I spent last week taking a much-appreciated post-Tiger, post-WWDC vacation in Puerto Vallarta. Highlights included an excellent day-long sail/snorkel cruise to the Marietas Islands at the edge of Banderas Bay, and a personal backcountry Jeep excursion with a very animated and knowledgeable guide.

If you're heading down there and prefer to be accessible via taxi/foot to the Old Vallarta area instead of secluded in one of the self-contained, all-inclusive resorts, the Villa Premiere Hotel offers a nice yet not exhorbitant place to stay. (More pictures of the place here and here.) Hilda at the Premiere's tour desk was fantastically helpful and set us up with the aforementioned, much enjoyed tours.

This PhotoStitched panorama pretty much sums up the view from our room. Not having opted for one of the more expensive suites, I was pleasantly surprised to find that apparently all the rooms in this hotel have full ocean views:

The hillside behind the hotel is no less enchanting. And the Andariego (far left corner of the foreground intersection) was conveniently among the many great restaurants we enjoyed. (Go prepared: They're quite generous with the after-meal samples of the tequila that they happen to also sell by the bottle...)

Wednesday was the day of our snorkel tour. Our ride to the Marietas islands was the iron-hulled 68-foot former racing boat Isis. The Pegaso Charters crew provided a fantastically fun experience; I'd go on another cruise with them anytime. These folks took the same trip 3 years ago, to what appear to be the same islands (though they refer to them as the "Amicus"), and have more pictures of the excursion than I managed to take.

On Thursday, we took a bus ride up to the amazingly picturesque Playa Las Gemelas near Los Arcos. The views south and north from there were among the best of our trip. (The southward view, with its rugged green hillsides, reminded me a more than a little bit of Kée Beach on Kauai.)

Top that off with couple of perfectly rotten Puerto Vallarta sunsets, and you have a spectacular week away from it all:

The shot below includes a glimpse of a nightly tourist spectacle: the accompanied-by-fireworks passing of a replica of Columbus' Niña past the main oceanfront boardwalk (Malécon).

Alas, every good vacation must eventually come to an close. The consolation prize for leaving Puerto Vallarta is a rather nice aerial view:

Great memories!