Yelapa-bound

Tom takes the helm on the sail to Yelapa

The first time we visited Yelapa, we enjoyed (and sweated through) a long hike to spa-temperature waterfall and Madrone had her first brush with fame. There’s more to the town than just the waterfall, though, so having visitors in town presented a perfect opportunity for a return trip.

Uncle Tom enjoying the downwind spinnaker ride

Yelapa is on the south side of Banderas Bay, which means that the prevailing northwest winds provided perfect conditions for a downwind spinnaker run. After a leisurely morning of swimming and paddleboarding around the Punta Mita anchorage, we hauled the anchor, motored about 5 minutes to clear the anchorage, and hoisted the sails. Sure enough, the reliable afternoon thermal wind turned on around 1pm, and off we zoomed.

Exploring Yelapa on foot

The small bay in front of Yelapa is very steep – depths are nearly 100′ just 40 or 50′ off the beach – so visiting boats typically tie up to one of the moorings that are conveniently positioned right in front of town. These moorings are run by the beachfront restaurants, and they’re happy to ferry folks ashore in a panga – not surprisingly, the drop-off point is right in front of the restaurant so that it’s an easy choice of where to eat.

These guys are the local pickup truck- hauling cinder blocks to a construction site across town

A journey into the town of Yelapa itself is a trip back in time. With no roads into town, access is only by boat, atv, horse or mule. Electricity came to town about 10 years ago, but it’s still a rustic village. There are no real streets, but paths wind up the hillside and between houses. Vendors wander the paths to sell wares to the folks who come over on the tour boats from Puerto Vallarta, and fishermen line the beach working on their nets or servicing the large outboards on their pangas.