La Cruz - Banderas Bay

This is the cruisers hangout in Banderas Bay, just 15 mile from Puerto Vallarta at the head of the bay. We anchored the first night just outside the marina along with 20 other boats, all but two were sailboats. There was a blow forecasted so the next day we moved into the marina. The town of La Cruz is an old village with some nice restaurants that cater to the gringo boaters. We took the 30 minute bus ride into PV and walked the malecon along with all the other tourists.

Busted!
We rented a car for a day to run to Costco and the grocery store to do some major provisioning and along the way I got stopped for speeding. I was doing 55 kph in a 40 so he had me, no argument. The police had radar set up on the side of the road and as I went by the policeman stepped out and flagged me over to the side of the road. He was very polite, asked for my id and I gave him my WA state drivers license. He told me the rules were that he had to keep my license until I went to the station, paid the fine and returned to him with the receipt. At that point I knew I was in trouble. What if I returned and he was not there? I would never get my license back. I explained to him that it was a rental car that I had to return it the next morning and because it was late in the day I might not be able to get to the station and return before he left. He said that I could pay the fine to him but he did not have receipts. The fine was 870 pesos, about $65 USD, so I gave him the money and he smiled, handed me my license back and reminded me to obey the speed limits. The ticket costs more than the rental car did for the day.