PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO. The most popular T-shirt here is a sign of the times.
“BE CALM. You’re on the FUN side of the wall.”
It gives you an idea of how residents and visitors of Puerto Vallarta feel about the never-ending discussion of wall building to the north. International arrivals at the airport tell us still more. Despite of being slandered as a nation of thieves and rapists, Mexico draws visitors from all over the world.
Just over a million people flew into PVR in 2014. By 2017 the number had risen to 1.5 million, with the figure expected to be another 2 percent higher for 2018. According to Puerto Vallarta Realtor Bill Taylor’s long-running newsletter, condo sales more than doubled between 2015 and 2018. Cruise ship dockings continue to increase.
The time of falling knives
The last time I wrote about Puerto Vallarta was in 2008. Back then I was looking at what appeared to be a shortage of millionaires for a multitude of condos. Hundreds were coming to market in beachfront skyscrapers with names like Shangri-La, Grand Venetian and Portofino. As in America, there are more things Tuscan in Mexico than there are in Tuscany.
Those condos were falling knives to catch during the financial crisis. But the average reported selling price today gives some indication that the Puerto Vallarta real estate market is like the U.S. market, well recovered. Maybe a little too recovered.
Rentals, when available, tend to be pricey.
Why we’re here
We, however, aren’t here for the condos. Nor are we here for an active, inquiring vacation loaded with cultural enrichment. No, my wife and I go away to escape the grayness of winter. Our goal is to do as little as possible. Other than dawn and sunset, we have no schedule. Still, we manage to walk over 10,000 steps before the sun is over the virtual yardarm.
If that sounds good, then I’ll take another step down the travel-writing trail and suggest that you consider the Westin Resort and Spa. This is our third stay here and our sixth in Puerto Vallarta.
Strategically placed with miles of beach hotels and condos in one direction and the marina entrance in the other, the Westin offers everything we look for in a vacation. Start with a lovely view of the mountains and Banderas Bay. Add a great view of boat traffic in and out of the harbor and an abundance of nearby restaurants and shops. Plus what may be the most lovely pool and grounds you could find. What more could you want? Our stay here, including all taxes and an excellent breakfast for two every day, clocked in at $300 a night.
Sadly, this may not continue because the hotel has announced plans for partial conversion to timeshares in the next few years.
Then and now
I love drinking in the beauty of this place – the hotel, the beach, the mountains and the old town. But it’s also changing in a way that you would not notice unless you have visited many times.
Our second visit to Puerto Vallarta, more than 20 years ago, was a family trip. We brought our four young adult children (and spouses for the two that had recently married). I chartered a Catalina 42 sloop for a day as a treat for the eight of us. We departed from the marina to explore the bay and see Los Arcos.
Luxification of the marina
Back then the Catalina was one of the larger boats in the marina. Today it would be on the smallish side, outnumbered by much larger powerboats. All the aging boats that brought up thoughts of “Captain Ron” are gone.
The marina has been upgraded to high-lux standards with an eye to attract and keep The Big Ones, the four deck mega yachts that cost millions and require a paid crew of four or five to run. (More if the owner serves a lot of hors d’oeuvres.) Some of these boats are relatively small, perhaps 80 feet long, but others are well over 100 feet.
The only truly small boats I see are the tenders and service boats for the megas, often raised at night to go into the “garage” that modern mega yacht have in their sterns.
It makes me wonder: Where are all the people’s yachts?
Just as Fred Schwed’s 1940 book “Where Are All the Customer’s Yachts?” asked how it was that the brokers had the yachts, not their investing customers, you have to wonder.
What happened to the boats that actual people, the kind who still work for a living, own?
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Letter from Mexico: In Puerto Vallarta, Condos-are-US,” 4/11/2008
Sources and References:
Bill Taylor’s TriStar Rentals http://www.tristarrentals.com/index.html
Vallarta Lifestyles https://vallartalifestyles.com
—————————————————————–
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo: Scott Burns, View from the 11th Floor, 2019
(c) Scott Burns, 2019