El Careyes - Mexico - May 2021

 Most mornings we would wake up and go for a hike around the El Careyes property. It's pretty large -- I'm guessing about 800 acres or so. We learned that our location is reffered to as the 'Careyes Club' and it feels a bit like a hotel. Further north there are the 'Casitas.' The Casitas are brightly colored and are built on a fairly steep cliff overlooking Playa Rosa. Playa Rosa is the beach just north of the beach at the Careyes Club.

 Omakase Means The Sushi Chef's Choice! On Tuesday we learned that an outside chef comes to El Careyes a couple times per week to make sushi for the guests. So we made a reservation for Wednesday night. We sat down at 7 pm and we were the only people sitting at the sushi bar. So we had the chef's full attention. He recommended that we do the 'Omakase' experience, which basically means the Chef chooses what he puts in front of you. This turned out to be a great idea as Chef Luis created a fantastic on-the-fly menu for us. We spent about two hours there as he would place enticing morsels in front of us every 5 minutes or so. It's hard to remember all of the different types of fish we tried, but it was mostly Tuna, Salmon and Eel. Chef Luis is clearly a master sushi chef and the video below shows him searing a couple of Nigiri pieces of Yellowtail for us:

A 2 Hour Boat Trip Aboard The 'Sophia' On Thursday, May 27th we chartered a boat to go fishing, snorkeling and exploring around the Costa Careyes area. Jaime was our captain, along with his son, Alejandro and the boat was called 'Sophia' after one of Jaime's daughters. We left the shore of El Careyes beach at 9 am and headed south to some incredible rock formations and caves. The boat was a beautiful 23 foot skiff and the water was mostly smooth. It's amazing how unspoiled and remote the coastline is here in Careyes. There are very few developments along this part of the Mexican Coast. Here are a few videos of the incredible rock formations and caves we saw and also a brief encounter with a Sea Turtle: Later during the trip, Jaime put 4 fishing lines into the water and we cruised around until we got a bite. After the first bite, it was Austin's turn to try to reel in the fish. After a few minutes of wrangling, he was able to bring in a nice Barilete fish. Ne...

Getting into Vacation Mode . . .   Yesterday was our 2nd full day here at El Careyes. We started the day with a swim and some SUP'ing (Stand Up Paddling) around the various coves here. The ocean water is beautiful here and the water temperature hovers around 80 degrees or so, while the air temperature is in the mid 80's.  Bryce and I had a chance to play some guitar out on our porch and we really just took it easy all day.  Waiting for the Taxi to go to dinner at Punto Como Bryce is now, officially, the tallest After two nights of having dinner at La Duna, which is part of El Careyes Club, we decided to venture out to a local restaurant about 15 minutes away called ' Punto Como .' This is an Italian restaurant with a fair amount of Mexican food on the menu. It turned out to be quite good. We have been told that this is the off-season here in Careyes. That fact, combined with Covid, has meant that things are not as busy as they should be. There were only a few patrons...

We all woke up fairly late on our first morning here at El Careyes. The boys had breakfast at the main dining area and we all headed to the main beach after that. The private beach cove here is really gorgeous. The 'Vibe' here is not like a major hotel or resort -- it's much more relaxed and chill. We are trying to adjust to Mexico time. We had a great swim and all of us went out on stand up paddle boards. It's nice that all three of our boys are super comfortable on any kind of board, especially SUP boards! Austin and Bryce went out for nearly an hour and Austin went way out to the reef, which, of course, made us a bit nervous -- but he is an experienced Waterman so he was just fine. Here are some photos of the cove and some videos of the boys on their SUPs . .   Looking back at the resort from The Beach The Boys on Stand Up Paddle Boards (Video Below) We decided to have dinner again here at the resort. Prior to that, we had a glass of wine at our room, which is quite ...

 We left LAX on Sunday, May 23rd and arrived in Puerto Vallarta at about 3:15 that afternoon. We had a fantastically smooth two and a half hour flight on Alaska Airlines. The only issue we had was that it took us 90 minutes of waiting in line at Customs and Immigration at the airport. This was partially due to Covid restrictions as we had to prove that we weren't sick. We knew we were in for a long car ride from the airport to El Careyes and that was absolutely true! We had a great driver and a beautful Suburban, but it was a long, 3 hours on windy roads and when the roads straightened out, we went really fast! But we made it. This is our first time visiting El Careyes, so we didn't really know what to expect. After the harrowing 3 hour drive, we came upon a security gate, followed by another security gate. It's quite private and remote here. We had heard that the beach is secluded and beautiful and it sure is! We settled in and took a swim and then headed to the dining are...