Grateful After Hurricane Willa, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Wednesday, October 24th, 2018)

Willa finally made landfall last night, south of Mazatlan as expected.  We are so grateful that Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan were both spared from the brunt of this tremendous storm.  We do feel sorry for those that were effected by the storm.

And this morning we woke to blue skies for the first time in days!

Puerto Vallarta is getting back to normal today after several tense days of waiting.

The boats are coming back to the taxi stand.

The clean up is beginning.

The sandbags are being emptied.

The sidewalks are being cleaned.

Yes there is concrete under there somewhere!

The Rio Cuale is still high, but definitely coming down.  We are now able to see it from the ocean side again.

The boards are coming back down.

The mud is being swept out.

It was fun to walk up the Malecon and see how resilient this town is.  Hurricane Willa was a small inconvenience here in Puerto Vallarta, because the people really didn't let it slow them down.

While we were on the Malecon, we stopped in to the Bar Oceano Restaurant for some traditional green chilaquiles with chicken and coffee for breakfast.  We have been missing it.  And you just can't beat this restaurant for good chilaquiles!  Thanks again for the referral Cyndi and Dennis!

The view from our table isn't bad either.

After a wonderful breakfast, it was time to get back out there and enjoy the beautiful day.

I think the pigeons are even enjoying the day.  There is a pigeon perched on almost every palapa.  It must feel good to dry out and warm up.

And as we return to the hotel, things are looking much more normal again.



We're so grateful that Hurricane Willa was somewhat kind to Mexico!

Hurricane Willa, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Monday, October 23rd, 2018)

We have been through one other hurricane in our lives, and that was hurricane Eduardo about eight years ago in Playa Del Carmen.  It was only a category 1, so we really don't know what to expect with hurricane Willa (currently still a category 4).  This was our personal watch center last night.  😓😲

 

We had rain all day yesterday, and just kept waiting for the wind, but it never came.  I'm not kidding, no wind, not even a breeze.  So we went to bed last night with our important bags packed, just in case we had to evacuate wondering when it would hit. This happened to us last time when we were in Eduardo, so we decided to be ready this time!

It's Monday morning now, and hurricane Willa has passed us, and is still heading north in the Pacific.  It has not made landfall yet; that is expected to happen tomorrow morning (hopefully south of Mazatlan).  And as of this morning, still no wind.  None!

We decided to go out and take a look now that it is safely past us.  Since there was no wind, we are really not expecting much damage, except for maybe from the rain or storm surge.

Our first glimpse across the street from our hotel.  Definitely some storm surge.

All of the beach front restaurants are completely empty.  Probably a good choice on their part.

Where the umbrellas used to be on the beach, there are only sticks. 

The waves today are just mesmerizing to watch!

Up from the beach there is sand and debris everywhere. There is concrete under there somewhere!

Some stores are flooded even after their efforts to sandbag.

There is caution tape at every beach entrance.  Cross the tape and you get to try on hand cuffs for size. We saw a couple surfers getting this treatment!

We couldn't get near the beach side of the Rio Cuale, so I took this picture from the bridge a few blocks up.  It's really flowing.

Thank goodness for the sea wall along the Malecon!  The waves have still thrown rocks the size of bowling balls over the wall and onto the walkway.

Preparing for Hurricane Willa, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Monday, October 22nd, 2018)

Hurricane Willa formed quickly off the Pacific coast of Mexico.  It  grew to a category 4, then briefly to a category 5 before calming a bit back to a category 4.  

You never know what a hurricane is going to do, so the town began preparing for whatever Willa had in store for us.

The crazy thing is how calm it is today.  I guess this is what they call the calm before the storm.  It looks more like a day at the lake  than a day on the Pacific Ocean.

There are usually about 50 boats anchored out on this section of the bay, but they are all gone.  There is one dinghy still out, but that's it.

All of the outdoor tables, chairs and umbrellas have been removed from the beach.

They are also starting to board things up.

The Rio Cuale at it's usual level.  We'll see if there are any changes after the hurricane passes.

Packing up the furniture.

The clouds laying behind the north part of the city are beautiful!

This is usually full of tables and chairs.  Only the permanent palapas still remain.

They are completely taking the Manta Mar Beach Resort apart.

Sand bagging and boarding it up too.

It is never calm by the sea horse statue.  Except for today...

It is so calm that it is eerie!

El Dorado Beach Restaurant is ready!

All of their outdoor furniture is gone as well.

Manta Mar Beach Resort later in the day.

Higher up in town they are even sand bagging along the streets.

We've heard that the bay offers Puerto Vallarta protection from the big storms, but they are taking a lot of precautions anyway.

We don't know what this storm will bring for us, but we will wait it out and see.