We recently returned from a visit to Yelapa and we’d go for the palapa any day! Maybe it was the great company, maybe it was all the cultural magic we saw, maybe it was the scenery, maybe just maybe, this might be my new favorite place! Speaking of great company, we hosted Chris and Beth from San Diego for a week. It was quite a treat for us because they’ve been in this area before. They gave us the scoop regarding places to check out and introduced us to some new friends.
We stayed in La Cruz for their first night so they could get settled into the boat. The next day the conditions were good enough for a day sail and our plan was to go where the wind carried us. Much to our delight it gently carried us to Yelapa! Yelapa is across Banderas Bay and is equipped with mooring balls to attach your boat to.
We haven’t heard the greatest things about the mooring balls but the terrain underwater drops off so quickly that it’s almost impossible to anchor there. We took our chances and hooked on to a ball with some instruction from a local. We gave him the fee to stay two nights and took him up on his recommendation for dinner at the Yelapa Yacht Club.
The yacht club was hosting a special fundraiser for the high school folkloric dance team. With each donation they will be closer to their trip to San Francisco where they will perform. Of the 35 total students, 16 of them are involved in the dance team, how cool is that?! We watched in awe as the girls twirled their colorful dresses and the boys stomped in unison to the music. Some dresses take up to 25 days to create and the finished product was absolutely gorgeous! Part of the fundraiser was a couple of raffles. You’ll never guess who won a bottle of tequila…Skipper Brad!
The next morning we had a simple breakfast on board and geared up to hike to the waterfall. The hike is about 3.5 miles each way and we were escorted by a couple of local dogs. We named them Paco, Maria and Jorge. 
The path led us out of town and up the river. Scattered along the path were houses, animals, vibrant flowers and jungle. Chris and Beth even found a cute fixer upper! 
At the end of the trail lies a very rewarding waterfall. By the end of the hike you cannot wait to jump in! Not to mention, it’s free fresh water to “bathe” in ha! We all enjoyed our time swimming, sunbathing, resting and then it was time to make our way back to town. We worked up quite the appetite!
I learned that Yelapa is a popular yoga retreat destination…
Our stay was 2 nights and it was definitely time to go when we pulled out. Yelapa tends to get a bit rolly and we had our fair share of being rocked. We definitely plan to go back to this beautiful place in the near future! Thank you to Chris and Beth for recommending and sharing such a wonderful place with us!
What else have we been up to? Well we’ve been seeing a ton of whales…
Enjoying lots of sunrises and sunsets…
Doing a lot of fishing and a little catching…
Sydney has been doing plenty of fetching and lounging…
Speaking of Sydney, she has some words to say…Dear readers, I had the best hike in Yelapa! 7 whole miles of things to sniff, horse poop to roll in AND eat! I made a few new friends but Paco wouldn’t leave me alone- but boy did I miss him on our way back to town. He was my bodyguard against the local dogs, would you believe I got nipped by an ankle biter?! I tried not to let it show but I enjoyed my time with Aunt Beth and Uncle Chris. I even cuddled with them! Other than that I’ve been mostly unimpressed as usual. 
We hope that each of you are happy, healthy and well! Cheers from the crew of SV Perspective! 🤗