Isla Marietas

[babyblueeyes]

Hi, I have heard that snorkeling out from Isla Marietas was one of the better places to snorkel. Can you please tell me what is the best way to get out there? Do They have boats that leave from the marina or is it better to travel to punta mita and then take a boat out there? Is there a regular snorkeling trip, or are you on your own? I also seen a map that had a light house on it . I am interested to know if that is something that you can get to, and if you can tour it. Thanks for any info.

[matt]

Vallarta Adventures offers a snorkeling trip there which departs from the Marina.:

www.vallarta-adventures.com/

The trip offers snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking or just swimming. Even if you don't have your scuba diving certification, you can arrange to go on an "exploratory" dive which allows you to decend to a depth up to 40 feet under the supervision of a trained divemaster. The food they serve on the boat at lunchtime is fairly good, also...not the soggy bologna sandwiches that you sometimes get with other tours

[cabron]

Landing is not allowed on the Marietas, it's a bird preserve.
Another company making trips to the Marietas is Open Air Expeditions - a very eco friendly organisation.

[matt]

I think that Cabrón is right that landing is not allowed on the Marietas. I remember on my trip that the kayakers were paddling around the Islands, but their rocky cliffs were too high to allow a landing even if it was permitted.

[grito]

The cheapest way to get to the Marietas is to bus it to Anclote beach and then hire a fisherman to take you out. It takes awhile to get to Anclote but once you are there the boat ride to the islands is much shorter. The boat won't go right to shore at the islands-you have to get off and swim. On one on the two islands there is only one place you can land-you swim through a tunnel to a beach inside the island-like something out of James Bond. You can't do it at high tide. On the other island there are 2 different beaches you can swim to. Snorkeling is good here. Don't go climbing about on the islands as they are bird sanctuaries and you really aren't supposed to be there.

[Beached Whale]

My wife and I just returned from Vallarta and took the Vallarta Adventures tour to the Marietas.

It was superb. We took two tours with them and they were both just awesome. The staff on the boat, the snorkeling, the beach they take you to, just perfect. It was a great, great day for us.

[lilianna]

what was the other tour that you took that you enjoyed?? my husband and I are going in January and two other couples just booked to go with us. We have been to PV 3 times before, did a couple tours in 96, but not since. We would love our friends to fall in love with PV the way we have, so any recommendations would definitely be highly appreciated.

[Beached Whale]

Actually for me, the other tour we took was even much better. It was the Sierra Madre Unimog tour. This link shouold take you to my pictures. http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/vie ... uid=956969

I learned a lot about the whole area from our guide, and had really wanted to get out of Vallarta proper. This was the trick, You go to a small village outside of Vallarta walk around the square, visit the cemetary which is pretty cool to learn why the cemetary is better than the village. Then to a 45 minute walk under the canopyof the forest/jungle, a visit to a house in the boonies were you get fresh made tortillas, beans etc. Very cool. Then off to a beach called San Fransisco, for a swim and a great lunch/open bar. Dropped us off right at the resort in Nuevo.

Really was a great day, once again the host and tour guides were nothing short of awesome.

Hope this helps.

[mikeneubauer]

Hi Beached

Checked out your pictures, you did a great job. definitely a tour that should be taken

[noknok]

Dont book a trip, just take the bus to Punta Mita and ask for Rudy, a guy from Austria, he wil take you to the islands with his own little boat for only 100 pesos pp.
It's more fun than being with 100 people on a expancive catamaran ( they charge you 400 pp)
There's no lunch incl with Rudy but we have bin eating lobster and schrimps for 150 pesos pp ad a nice restaurant that he showed us.

[pat]

Beached I loved your pictures especially the ones of the trees. How cool!!! Thanks for posting them.

[clinta74]

place that I found close into PV, to snorkel & take fish pictures was under the dock at Yalapa. There are also some boats that will take you out from Boca to hit some of the inlets from there to Yalapa. If you have the time Tennicatica has a nice reef.