Pureto Vallarta Report

[bigbuck]

We got back from Puerto Vallarta on Friday. Great trip, great place. I'd recommend a trip to anyone who wants a nice vacation spot, whether you want to relax, sightsee, party, have kids etc... The weather was to die for, high 20's every day, sunshine and no rain. We got out deep sea fishing for a 4 hour trip for yellow tail tuna. We saw around a 100 or so dolphins playing on the surface, schools of tuna (too many to count) 3 Manta Rays, and a calm sea in Banderas Bay (2-3000 ft deep). I wanted to go for marlin and sailfish but nobody wanted to go for an 8hr minimum trip so I took a hit for the team. We ended up catching 2 yellowfin, mine was around 25 lbs and my buddies was around 22. Great fight!!! We trolled a lot pulling live bait, plastic squids, Rapalas but what produced was chasing down a school and tossing a baited hook in front of them. The tough part was getting close enough but not spooking them. We ended up being on the water for over 6 hours and the captain had no problem with that. We gave him a $50 US tip and he was thrilled.

A trip to a Tequila factory was educational and fun, it's the first time I was able to do a shot of Tequila without vomiting. What you buy here (Jose Cuervo) isn't for sale anywhere there. It's all small producers up in the mountains and their stuff is great. We brought back a couple of bottles of flavored Tequila that make for nice liquers.

My wife and I went on an adventure on the local transit system, a rickety old bus with tassels inside, Mexican music playing (right out of a movie scene) into Puerto Vallarta (our resort was 40 mins north near Bucerias - a quaint little town). A cab ride would have run us over $30 each way, the bus ran us about $5for the both of us. We had fun bartering for some tourist trinkets and trash and had a great lunch before we headed back to the resort.

There is lots to see and lots to do. We barely scratched the surface and will go back.

[manitoubass2]

We got back from Puerto Vallarta on Friday. Great trip, great place. I'd recommend a trip to anyone who wants a nice vacation spot, whether you want to relax, sightsee, party, have kids etc... The weather was to die for, high 20's every day, sunshine and no rain. We got out deep sea fishing for a 4 hour trip for yellow tail tuna. We saw around a 100 or so dolphins playing on the surface, schools of tuna (too many to count) 3 Manta Rays, and a calm sea in Banderas Bay (2-3000 ft deep). I wanted to go for marlin and sailfish but nobody wanted to go for an 8hr minimum trip so I took a hit for the team. We ended up catching 2 yellowfin, mine was around 25 lbs and my buddies was around 22. Great fight!!! We trolled a lot pulling live bait, plastic squids, Rapalas but what produced was chasing down a school and tossing a baited hook in front of them. The tough part was getting close enough but not spooking them. We ended up being on the water for over 6 hours and the captain had no problem with that. We gave him a $50 US tip and he was thrilled.

A trip to a Tequila factory was educational and fun, it's the first time I was able to do a shot of Tequila without vomiting. What you buy here (Jose Cuervo) isn't for sale anywhere there. It's all small producers up in the mountains and their stuff is great. We brought back a couple of bottles of flavored Tequila that make for nice liquers.

My wife and I went on an adventure on the local transit system, a rickety old bus with tassels inside, Mexican music playing (right out of a movie scene) into Puerto Vallarta (our resort was 40 mins north near Bucerias - a quaint little town). A cab ride would have run us over $30 each way, the bus ran us about $5for the both of us. We had fun bartering for some tourist trinkets and trash and had a great lunch before we headed back to the resort.

There is lots to see and lots to do. We barely scratched the surface and will go back.

 

Sounds like a great time!!! My pops goes every year and loves it too. I have never been, but maybe in the near future.

 

Catching tuna sounds like a blast

 

This part made me laugh as well, thanks for that.

 

 

 

[tonyb]

Sounds like a great time ,I've only been once but would like to return someday. The nice thing about Puerto Vallarta that many may not know is that the entire town is on city water that is purified. It makes it less of an adventure to dine out at one of the mainy quaint local restaurants knowing that the risk of encountering contaminated water away from the resort is greatly reduced.

 

Definately one destination that you could realistically just book accomodations and then visit different restaurants throughout your stay.

[lew]

Welcome home Bruce, good to hear the trip went well !!

 

Sounds like it was alot of fun.

[MSBruno]

We're headed there Dec 31.

 

Looking for a charter. Who did you book with? Would you book again?

[Joey]

Sounds like fun

[Fang]

By the time I get home, my wife may have booked to PV. Taking down 2 heavy spinning outfits for beach casting. Will definitely be doing a 6 hour deep sea trip or 2.

[bigbuck]

Fang, book an 8 hour trip for the big stuff, for tuna, a 4 hour would be fine (we went with Captain Pachis on the Marsol out of La Cruz). I booked the trip thru Scott's Tours (transplanted Canadian) in Bucerias. www.vallartatraveladvisor.com 329-298-1312 Let him know that Bruce from Oakville sent you. He's a no nonsense guy and absolutely hates all the Timeshare guys that are there. A lot of the tour operators are timeshare companies in disguise. They will all tell you that it is a 1 - 1 and a half hours, it's more like 3-4 hours of your time if they hook you into going to a meeting. One guy offered us a free tour up to the Predator Film site (remember Arnie's flick), only problem, he never mentioned that it has been closed for almost a year now and is dismantled. They offer lots of freebies but losing half a day of your trip to save $50 isn't worth it. Once you get off the plane, you have to run the gauntlet of timeshare reps to get to your bus that will take you to your hotel. They will try to delay you until you miss the bus and then you have to listen to their shpiel. PM me if you need more info. Bucerias is a real Mexican town and will give you a good idea of what Mex is really like. There is a whole whack of vendors when you first walk into the town and then you get into the town proper, lots of little restaurants and bars to have a nice ice cold Cerveza.