Latitude 38 - February 2016-2017

CHANGES

larta and Punta MIta.

Hidden Beach truly is cool because it's inside a crater and you have to swim through a tunnel to get into it. In fact, you can't get in when the tide is really high or the surf is big because you bang your head on the top of the tunnel. But while the surrounding area is home to some tropical fish, rays and whales, it's not on the order of the Galapagos — or most places in the Caribbean. But that hasn't stopped the hordes. According to one official of the nature preserve, 4,000 people a day visit the beach during the high season, and 2,000 during the low season. And you thought Yosemite was being loved to death.

So many charterboat passengers want to get ashore that they sometimes have to wait as much as 90 minutes for their turn. While waiting, no music may be played and no alcoholic beverages may be consumed on the boats. And when you swim to the beach, you have to wear a bracelet that shows you've paid a fee, and an orange PFD. How can you free dive while wearing a PFD? You can't — which is the point. If this sounds heavy-handed, it is, but given the number of visitors it almost has to be. And if

Playa del Amor really is a cool place, but only if it's just you and your lover. It's not so fun when you have to share it with hundreds of others.

you see photos suggesting that it's just going to be you and your lover at Playa del Amor, rest assured that you have a better chance of being alone on a BART train at rush hour.

However, there is very good news for

RIVIERA NAYARIT TOURISTM

owners of private yachts. After getting a permit in downtown Puerto Vallarta, you can anchor overnight at the Marietas up to four times a month. But don't wait too long, because plans are already being formulated to begin restricting access to islands on certain weekends if not weeks, simply to keep it from being overwhelmed.

The other somewhat discouraging news is that some organization, believed to be Vallarta Adventures, has placed a very large dolphin pen outside the anchorage at Punta Mita. We can only assume that tourists will be brought out to the pen in high-capacity boats so tourists can swim with the captive dolphins. Currently Vallarta Adventures has a swim-with-dolphins program in Nuevo Vallarta. Vallarta Adventures activities are very popular and highly-rated, we'd just prefer that they, as well as everyone else, stay out of the trapped-mammals business.

UPDATE: After three days and a major uproar from locals, the pen and mooring balls have now been removed.

We have to admit that we swam with dolphins in a pen during a Big O cruise

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Page 98 • Latitude 38 • February, 2016

IN LATITUDES

of Cuba about 20 years ago. It was a terrific experience, but one we nonetheless have misgivings about.

Good friends Barry and Sylvia Stompe of the Sausalito-based Hughes 48 ketch Iolani report they've completed a 16- day doublehanded passage from French Polynesia to Hilo, Hawaii. The couple love delicious and nutritious food, so they've been enjoying the produce market at Hilo.

"Hilo has a lovely veggie market every day, with Thai and Hawaiian farmers selling great fruit and veggies," reports Sylvia. "So after more than two weeks at sea, we've been eating well. However, the fish prices are quite a shock after French Polynesia, where we paid $2.50/pound for yellowfin tuna fresh off the boat. We're thinking the only fish we'll eat is that which we catch ourselves on our way up to Hawaii. We landed two dorado, which was nice. We also hooked a massive yellowfin, but after Barry played it for two hours, the fish got off. I'm not sure how we would have been able to land it, much less eat it all, so perhaps it's for the best that he got away."

We'll have a detailed report on the

Iolani's adventures in next month's Changes.

A heart attack on the boat in the marina at 4:30 a.m? The Wanderer had been having a dream — he thinks it was a dream — in which he was having a difficult time breathing. When fully awake, he wasn't sure if he was having trouble breathing or not, although he wasn’t having any other obvious heart issue symptoms. But at age 67, and having recently lost his dear, dear friend Philo Hayward to a heart problem, he decided not to take any chances. He popped a couple of children's aspirin, took a bit of Xanax, and told Doña they were going to 30-minutedistant San Javier Hospital in Nuevo Vallarta just to err way on the side of precaution.

They arrived at the immaculately clean San Javier Hospital at 5:30 a.m., and the Wanderer was immediately tended to by several staff members, one

The Sausalito-based Hughes 48 'Iolani' in the turquoise Bora Bora lagoon. We can't think of a sweeter place to do laundry!

of whom quickly hooked him up to a machine to check his blood pressure and pulse. Moments later he was taken to see a doctor, who immediately gained the Wanderer's confidence. Already this was the antithesis of too many US hospital experiences.

After going over the Wanderer's pretty clean medical history, he was taken to a modern and absolutely clean room with a bed where he was given an EKG by a combination of three very kind nurses.

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February, 2016 • Latitude 38 • Page 99