Puerto Vallarta is located off the west coast of Mexico in the state of Jalisco, one of 30 Mexican states. Puerto Vallarta is built on 25-mile Banderas Bay and along the Sierra Madre mountain range. The city is divided into three major parts: the northern hotel and resort region, the Old Town and the Rio or River Cuale, and Playa de Los Muertos region. The Old Town section is the most charming part of Puerto Vallarta with its red-roofed white buildings along cobblestone streets. Puerto Vallarta's Banderas Bay (Bay of Flags) attracted pirates and explorers as early as the 1500's and was used primarily as a stopover for the crew to relax. Puerto Vallarta was essentially a hideaway for the rich and famous until 1963 when John Huston made the film Night of the Iguana and started the transformation of this once sleepy village into one of the most popular resorts of the Mexican Riviera. Today, more than two million tourists visit Puerto Vallarta each year.

We were looking forward to visiting Puerto Vallarta again to compare it to when we spent a week here in 1993. Unfortunately, another cruise ship took our assigned dock area which meant we had to tender to shore. Since we cannot do tenders, we had to stay aboard and from what we could see, Puerto Vallarta is no longer the quiet little town we remember.