Yelapa

Pulling into Yelapa

Puerto Vallarta and its suburbs fill the eastern edge of Banderas Bay, and the northern coast is nearly fully developed all the way out to Punta de Mita. The southern edge of the bay is a different story.

The panga picked us up on Madrone and dropped us off at the beach

Backed by tall steep mountains that make roads impractical, much of the south coast of the bay is only accessible by boat. There are still a few towns that occupy this stretch of coast, and Yelapa is one of them.

Heading up the trail towards the waterfall

Freshly back from our vacation in the BVIs, we left early in the morning for the 15 mile trip across the bay. Our friends on SV Luego also made the trip with some family that were in town, and joining us aboard Madrone were Jason and Jen from SV Danica and Brenda and Jeff from SV Adventurer (check out Jeff’s great videos on YouTube).

Some of the ‘locals’ we met along the path

Once ashore at Yelapa, we hiked inland through hand built houses and past horse and mule barns. Winding up through the forest, we eventually arrived at our goal – a 30’ waterfall complete with soaking pool at the base. What a surprise to swim into the clear mountain stream to feel the temperature of bath water!