Santa Maria is no more

katnsocal · Post by **katnsocal** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:31 pm

For anyone who ever went on or was planning on going on a cruise on the Santa Maria don't plan on going on it in the future. Last Tuesday a freak storm came through PV strong winds, big waves and rough seas. The Santa Maria was fully loaded with people when it's prop became entangled with a bouy off of Quimixto damaging its prop. The results were not pretty. It ended up breaking up on the beach at Quimixto but not before another smaller boat from Vallarta Adventures tried to assist them and ended up sinking. Luckily there were no major injuries but alot of people went swimming whether they planned on it or not.

Don't believe some of those PV experts who tell you the bay never gets rough.

teduardo · Post by **teduardo** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:05 pm

Wow!

Kat, Wasn't that the new Santa Maria? That boat wasn't very old was it?

And yes the bay can get treacherous. Hey Kat, remember that freak wind storm that kicked up in Oct '04? Man Oh Man, the freakin cruise ships were having major trouble, much less the excursion boats.

katnsocal · Post by **katnsocal** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:33 pm

Ted,

It was a catamaran but I am not sure how old it was. And yes I remember the wind in '04. Seems like I went down to the beach for a sandblast facial peel.

It looked like all those boats were standing still in the water at full speed ahead.

tojol57 · Post by **tojol57** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:53 pm

accent on the WOW and toss in an OMG!!!!

that is wild and terrible all in one fail swoop... mercy...

it is good that no one was injured or lost at sea.... not a good thing at all

Thanks Kat....

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:30 am

OMG!!!! I'm bringing my granddaughter down in June and we're going on a boat tour and now I'm more than a little apprehensive. That would totally freak me out!!! Is that a Scott's Tours boat? It seems like that's the name of the boat we were going to go on.

michelle/tyler · Post by **michelle/tyler** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:51 am

thats terrible but I am glad there were no serious injuries.

Trev086 · Post by **Trev086** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:57 am

I was in PV last Tuesday and the waves were huge inside the bay. The day started off cloudy and then turned sunny. I've never seen waves at the Westin that large, and have never had that strong of a wind. Thats unfortunate what happened, but i'm glad to hear nobody was hurt.

kcowan · Post by **kcowan** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:11 pm

sjl330 wrote:OMG!!!! I'm bringing my granddaughter down in June and we're going on a boat tour and now I'm more than a little apprehensive. That would totally freak me out!!! Is that a Scott's Tours boat? It seems like that's the name of the boat we were going to go on.

When any boat loses power, it is at the mercy of the waves. Don't be frightened. Bandaras Bay is pretty safe.

It is nothing like the dangers of taking a ferry in The Phillippines...

Jennybean · Post by **Jennybean** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:27 pm

Scott's Tours is a third party tour seller (like this site is) - they own/run no tours of their own.

katnsocal · Post by **katnsocal** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:50 pm

Hey accidents can happen, being able to say that no lives were lost and no major injuries says alot for the safety of the tour. I would not let it keep me from going on a tour in the bay. These freak things happen a couple of times a year (If there is a major storm in the area the harbor is closed and no boats are allowed out, but this just came up unexpectedly). As JB said Scott's tours is a 3rd party seller that sells for whatever tours have contracted with him to sell for them. Those are not "his" tours he is selling. You can buy the same tours online here and support this board. That being said, I did pull off a quick trip down to PV the end of Jan. and I booked my room through this board. Since I was only going for 5 days and 4 nights I didn't want to use an entire week at my timeshare. I booked last minute (one of those I gotta go to PV moments), and everything was great. So show your support and book through this board if it will work for you, it worked for me.

howard_jax · Post by **howard_jax** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:38 pm

If I recall correctly, we were all on my Balcony (Kat, Jen, Ted and some more) watching the wind and waves beating the heck out of one of the excursion boats.

This was one of them

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:02 am

I'm glad nobody was hurt and yes, I think it was just a freak accident. I still plan on going on our trip. Which Santa Maria was it? I've found three Santa Maria boats. Curcero Santa Maria, Yate Santa Maria, and the Pirate ship, Santa Maria.

My granddaughter wants to see a waterfall so we're planning on going on the Los Arcos, Las Animas, and Quimixto tour. Any recommendations on which one to go on? There are 2 available here at PV.net, both on boats called, Santa Maria. I'm confused, lol.

katnsocal · Post by **katnsocal** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:59 pm

The pirate ship is the Marigalante not the Santa Maria.

I believe the other two are/were one in the same. It is/was a catamaran that went to Los Arcos and Quimixto. Quimixto is where the prop was damaged, the boat ran ashore and was broken up by the huge waves from this freak storm.

katnsocal · Post by **katnsocal** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:03 pm

If I recall correctly, we were all on my Balcony (Kat, Jen, Ted and some more) watching the wind and waves beating the heck out of one of the excursion boats.

Nah Howard that was a figment of your imagination, remember I have it from a reliable PV expert that there are NEVER rough waters in the bay. That was the day I decided I could get a free facial peel if I stood on the beach.

Jennybean · Post by **Jennybean** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:06 pm

Didn't need to hit the beach Kat, if I recall the beach came up by the pool and hit us.

But of course the ever diligent and incredible staff at the Velas brought us all cool wet towels to sponge off the sand before we got smart and realized we could still get bar service in the suite. LMAO

Man what a storm that was though - the wind was incredible...you know it's bad when you see huge cruise ships refusing to move because the wind and water were so unpredictable!

Back to the original question - I think Kat covered it, the pirate ship is the Marigalante (internet info will often note it is a descendant ship of the Santa Maria, built from the original blueprints), and the trimaran SantaMaria is the one that sunk. There are pictures of it on the web if you Google "SantaMaria Puerto Vallarta".

I went on the original SM my first trip down - not much of a boat but lots of fun. It's in the graveyard now too I believe...apparently SantaMaria is NOT a good boat name in PV. LOL

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:52 pm

Both of these tours are sold here at PV.net and they look like different boats to me and they're both named Santa Maria. Was it one of these that broke up and if so which one? Or are they actually one and the same boat just listed 2 different ways? I plan on booking this trip before we leave if I can figure out which one to choose.

http://www.puertovallarta.net/tours/tou ... e=&option=

-http://www.puertovallarta.net/tours/tou ... tem&id=107 (not available at the time)

teduardo · Post by **teduardo** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:22 pm

I just went to the Crucero Santamaria website, and the name of the larger white boat is called Bahia Alegre, the tanish 3 level one is or was the Santamaria.

Mogens, You might want to check with them, I noticed another tour sales site has the trip as no longer available.

Post by **webmaster** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:42 pm

Thanks for that, contacted the tour guys and it was Yate Santamaria which I've now taken off the system, the id=107 tour.

Greetings

Mogens

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:40 am

Gracias Ted for explaining the difference. I look forward to our trip on the Crucero Santamaria-Bahia Alegre. I wish it was tomorrow!

Santa Maria is no more

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