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Mexico Boating Guide
15
Isla Isabela
to
Punta Mita
Between Mazatlán and Punta Mita (Banderas
Bay), we’ve found 6 stops on this 180-mile voyage:
Isla Isabela (frigate and booby preserve), the sheltered
port of San Blas, its sidekick Matanchén Bay (summer
surf city), coco-palm clad Chacala Bay, and in flat
weather Guayabitos Cove (Jaltemba). Of these, Isla
Isabela and Chacala are more interesting.
NOTE: If you plan to visit Isla Isabela, we
suggest you try to pay the $2 fee at SEMARNAT in
Mazatlán or PV before you go to Isabela, or promise
to pay it as soon as you get back to the mainland, due
to reports of snafus at San Blas.
ROUTE PLANNING: Mazatlán to Punta Mita
Between Mazatlán and San Blas we found nada
for yatistas. In fair weather, we angle SSE offshore
to visit Isla Isabela (86 miles), then ESE to close
with the coast at San Blas (39 miles) for fuel and
provisions; total 125 miles. Isabela has 2 small
marginally sheltered anchorages (S and SE sides), so
it’s OK for light prevailing N winds of winter and
spring, but not sheltered enough in a Norther, and it’s
wide open to S wind.
San Blas straight to Punta Mita is about 47
miles SSW. If you stay coastal, this leg is about 55
miles. The Nayarit coast is fragrant jungle, hillier
as you move S. Chacala is an interesting overnight
anchorage; Guayabitos Cove (Jaltemba) is marginal.
Pacific SW swell unsheltered by the Baja peninsula
is possible in shore.
Crossing: To cross the Sea of Cortez to San Blas
from Las Frailes on East Cape (200 miles), a stop
at Isla Isabela (at mile 160) may allow a daylight
entrance at San Blas, and you’ll need to avoid coming
within 20 miles of all the prison colony islands, Las
Islas Marias.
In hurricane season, this stretch gets tropical storms
from the S and evening chubascos rolling down from
the Sierra Madres. Avoid it in late summer or transit
quickly nonstop.
Isla Isabela
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Isla Isabela lured Jacques Cousteau here 30
years ago to film the rare frigate nests and a pristine
underwater habitat. Today, tiny Isabela (281’ volcanic
peak, not a mile long) is a National Wildlife Preserve
managed by the University of Guadalajara. Volunteers
built an unmanned observation shelter SW of the
panguero village on the S end. Grad students spend
their vacations studying and protecting 500 frigate
and booby nests all over the island. Children of all
ages are moved by this rare interaction.
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15 Isla Isabela to Punta Mita
Visitors
are
welcome
ashore, but don’t touch the
nesting trees (10’ to 15’ tall)
nor any birds or nests. Don’t
approach birds mating, nesting
or feeding their fuzzy nestlings.
Male frigates puff their huge
red neck sacks. Blue-footed
boobies have amazingly blue
legs and feet. Brown boobies
have lime green patos.
Dogs and cats aren’t allowed
ashore, but if Fido needs to go,
visit the E beach with a poop
bag to remove hard evidence.
Approach: Coming from
Mazatlán’s Isla Creston, angle
SSE (about 149°M) for 86 miles
to approach Isla Isabela’s SE
side. We avoid the NW, N, NE
and E sides, due to dangerous
submerged reefs and buoys
among and just outside the offlying Isla Pelón (bald) (GPS
21°51.42’N, 105°53.57’W)
close NW of the island and
Las Moñas (mannequins) off
the E side. A breaking rock
field spreads a third of a mile
square just S of Isla Pelón.
The mild current generally sets you W; spring
tides are 4’ or less.
Our GPS approach waypoint 21°50.4’N,
105°53’W is .75 of mile SE of the nav light, just S of
the cove on the island’s S side. Isla Isabela Light tops
a hill on the island’s SW corner.
Caleta Isabela (South Cove)
The cove on Isabela’s S side is less than a quarter
mile wide. Its E interior reveals the collapsed S flank
of the island’s primary caldera, and a lava-flow reef
shields a tiny W lobe.
Impinged by rocks on both sides, South Cove’s
main lobe for anchoring is only 240 yards wide. For
one or 2 boats, it’s open to swell from any S quarter,
but heavy N or NW wind makes it too rolly. A steep
cliff at the head of the cove shows distinct red and
black folded bands and provides the shelter, but avoid
rock-fall at the cliff base. We anchor just outside the
middle of the cove in 20’ to 25’ over sand between
rock patches.
NOTE: Avoid a dangerous submerged (depth 5’)
rock pinnacle a few hundred yards SSE of the rocky
arm that separates the 2 lobes. Several boats report
hitting it.
Village Beach: South Cove’s tiny W lobe is
Frigate chicks are fed by both parents.
Nests are just above head high.
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Mexico Boating Guide
framed by a lava flow (great tide pools) that limits
the entrance to all but pangas and dinghies. The coral
and lava beach fronts seasonal Isabela Village and
gives access to the frigate observatory and Crater
Lake. Isabela Village gets propane and medical
care monthly from San Blas. Navy patrol boats stop
frequently.
Observatory: Land on the SW end of Village
Beach. A path zigs up through the main frigate
rookery (dozens of low trees bearing frigate nests at
head level) then up to the shelter roof and observatory
hill. Iguanas sunbathe on the steps, hoping to be fed.
Each frigate and booby nest is numbered, so
volunteers with binoculars can record how many
eggs, when they were laid and hatched, how many
times a day the fuzzy white nestlings are fed, when
they become fledglings, first flight, etc. If student
volunteers are here, they welcome food and water
donations.
Crater Lake: The path N from the village leads
past the open latrine to Crater Lake (not potable).
Las Moñas (East Side)
Las Moñas at
Isla Isabela is the
preferred spot.
NOTE: When moving
around the island’s SW tip,
give a wide berth due to an
off-lying rock that breaks
only occasionally.
Las Moñas: Isabel’s
E side is dominated by 2
twisting rock spires (150’
tall) called Las Moñas (the
Mannequins, meaning women’s dress-making forms)
that lie 200 yards E of a sandy beach (“dog beach”).
Seasonal aquaculture buoys float within a mile E of
the Moñas, and a research shack is on a cliff W of the
Moñas.
The statuesque Moñas are fairly deep close to;
we sounded 22’ on the N side, 10’ on the W side, 9’
on the S side, 40’ on the E side, and 6’ in the pass
between. We usually anchor S of the Moñas in 20’
to 30’ over shallow sand, coral rubble and then rock.
If you’re well set, this is good shelter in N and NW
wind, usually less rolly and constricting than Caleta
Isabela. However, a yate was lost recently when it
dragged into Las Moñas.
In calm weather, boats anchor a bit farther SE in
40’ and deeper sand. Some anchor on the 10’ sand
shelf between the Moñas and dog beach for quick
access to the middle of the island.
All around the Moñas is good snorkeling, colorful
corals and reef critters. A rocky shoal immediately S
of the beach juts 50’ offshore for more snorkeling, but
the S end of this shoal breaks. By dinghy, it’s half a
mile between Isla Isabela’s
2 anchoring spots.
Each
time
we’ve
been here, the reported
anchorage on the island’s
W side has been a mass of
Panga village on S side
of Isla Isabela below
frigate nests.
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15 Isla Isabela to Punta Mita
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surge and backwash. We love this remote island, but
if the WX is not right for a stop, it’s safer to push on.
San Blas & Matanchén
San Blas, Nayarit (pop. 8,500) is a small shrimp
port a mile up the Rio Pozo estuary, rebuilt since
hurricanes of 2003 and 2004. Offshore catches are
marlin, sailfish, dorado and corbina. Snook fishing
in the estuaries is picking up, but most yatistas enjoy
the nice Pemex pier and good local produce.
However, San Blas estuary, San Cristobal estuary
and Matanchén Bay have bighting jejenes for 2 hours
around sunset if the wind quits. Locals taught us to
burn dried coconut husks like incense as a natural
insect repellant.
Huichol women sell fantastic beadwork in the
plaza; it’s very collectable. Just outside town, ruins
of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its bell
tower atop Cerro San Basilio are immortalized by H.
W. Longfellow’s final poem, The Bells of San Blas.
La Tovara is a fresh-water spring to have lunch.
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SAN BLAS
Matanchén
Bay
breakers
Matanchén Bay is 4.8 miles around 2 corners E
from San Blas harbor, NE of breaker fringed Punta
Camarónes. Radar paints 3.3 miles across shallow
Matanchén Bay, which runs a straight line NW to SE
with a small curve in the NW end. Only the middle
is anchorable and only in winter and spring; it closes
out June to October. Ramada cantinas line the beach
for the summer surf crowd.
Lay of the Land
Piedra Blanca del Tierra (52’) is less than a mile
WNW of the entrance to San Blas harbor. Punta San
Cristobal (GPS 21°30.69’N, 105°16.01’W) guards
the harbor’s SE approach. A striped light tower
stands on the NW side of the jetty entrance, and two
lighted riprap jetties and lighted buoys lead you up
the channel, N then NW. Seasonal shoals inside are
buoyed. Follow a shrimper or ask the Port Captain
for a panga guide.
In the channel, to starboard you pass the Navy
dock, panga & dinghy landing, Aduana building and
the old shrimper basin (rectangular) with the new
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Big new fuel pier in San Blas harbor
is N of shrimper basin.
the NW corner and bus to town. Dinghy vandals
have been reported. Santa Cruz village in the E
end is usually too rolly.
Local Services
Capitanía on its W seawall, then the new Pemex fuel
pier. Another man-made basin to starboard up the
channel is in flux, then around a channel bend is a
newly dredged lobe of the estuary.
Anchorage
San Blas harbor: Anywhere W of the
channel and N of the dinghy landing is good holding
mud in 10’ to 15’, but plan for max 3-knot tidal
current. The lobe 100 yards NE of the town has been
dredged for anchoring and may have fewer bugs. Set
screens before sunset.
Matanchén Bay: When moving between
the harbor and the bay, don’t mistake Punta San
Cristobal (estuary behind it) for Punta Camarónes
(GPS 21°30.65’N, 105°14.87’W), which lies a mile
farther east. Both points have breakers. See satellite
photo. Anchor (15’ soft mud) about 1.5 miles E of
Punta Camarónes. Dinghy to Matanchén village in
San Blas is a port of entry, and its jurisdiction
covers Matanchén Bay. The Capitanía is in the
shrimper darsena; Aduana is a block N of the
dinghy landing; Migración is 2 blocks farther N,
or 2 blocks S of the plaza.
If you want a ship’s agent, call Irma on VHF 22.
Sportfishing skipper Norm Goldie on VHF 16 and 22
helps yatistas, but some call him the Enforcer.
Fuel: San
Blas’s
new
easy in, easy
out Pemex pier
is a stationary
concrete
platform, 200’
long on the
channel side,
100’ on both
ends. Storm
Bells of San Blas are silent at
relief gave San
Longfellow’s church in ruins.
Blas Mexico’s
cheapest diesel
in 2005, but we can’t tell how long it will
last.
Provisions: Several grocery stores
and mercados uptown have excellent local
fruits & veggies in winter and spring. Off
the plaza is Botica, a good pharmacy.
The ice house behind the shrimper
darsena uses purified water, has block &
cube.
Misc.: We found a few hardware
stores, outboard motor parts & repair shops,
and commercial fisheries gear for shrimpers.
As San Blas’ sportfishing tournament grows,
we expect to see more boat supplies.
Huichol women sell their beadwork
at the plaze in downtown San BLas.
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15 Isla Isabela to Punta Mita
Culture & History
The pretty plaza on Calle Mercado is the center
of town life. May 13 starts a 2-week Virgin of Fatima
festivities with special foods, dancing and arts.
Nayarit’s natives are the Huichol people, and
their bead-covered animals and geometric objects
are trendy in US and European art galleries (like
molas from Panama), so if you like it, think of it as
an investment and souvenir in one. Huichol women
come from distant villages to San Blas’ zocalo or
plaza.
Founded in 1535, San Blas wasn’t developed as
a port until 1768. Father Junipero Serra and Padre
Kino landed at San Blas to begin their missionary
work in N Mexico.
The pirate John Clipperton was captured in
Matanchén Bay and hanged, thankfully after
he’d discovered Clipperton Island 700 miles off
Acapulco.
COASTWISE San Blas to Punta Mita
Punta Custodias is at GPS 21°20.84’N,
105°15.00’W, 6 miles SSW of Punta Santa Cruz.
From San Blas, lay a course 11 miles S to stay a mile
off this low rocky point and to pass inside the 30’
high pinnacle reported to lie 3 miles W of the point.
Nine Mile Beach: The next 9-mile beach (Playa
Chila) ends at a hilly 5-mile long protrusion containing
Volcan Cerobuco and its smaller twin. In the middle
of this green protrusion is Chacala Bay.
21°09.77’N, 105°13.93’W. Isla Tecolote (Owl) at
the SW end of Chacala Bay is at GPS 21°08.72’N,
105°14.22’W. The tiny cove N of Chacala is rocky
and not anchorable.
Chacala indents only half a mile, runs .75 of a
mile NE-SW. The N end’s pretty beach is less than
half a mile long, full of mature coco palms (former
plantation) with a dozen palapa cantinas below, and
Chacala Bay
Chacala Bay lies 21
miles S of San Blas, 30
miles NE of Punta Mita,
immediately SE of Punta
Chacala. Its nav light is
buried in palms, but our
GPS position close off the
S side of Punta Chacala is
Palms surround
Chacala Bay.
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Big pier is handy landing at Chacala.
Local Services
The Capitanía overlooks the landing, but it’s
often closed.
For excellent breakfast and lunch, climb the
street beside the Capitanía; just over the crest
there’s a B & B; ask for service 30 minutes ahead.
At the S end of Chacala, a holistic retreat and
women’s clinic is open by appointment.
Take a taxi 6 miles to Las Varas (nice drive) for
2 good grocery stores, coin laundry, huge fruteria,
bus to Puerto Vallarta.
2 hotels dot the S end. Semana Santa (Easter week)
brings thousands of inlanders to Chacala beach with
tents, RVs and jet skis. It’s almost deserted unless
yatistas stop in winter and spring.
No fuel and few supplies are had in the village
behind the N end of the bay, as provisions come from
Las Varas 6 miles inland. Locals say the English
pirate Thomas Cavendish was here in 1587. Chacala
has some very pricey homes.
Anchorage
In moderate N wind, we tuck up into the NE
corner (25’ to 36’ sand, mud) just S of the big panga
landing. There’s good holding anywhere NE of the
Navy mooring buoy. In flat periods, you can anchor
off the beach, outside the shore break. The dinghy &
panga landing is inside a tiny separate bight NW of
the beach. The bay’s SW end is rocky.
COASTWISE continued
Caleta el Naranjo: 1.7 miles SSW of Punta
Chacala, we haven’t sounded this tiny, jungle-clad
but seemingly sheltered cove with private homes. A
smaller N lobe has a private pier.
Punta Guayabitos: 2.5 miles S of Punta Chacala,
this forested bluff is the N end of the 6-mile long
beach that ends at Guayabitos Cove.
Guayabitos Cove
This cove with indifferent anchorage is 23 miles
NE of Punta Mita, 28 miles S of San Blas. Three
resort villages, Jaltemba (pronounced hahl-TAYMbah), Rincon de Guayabitos (guavas corner) and Los
Ayala, crowded the S end of this 6-mile long beach
that starts at Punta Guayabitos (GPS 21°07.27’N,
105°14.33’W) and curves SW along Playa Jaltemba
to end at Guayabitos Cove, which lies 1.2 miles SE
of the prominent Punta Raza headland (GPS
21°02.34’N, 105°18.66’W). Playa Jaltemba
is N of Guayabitos Cove; Los Ayala is private
homes that climb the hillside in the Navy base
cove between La Puntilla and Punta Raza.
Isla la Peña (GPS 21°03.16’N,
105°16.38’W) is rounded, palm-and-guano
clad, and has 2 docks and a restaurant. It lies
a mile NE of Punta Raza and 5 miles SW of
Provisioning at Las Varas yields
tropical fruits galore.
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15 Isla Isabela to Punta Mita
Guayabitos Cove is pretty, best
in flat calms or S wind.
Punta Guayabitos, so it somewhat
shelters Guayabitos Cove from N
wind. Peña is the nautical term for
the top of a mizzen mast. A smaller
islet half a mile SSW of Isla la Peña
is wreathed in rocky shoals where
crabs pots are set.
In light S wind, we’ve anchored
off Los Ayala in 14’ to 23’ over sand;
it’s tight beside the Navy mooring,
and Ayala an get refraction around
Punta Raza. In moderate S wind,
anchor among the panga buoys in
Guayabitos Cove, 12’ to 17’ over sand. Weekend
nights can be disco noisy, but the hotels’ beach
cantinas have early morning espresso.
In N weather, the only shelter is S of Isla la Peña.
Anchor in about 30’ outside the coral heads, but it’s
not very sheltered. The delicate corals are protected
by law. Guayabitos Cove is a fair-weather stop, and
even then we don’t leave a boat unattended. Fonatur
has plans to build a marina off the island.
North Head (GPS 20°47.63’N, 105°31.14’W)
is the bold N tip of the Punta Mita headland, which
runs almost 2.5 miles NE to SW. North Head has
545’ cone-shaped hills and radio antennas.
Punta Mita: Round all sides of Punta Mita at
least a mile off to avoid dangerous pinnacles. We use
the name Punta Mita, because that’s what the locals
call it. See next chapter.
COASTWISE to Punta Mita
Half a mile SW of Punta Raza, a shallow boat
channel leads E to homes on three S channels. The
next 23 miles SW to the Punta Mita headland
are sculpted by small beaches backed by
Highway 200. We stay 2 or 3 miles off.
Punta Sayulita: Ten miles NE of Punta
Mita’s N flank, this forested point juts NE
forming a 2-mile wide bay, crescent beach
and artsy town of Sayulita. Waves wrap the
corner in any amount of wind and the bottom
is rocky.
Ensenada Litibu, the 5-mile wide bay SE
of North Head, is backed by low land only half
a mile wide, so development spills over from
Punta Mita.
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