Gold Coast of Mexico

It's called the Gold Coast because it includes some of the most peaceful and picturesque anchorages between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. Our favorite was Careyes.
A three lobed bay, Careyes is a tropical paradise complete with clear water, sunshine and a beautiful cruiser friendly resort. The only drawback was the swell in the anchorage. It was small and surrounded by rocks. After a little test for Liz and Mark in setting two anchors we were sitting pretty and gazing at the beaches which were mostly deserted. We ended up staying a few days but we never did sleep too well seeing waves breaking over the nearby rocks. This place was wonderful though and worth the extra anchor and little anxiety. The first lobe of the bay is an old abandoned Club Med. It is very dilapidated and we renamed it Club Dead. A sandy unspoiled beach that I am sure saw some wild parties in its day! The middle lobe where we were anchored was Playa Rosa another pristine beach with one lovely palapa restaurant. An amazing path up the cliff led us to the third lobe and the Careyes Resort. The resort is a hotel and condos but the best part is the path. As you start up the hill you are suddenly in an Italian Village surrounded by flowers and trees winding your way through villas painted every bright color. The resort itself was serene but expensive. $17.00 for a hamburger... but even if you did not partake in their expensive menu they welcomed us to sit and enjoy. The pool was refreshing and the view was luscious. The cliffs surrounding all of these beaches are covered with huge mansions many of them for rent. In his fluent Spanish, Mark sweet -talked one caretaker to give us a tour. Above are some pictures from this place. Spectacular. The other big fun in Careyes was the polo match. It seems that this part of Mexico is home to many Italians and one man in particular who owns the hotel decided to build a polo field in the middle of nowhere. We thought we could not pass up this opportunity. One night we hired a driver who drove us to the polo match where we were educated all about polo by the owner of the field. Really cool and then to top it all off there was an Italian restaurant by the polo field where we had dinner with a couple from Minneapolis of all places, that we had met at the match.
There are tons of picures above.