Exploring PV

Been getting a lot of good use out of our rental car these last few days, exploring all of the little beaches to the north of us as far away as Playa Chacala - about 50 miles up the highway. All of them pretty, and each of them reminding us very much of "Old Hawaii"...probably the way it was back in the 50's or 60's.

Sunday morning we headed the other way into Puerto Vallarta and walked around the city for a few hours before grabbing lunch in a small local place just off the Malecon, which is their pedestrian thoroughfare along the waterfront - very pretty on a sunny morning - especially before all of the other touristas descended upon it for the midday stroll.

Been seeing some beautiful sunrises (and sunsets) from outside our back door.

The Malecon early on a Sunday morning. 

It really is a pleasant walk - goes for about a mile along the seafront in Viejo Vallarta, with lots of statuary and displays like this that make for good photo ops. It's not just the tourists that turn out on sunny weekends either. There were lots of Mexican families enjoying the day as well - including two that we saw with their young daughters out posing for pictures in formal gowns after church...apparently it was the day of their Quinceanero, or combination 15th birthday party and "coming out" celebration. 

Don't know the story behind it but this seems to be the symbol of Puerto Vallarta - at least it's the image that you see plastered all over the place. 

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or the "Church of the Crown", is both a local landmark and the heart of Old Town in PV. 

Been out snorkeling a few times but without much luck until today when we found a pretty little hidden cove way off the beaten track where the water was actually clear enough to see something. Although the beaches are uniformly gorgeous, with lots of golden sand stretching for miles, there doesn't appear to be an offshore  reef  as is the case in Hawaii. There are Humpback whales here, however, come down from their feeding grounds in Alaska to give birth to the year's calves before heading back north in a few months. While I was out the other day there was one not far from me offshore. Every time I dove down or put my head underwater I heard a chorus of whalesong...so close a couple of times that I popped to the surface to have a look around, thinking that she must have been right next to me.

Been enjoying the car so much that we've extended it an extra couple of weeks, both to continue exploring and just to more thoroughly enjoy some of our earlier discoveries.