There's no such thing as a bad day fishing!

Our next guests were John’s son Andrew, his wife Samantha and their son Wild. As a side note, Andrew and Sam just had their first feature film, which they co-wrote and co-directed, released in the US. Their film, “Love Me” stars Kristen Stewart and Steven Yuen.

They flew down to Puerto Vallarta from Topanga, California to relax a bit from working on their next screenplay and after surviving the Palisades fires.  (They had to evacuate but luckily, their home made it thru).

Anyhow, about an hour before their flight, Andrew calls and says that Wild is sick and wants to know if they should still come down. Andrew said he just wanted to give us the option since another ‘older’ family friend doesn’t like kids to visit when they're sick (elementary graders carry so many germs). John said, “We’ve had our shots, so come on down!”

We had planned a bunch of adventures for them, but with Wild hacking and coughing, several things were out. So, everyone just chilled…seems like that’s a recurring theme of our time in Mexico this year.

However, one thing Andrew and John were excited to do was go fishing. Wild seemed to be getting better so we decided to do it.

A few days before they arrived, we were in the town of La Cruz, which is near us. Nancy saw a group of people sitting by the dock talking. With her dauntless ability to talk to anyone, she approached and asked if anyone knew a fishing captain who could take us out. Wouldn’t you know it, one of the men owned three boats and took people out fishing and whale watching. His boats were smaller and had some shade, but the biggest drawback in John’s mind was the departure time was 6:30 AM.

When Andrew and family arrived, we told them about the 6:30 departure. You could tell that it was a little early for a young boy coming off an illness. So, John began looking for another boat. Googling around he found a larger boat with a cabin that left at 8:00 am.

That Saturday we headed out on a nice 28’ fishing boat toward Marietas Island, which is a volcanic island near Punta de Mita.

Marietas Island

The boat had a sound system and the captain was playing some rap music. Andrew asked him to change it to some cool classics with songs by Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald.

We were trolling along with three lines in the water when the first fish took the bait. Wild was up as the first to reel in the fish. The 'young man and the sea' fought valiantly and were rewarded with a nice size Bonita.

Andrew and Wild catch a monster!

Andrew was next up and caught a pretty big fish called a Toro, like “Bull.” The mate told us that only poor people eat these types of fish and he said he would give it to someone he knew.

El Toro!

Nancy came next followed by John.

Sam decided it was fine relaxing on the boat and didn’t need to catch any fish. Wild got tired early.

Ready to head in

To John, the best part of fishing, after actually catching fish, was eating lunch. John’s dad was an avid fisherman, fishing off the Jersey coast to catch bluefish, flounder, and other sport fishes. When John and his brother, David, went along, the best part of the day was when they cracked open a beer and ate ham and cheese sandwiches on good crusty Italian bread. And, for desert their favorite TastyKakes (like Hostess only way better)! Anyway, John had packed the lunch that included jambon (Spanish ham) and Manchego cheese sandwiches on super crispy baguette-like rolls. This plus a beer makes any fishing trip better.

Beer and a sammie...pura vida!

A few days later, our next outing was to El Cora Crocodile Sanctuary. Wild is really into snakes and reptiles. He wants to be a herpetologist when he grows up. The sanctuary is a couple of kilometers up a dusty dirt road a few miles outside of the upscale Flamingo Beach. The sanctuary is devoted to caring for all types of native and non-native animals. This video, while a little breathless gives an overview of the sanctuary.

Our final day with Andrew and family was a brief trip to a small coastal town called San Pancho. After a nice lunch and a visit to the beach to watch the surfers and the pelicans, we headed home. The boys, being boys, had to stop along the highway for a little pit stop.

Boys will be boys

And any time in between with Andrew and family, was spent at the pools in our complex and just snacking and relaxing. ( there’s that word again….relaxin’)

Boom! As soon as they left, we got Wild’s illness. Even though both of us had flu shots, we came down with flu-like symptoms. We were supposed to have another couple join us the following Thursday, but because we were sick, they decided not to come until that Saturday.

Carl and Kate are friends from the east coast. They visited us in Portland last summer and decided to come down to Mexico for a brief vacation before meeting up with us. Because we were sick, they were only with us for two days. We, of course, had to take them to Margarita on the Hill for our last dinner there.  Unfortunately, by the time they got home, Carl was sick too.

Carl and Kate (before illness)

Well, all good things must come to an end…three months wintering in Mexico and we’re ready to go home to rainy cold Portland. So, what happened? We touched down in Portland to a sunny 76° day. Our neighbor Liz picked us up and said it was a mild winter in Portland.

Oh well, we still had a good time in sunny Mexico.

Join us for our next adventure when we…………..?

Until next time,

Nancy and John