We arrived in Bucerias on the 24th after a very quick ride, courtesy of a kamikaze taxi driver who ultimately overcharged us. A nice term for ripped us off. We never seem to learn. We could write a book on the “dos and don’ts” when travelling, but God forbid we would follow our own advice!
We then met up with Kristina and Lucy at the Royal Decameron Resort, which we had booked for 7 nights. The days have really flown by.
The days were like vacation days are supposed to be. Breakfast, lather up with SPF, then hit the beach by 10:00 am; lunch at around 1:30; a little R&R and technology time; shower; meet at the beach bar around 5:00 pm; drink; head to the next beach bar at 6:00 (the first one closed at 6:00); drink a little more; and then head out for dinner. We did actually walk into town one day, and it was stifling hot away from the beach, with semi-hurricane-force wind at the beach—but refreshing, save for the intermittent sandblast.
When Joyce and I first arrived, we were early and our rooms weren’t ready, but we were assigned rooms in the furthest building from the water. There was a nice pool, but no sea breeze, and it was hot. So, after asking nicely to change our rooms, we were treated nicely and rewarded with rooms steps from the beach, on the second floor in Block #4, with a pool and ocean view—and what we thought was probably the best location in the whole complex.
The food was good, the sun was hot, the beach was nice and the waves kept Lucy (and me) busy.
Next stop was Puerto Vallarta for 5 days, where we went back to the San Marino Hotel, where Joyce and I stayed a couple of weeks earlier. It’s an affordable, three-ish-star all-inclusive popular with Mexicans, right on the beach at Los Muertos Pier and in the heart of Old Vallarta, Zona Romantica. We snagged two renovated oceanfront rooms on the seventh and eighth floors and proceeded to do what you do at the beach. The food was not bad: less selection than at a popular resort, but fresh and varied. Kristina said she would definitely go back, and we would also, but don’t go with a five-star expectation. It’s relatively small but nice, and you mix with the locals, especially on a Sunday at the beach, and it is close to everything.
We looked into booking a snorkelling trip in Bucerias, but didn’t trust the huckster trying to sell us timeshare BS on the side, so we waited until PV to organize it. We ended up with a private boat for the four of us and headed out to Los Arcos for some so-so visibility among a fairly large group of tortilla-fish-feeding foreigners, floating among several boats all jockeying for position around the buoyed-off snorkelling area. But this is what you have to expect in a heavily touristed area. It was still great, and we saw fish and travelled the shoreline on our way there. We were able to get a really good perspective of the beaches and small resort areas lining the coast.
All good things must come to an end, and so we bade the ladies farewell on April 5th and headed to our next destination…
