz last June, every deplaning passenger was checked for fever by a nurse with high tech forehead thermometers. We never saw that in the States.

As for the Mexican economy, it’s hurting like those of every other country. On the other hand, you just don’t feel the gloom like you do in the States. One reason is that Mexicans live simple lives and therefore don’t have mortgages and car loans. Plus, they are family-oriented and resilient, and used to being happy with little.

Nonetheless, we were surprised at the improvements we saw in Cabo. They finally redid the main road into town, dramatically improved the traffic patterns, and generally gave the place a good cleaning up. And the service people were super-friendly. Cabo may be living the ‘new normal’, but when tourism comes back, they will be ready to provide a really big bang for the buck in a great environment.

During a drive along the Vallarta Coast from P.V. to Sayulita, everything seemed lively except for the once booming real estate sector. There were not just new businesses opening up, but whole new areas. Folks with boats in Nuevo Vallarta, for example, can now shop at the spanking new Wal-Mart in Bucerias. In one disgusting development, somebody opened a Subway on the plaza in La Cruz. We normally wish that everyone’s business will succeed, but this is an exception. And for what it’s worth, some European just paid $55 million for a 17-mile stretch of coast at Cabo Corrientes, believing that in 20 years it will be the next Punta Mita.

As for the hurricanes in Baja, they clobbered the small town of Mulege and hit San Carlos/Guaymas on the mainland. But all things considered, the damage was relatively minor, as no big cities were hit. The only effect of the hurricanes on current cruising is that the desert is unusually green.

The bottom line is that both the Mexicans and cruisers seem pretty damn happy down here, and there’s joie de vive that been absent in the States for too long. So for all of you feeling pity for people in Mexico, please save it for where it’s  needed more. And if somebody invites you down to join them on their boat, it should be a no-brainer.

Upcoming events in Mexico:

• Thursday, Nov. 19 — Welcome to La Paz Baja Ha-Ha Beach Party at Papa’s & Beer from 4 to 7 p.m., sponsored by Marina de La Paz, Vista Coral Marina, the City of La Paz, Club de Yates Palmira, Marina Costa Baja and Club Cantamar. Free to the first 50 Ha-Ha captains and mates. For details visit www.visitlapaz.org.
• Dec. 1-4 — The Ha-Ha style Banderas Bay Blast, a totally free three-day, ‘nothing serious’ sailing event. It starts aboard Profligate on Tuesday night at Punta Mita with new Commodore Lisa Zittel reopening the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club. Lifetime membership is just $1, but you must arrive by boat and you must submit to a whack on the ass by Commodore Zittel with the carbon fiber paddle. No exceptions. Wednesday is the spinnaker run from Punta Mita to La Cruz, or for those boats in Nuevo Vallarta or Puerto Vallarta, from either of those places to La Cruz. There will be a super deal on berthing, plus the famous water balloon drop from the Sky Bar. Rather than eat at Subway that night, it will be street tacos — yum! — followed by live music and dancing at Philos. Thursday will be the seven-mile, upwind sail to Punta Mita, with dinner at the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club. Live music, of course! Friday will be the Pirates for Pupil’s Spinnaker Run for Charity, from Punta Mita to Nuevo Vallarta. While the event is free, it’s also a fundraiser, so give generously, please! The Banderas Bay Blast is a cooperative effort of the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club and the Vallarta YC.