We hoped to see a manta, maybe dive or snorkel with sea-lions and heard about encounters with whalesharks, we had good reports on the hotels we were going to be staying at, but this trip to Mexico exceeded all our expectations!
Baja California sea lions
Flying in from Brussels with CityBird was our first treat. Business Class at an affordable rate proved a welcome luxury, especially for Mirjam, at the time almost 6 months pregnant. We spent a night in Puerto Vallarta at the Hotel Molino de Agua, which has nice rooms, a beautiful garden and we think the pools are nice once the renovation is done, but the front desk staff wasn't too friendly. We had requested a late check out and this had been confirmed by email. However, nothing was arranged and it proved to be rather costly to get a late checkout anyway.
Sea horse at Puerto Vallarta Esplanade
The next day we flew from Puerto Vallarta to La Paz, this being not straightforward as there aren't any direct flights. In La Paz we stayed at Hotel Mediterrane which is everything already mentioned by others in newsgroups and the like: fine rooms, friendly atmosphere, helpful staff and nothing fancy: basically very good holiday value for money. La Paz is not very touristic, just the way we like it. Very laid back atmosphere and great restaurants and food stalls.
La Paz, Mexico
And then we had the day of our lives: Guillermo (affiliated with the hotel) took us out on a private trip to the sea-lions, but hey, there had been whaleshark sightings a lot lately, so why not try to meet one of those giants? And why not meet 5 or 6 and hey, why not throw in a couple of manta rays as a bonus. And no reason why we shouldn't be snorkelling with sea-lions as well. It takes a few days to get over the excitement of all this! Emmy loved it too!
Encounter with a whaleshark near La Paz
This is how big they are!!
We spent about an hour searching for whalesharks, about two hours snorkelling with them and mantas, then a picnic lunch, an hour snorkelling with the sea lions, short stop at the beach so Emmy got to play with sand and then another hour swimming around whalesharks and mantas.
Baby Manta
BIG Manta
We spent five days in La Paz. The last day we rented a Volkswagen Beetle and toured around to find rough countryside, some beautiful beaches and lots of cacti. Along with excellent meals every day - and we just love Mexican food - we were left with the true holiday feeling before we left for Puerto Vallarta again.
There we had reservations in what turned out to be a bath of luxury. At the mouth of the Mismaloya river this is a true paradise hotel and barefooted t-shirters as we are we didn't feel out of place at all.
Mismaloya
The pool at the hotel is just great and with Emmy we could easily spend a day just there.
Emmy dives into the pool at Hotel La Jolla de Mismaloya
Puerto Vallarta itself was far too crowded, American oriented and dirty for our taste, but the diving was good. For more detailed info on our diving, check the dive pages!
Night dive at Los Arcos
After another week prompt service by CityBird took us back to the real world again: cold, rainy weather and work!
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