Bahias de Huatulco Trip Report

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

What a gorgeous place! We had a great two weeks.

Instead of doing a day by day I will do categories.

Travel- was fine. Flight time was a boring 5 hours and 45 minutes, we flew direct from Calgary, on a Skyservice charter. Seems like they have removed a couple rows of seats, it wasn't quite as squishy as last time we flew them. No delays so that was nice. We were glad we did two weeks instead of one as that is a long flight for only one week. The usual bad movies (Just Like Heaven and The Man coming home, not sure what they were going down there, I was too excited and we were drinking already

).

Hotel- we stayed at the Crown Pacific in Tangolunda Bay, this bay is the all-inclusive hotel zone. The hotel was quite nice, it was ten buildings with 15 rooms in each, so not crowded at all. And the hotel was on the side of a mountain, and we got a room on the top floor of the top building (#10) so the views from our hotel room were spectacular.

Plus we had a huge tub with sliding doors so every night before supper we would grab a couple drinks from the pool bar and go have a bath together and watch darkness fall on the ocean.

Immediately outside the back of our building was thick jungle- once it was dark it was completely black back there, very cool.

And the birds!

I have never seen so mnay birds, turkey vultures and frigates circling constantly, and all types of seabirds, hummingbirds, flocks of green parrots even!

They had shuttles too for people who didn't want to walk to the beach club (ten minute walk) or up the cliff to their room. The beach club had a pool and palapas and the bar and restaurant.

But as 'only' a three star, it was a little shabby around the edges, and there was only one main buffet restaurant and no a la cartes. We are not AI people to begin with

, so after two weeks we were good and sick of buffet and we ate in town about 5 times that second week.

But the service was fine, the food good (mostly

), and the drinks were flowing so how can one complain too much? The locals and the workers in the area were SO nice and friendly too, we never had any service problems or concerns at all. It certainly helps to know some spanish in this area though, English is not widely spoken or well understood compared to other areas we have been in Mexico- my traveler's spanish class came in really handy!

One more thing- great coffee! They grow Arabica beans on plantations in the area and the coffee is the best we have ever had anywhere in Mexico- and that is important.

I would recommend the 5 star Quinta Real or Las Brisas hotels to people who want an all inclusive hotel and Mision de los Arcos in La Crucecita to those who want a non-AI. What a gorgeous little gem of a hotel! That is where we will stay when we go again.

http://www.misiondelosarcos.com/english/home.htm

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Beaches - are definitely the highlight of the area. There are nine bays total and about 36 beaches.

There are beaches with surfing (Playa Bocana and the nearby Ziploite and Puerto Escondido, we went there on day trip, funky place!) and beaches that are busy with lines of limited service restaurants like La Enrega, Conejos, Chahue Bay and Maguey Bay (ie good food and bad banos) and pristine 'secret' beaches that you must hike through the jungle to get to or take a boat, and where you can be compeltely and utterly alone.

The water is warm (about 28 degrees) and is very clear and the sand is white. There is great snorkeling in beaches such as La Entrega, San Augustin, Organo, Chachacual and Cacaluta Bay, and La Violin. Lots of coral, sea urchins, and tons of fish. We saw seahorses and rays too. Visibility is very good, the whole time we were there the ocean was flat and calm, very little surf anywhere. Not much wind either, which was nice.

We did a 7 Bay boat/snorkel tour with Hurricane Divers (owner Roberto is from Holland orgininally and has been all over the world, his is the best dive shop in the area). It was $90 each but well worth it to get a more private tour and the lunch his wife made for us was gourmet and amazing! Arrachara beef, thai meatballs, honey mustard chicken, coleslaw, stuffed tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, fresh fruit, etc. Much better than going on one of those huge party barges. One of them actually had engine problems ran into a bunch of pangas one day on their way out of the marina and there was panga pileups all over...and they also sideswiped the Navy boat- that would have been scary.

There were only 8 of us and the snorkel guide, Pat, was from Ontario and the divemaster, Rob, was from Edmonton! In fact, most people we met there were either Mexican or Canadian, we only met one family who were American the entire trip. I will refrain from adding any personal commentary there.
The two divers on our tour said their dives were very good. they saw turtles and big rays and lots of fish, bot dives were fairly shallow, around 40-50 feet.

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Fishing- hubby is a big fisherman so he went out three times, I went with him once.

Of course I am bad luck so the time I went he only caught a little bonita.

But we saw turtles, leaping manta rays (weird! we had never seen that before!), a jumping marlin, and....about 200 dolphins. Beautiful.

Of course the pics never turned out- just greyish blurs.

The next two times he went they caught lots of smaller (15 pounds or so) yellowfin tuna (yum, they tasted like moist chicken) and a 25 pound mahi mahi/dorado, which was also very tasty!

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Nightlife- it seemed quieter than Playa, but there were many young adults at our hotel who stayed out until 4 AM or later every night and they seemed to have no troubles finding good clubs to go to- and they stay open all night if you keep buying drinks, apparently.

On the other hand we were up until 1 AM at the latest and that was New Year's eve.

The hotel put on a big party and dance/supper then (with great fireworks) and also Christmas Eve there was a special supper too. And there were a few good bars to hang out in with goood music in town- La Crema and Dublins were our favourites.

What's left- there are many other things you can do and see in the area.
Day trips to Zipolite or Puerto Escondido (we went to the latter one day, it was about a 2 hour drive).

We went on a tour into the mountains one day to see waterfalls and visit a former coffee plantation turned tourist attraction- they had a great lunch for us there and the waterfalls were pretty and refreshing. The drive was fairly bumpy though- on a narrow, rough dirt switchback road, if you looked down you got queasy. there are also tours to see working coffee plantations, overnight tours to see Oaxaca City and nearby ruins, 'Taste of Oaxaca' tours where you go to a mezcal factory, coffee plantation and a tortilla factory, and a 'city tour' of La Crucecita and area (pop 10,000).

All in all- we had a wonderful time, it's a beautiful place and we will definitely return there someday. Maybe even spend a couple winters there once we retire.

We heard they presently have around 2000 hotel rooms, and Fonatur's plan is to increase that to 15,000 rooms by 2010. Pretty ambitious plan.
It is a good thing that all the bays and beaches west of Santa Cruz are part of a protected ecological park and they won't be able to build hotels on those beaches at all. So the expansions will be in the Tangolunda, Santa Cruz, Conejos, and Chahue Bay areas.

How does it compare to Playa and the Mayan Riviera? We decided that we liked them both about equally- it was our favourite Pacific coast resort area, just barely edging out Ixtapa/Zihuantanejo (next year we are going to Los Cabos so that might change again!).

Mayan Riviera has both disadvantages and advantages in comparison, we felt, but they are definitely the top two!

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Isn't this the most gorgeous beach? We were the only people there.

But it was quite a hike to get there.

TAPPY · 01-09-2006

Very nice report and pic's Riss....this is peaking my interest...

Please post some more pics if you got them !!!

I am going to check out those 5 star AI's !!!
I think I would like the moutains and the different types of day trips for a change of pace. (Cool looking waterfalls)

How does the snorkeling compare to Playa/Akumal ????
Is Oaxaca where they make all that black pottery ?

Thanks for posting a report ....sounds like you all had a great time.

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Yes, Oaxaca has tons of that black pottery. It is quite nice.

The shopping was fine, in La Crucecita there is the basic tourist trap tacky souvenir shopping, plus some artier and funkier shops and galleries. They had some nice wodden masks, the black pottery, chocolate (lots of cacao trees in the area) and coffee. Also they had this VERY good cream mezcal which is like a Baja Rosa type of liqueur, we brought two bottles back, mocha and cappucino flavours.

here is a pic of moi.... trying to look sexy

.....

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Ooops I forgot your snorkeling question- it is actually VERY good, I was surprised. I would have to say almost but not quite as good as Half Moon Bay and the Coco Beach reef area, but better than Xel Ha or Akumal playa publico at a couple of the beaches (Violin and Organo) that had great visibility. All in all, VERY good snorkeling, we went almost every day and saw tons of fish and a few we had never seen before.

This is Bocana, the beach they surf at. A river runs into it too. It is a great beachcombing/surfing'boogie boarding beach.

xqqzme · 01-09-2006

I was going to e-mail you and find out how you liked Huatulco so how timely that I should see your trip report! I'm glad you liked it. Since it was my first Mexico experience, I had little to compare it to. I thought it was a little too quiet for my taste but that was 7 years ago and as you say....it's growing. It IS a lovely place!!! Welcome back...more pics please

Rissask · 01-09-2006

Another beach...Chachacual...again, we were virtually the only people there. Look how dry the hillsides are!

**sctx** · 01-09-2006

cool.... it looks like a not quite so lush and expensive Hawaii........ well, minus the Hawaiian girls. Did ya'll rent a car and do some exploring or just do tours???

JimmyMN · 01-09-2006

Thanks for the excellent report. I've been researching the Oaxacan coast quite extensively the past few weeks, so your report was rather timely. Hoping to do a roadtrip there on my way to Playa del Carmen next month. Love those rocky cliffs intermixed with beaches... very sexy. And speaking of sexy, is that you in the second photo?

Edit: Take a phone call and you post even more photos... good work!

Jimmy

Jacko · 01-09-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rissask

here is a pic of moi.... trying to look sexy

.....

It worked!

Great report and great pics...welcome back, we missed you!

Rissask · 01-09-2006

yep that is me Jimmy! But speaking of sexy did you see my hubby on the left on the waterfall?

Like my hat? I wore it almost every day. *blush*

I also love the rocks and stretches of beach...what we liked about it was that you could always find a little gem of a beach that was totally deserted and spent a couple hours alone.

Scott- we just took cabs, they were cheap there, the rates were set. We hired a driver for 1000 pesos to take us to Puerto Escondido the one day too. And then one day we rented Vespas and tooled around.

Lush it was not! You got that right, it was quite dry in the hills....but the tour into the mountains followed the river and then of course close to the waterfall it was very lush. And of course around the resort area they keep everything watered. The infrastructure is really good there- roads were all well maintained, water pressure was great, and you could flush tp- bonus!

**sctx** · 01-09-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rissask

Lush it was not! You got that right, it was quite dry in the hills....but the tour into the mountains followed the river and then of course close to the waterfall it was very lush.

yeah, the south side of the islands in Hawaii are more on the dry arid side, very similar to the hill country where I live, drive to the top of the mountain or the north side of the island and you're in a terrarium

so.... where does a non-taxi taking, non-AI, non-tour hippy type go in that area??? I did some Huatulco research a couple of years ago and it seemed more like a Cancun type development plan....and you know, I hate being around Americans in designer swimwear

01-09-2006	#1 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Bahias de Huatulco Trip Report Home again, home again, jiggety jig. What a gorgeous place! We had a great two weeks. Instead of doing a day by day I will do categories. Travel- was fine. Flight time was a boring 5 hours and 45 minutes, we flew direct from Calgary, on a Skyservice charter. Seems like they have removed a couple rows of seats, it wasn't quite as squishy as last time we flew them. No delays so that was nice. We were glad we did two weeks instead of one as that is a long flight for only one week. The usual bad movies (Just Like Heaven and The Man coming home, not sure what they were going down there, I was too excited and we were drinking already ). Hotel- we stayed at the Crown Pacific in Tangolunda Bay, this bay is the all-inclusive hotel zone. The hotel was quite nice, it was ten buildings with 15 rooms in each, so not crowded at all. And the hotel was on the side of a mountain, and we got a room on the top floor of the top building (#10) so the views from our hotel room were spectacular. Plus we had a huge tub with sliding doors so every night before supper we would grab a couple drinks from the pool bar and go have a bath together and watch darkness fall on the ocean. Immediately outside the back of our building was thick jungle- once it was dark it was completely black back there, very cool. And the birds! I have never seen so mnay birds, turkey vultures and frigates circling constantly, and all types of seabirds, hummingbirds, flocks of green parrots even! They had shuttles too for people who didn't want to walk to the beach club (ten minute walk) or up the cliff to their room. The beach club had a pool and palapas and the bar and restaurant. But as 'only' a three star, it was a little shabby around the edges, and there was only one main buffet restaurant and no a la cartes. We are not AI people to begin with , so after two weeks we were good and sick of buffet and we ate in town about 5 times that second week. But the service was fine, the food good (mostly ), and the drinks were flowing so how can one complain too much? The locals and the workers in the area were SO nice and friendly too, we never had any service problems or concerns at all. It certainly helps to know some spanish in this area though, English is not widely spoken or well understood compared to other areas we have been in Mexico- my traveler's spanish class came in really handy! One more thing- great coffee! They grow Arabica beans on plantations in the area and the coffee is the best we have ever had anywhere in Mexico- and that is important. I would recommend the 5 star Quinta Real or Las Brisas hotels to people who want an all inclusive hotel and Mision de los Arcos in La Crucecita to those who want a non-AI. What a gorgeous little gem of a hotel! That is where we will stay when we go again. http://www.misiondelosarcos.com/english/home.htm __________________ My trip reports- to Ixtapa/Zihuantanejo, Sayulita, Huatulco #1 and #2, and Holguin, Cuba. *until 2 weeks in Playadise!* Last edited by Rissask : 05-31-2006 at 01:37 PM.

01-09-2006	#2 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Beaches - are definitely the highlight of the area. There are nine bays total and about 36 beaches. There are beaches with surfing (Playa Bocana and the nearby Ziploite and Puerto Escondido, we went there on day trip, funky place!) and beaches that are busy with lines of limited service restaurants like La Enrega, Conejos, Chahue Bay and Maguey Bay (ie good food and bad banos) and pristine 'secret' beaches that you must hike through the jungle to get to or take a boat, and where you can be compeltely and utterly alone. The water is warm (about 28 degrees) and is very clear and the sand is white. There is great snorkeling in beaches such as La Entrega, San Augustin, Organo, Chachacual and Cacaluta Bay, and La Violin. Lots of coral, sea urchins, and tons of fish. We saw seahorses and rays too. Visibility is very good, the whole time we were there the ocean was flat and calm, very little surf anywhere. Not much wind either, which was nice. We did a 7 Bay boat/snorkel tour with Hurricane Divers (owner Roberto is from Holland orgininally and has been all over the world, his is the best dive shop in the area). It was $90 each but well worth it to get a more private tour and the lunch his wife made for us was gourmet and amazing! Arrachara beef, thai meatballs, honey mustard chicken, coleslaw, stuffed tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, fresh fruit, etc. Much better than going on one of those huge party barges. One of them actually had engine problems ran into a bunch of pangas one day on their way out of the marina and there was panga pileups all over...and they also sideswiped the Navy boat- that would have been scary. There were only 8 of us and the snorkel guide, Pat, was from Ontario and the divemaster, Rob, was from Edmonton! In fact, most people we met there were either Mexican or Canadian, we only met one family who were American the entire trip. I will refrain from adding any personal commentary there. The two divers on our tour said their dives were very good. they saw turtles and big rays and lots of fish, bot dives were fairly shallow, around 40-50 feet. Attached Images Last edited by Rissask : 01-09-2006 at 06:29 PM.

01-09-2006	#3 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Fishing- hubby is a big fisherman so he went out three times, I went with him once. Of course I am bad luck so the time I went he only caught a little bonita. But we saw turtles, leaping manta rays (weird! we had never seen that before!), a jumping marlin, and....about 200 dolphins. Beautiful. Of course the pics never turned out- just greyish blurs. The next two times he went they caught lots of smaller (15 pounds or so) yellowfin tuna (yum, they tasted like moist chicken) and a 25 pound mahi mahi/dorado, which was also very tasty! Last edited by Rissask : 11-13-2006 at 01:10 PM.

01-09-2006	#5 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Isn't this the most gorgeous beach? We were the only people there. But it was quite a hike to get there. Attached Images Last edited by Rissask : 12-14-2006 at 11:22 AM.

01-09-2006	#7 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Yes, Oaxaca has tons of that black pottery. It is quite nice. The shopping was fine, in La Crucecita there is the basic tourist trap tacky souvenir shopping, plus some artier and funkier shops and galleries. They had some nice wodden masks, the black pottery, chocolate (lots of cacao trees in the area) and coffee. Also they had this VERY good cream mezcal which is like a Baja Rosa type of liqueur, we brought two bottles back, mocha and cappucino flavours. here is a pic of moi.... trying to look sexy ..... Last edited by Rissask : 05-12-2006 at 04:11 PM.

01-09-2006	#6 (permalink)
TAPPY añejo Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Louisiana Posts: 14,832	Very nice report and pic's Riss....this is peaking my interest... Please post some more pics if you got them !!! I am going to check out those 5 star AI's !!! I think I would like the moutains and the different types of day trips for a change of pace. (Cool looking waterfalls) How does the snorkeling compare to Playa/Akumal ???? Is Oaxaca where they make all that black pottery ? Thanks for posting a report ....sounds like you all had a great time.

01-09-2006	#8 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Ooops I forgot your snorkeling question- it is actually VERY good, I was surprised. I would have to say almost but not quite as good as Half Moon Bay and the Coco Beach reef area, but better than Xel Ha or Akumal playa publico at a couple of the beaches (Violin and Organo) that had great visibility. All in all, VERY good snorkeling, we went almost every day and saw tons of fish and a few we had never seen before. This is Bocana, the beach they surf at. A river runs into it too. It is a great beachcombing/surfing'boogie boarding beach. Attached Images

01-09-2006	#9 (permalink)
xqqzme Bi-Coastal Beacher Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Las Vegas and St George Posts: 4,775	I was going to e-mail you and find out how you liked Huatulco so how timely that I should see your trip report! I'm glad you liked it. Since it was my first Mexico experience, I had little to compare it to. I thought it was a little too quiet for my taste but that was 7 years ago and as you say....it's growing. It IS a lovely place!!! Welcome back...more pics please

01-09-2006	#10 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	Another beach...Chachacual...again, we were virtually the only people there. Look how dry the hillsides are! Last edited by Rissask : 12-07-2006 at 02:28 PM.

01-09-2006	#11 (permalink)
sctx Moniker Morpher Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Body in San Marcos Tx....Tankah in my mind Posts: 26,827	cool.... it looks like a not quite so lush and expensive Hawaii........ well, minus the Hawaiian girls. Did ya'll rent a car and do some exploring or just do tours???

01-09-2006	#12 (permalink)
JimmyMN party machine Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Minneapolis-St. Paul Posts: 2,359	Thanks for the excellent report. I've been researching the Oaxacan coast quite extensively the past few weeks, so your report was rather timely. Hoping to do a roadtrip there on my way to Playa del Carmen next month. Love those rocky cliffs intermixed with beaches... very sexy. And speaking of sexy, is that you in the second photo? Edit: Take a phone call and you post even more photos... good work! Jimmy Last edited by JimmyMN : 01-09-2006 at 07:04 PM.

01-09-2006	#14 (permalink)
Rissask Brit basher Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 17,999	yep that is me Jimmy! But speaking of sexy did you see my hubby on the left on the waterfall? Like my hat? I wore it almost every day. blush I also love the rocks and stretches of beach...what we liked about it was that you could always find a little gem of a beach that was totally deserted and spent a couple hours alone. Scott- we just took cabs, they were cheap there, the rates were set. We hired a driver for 1000 pesos to take us to Puerto Escondido the one day too. And then one day we rented Vespas and tooled around. Lush it was not! You got that right, it was quite dry in the hills....but the tour into the mountains followed the river and then of course close to the waterfall it was very lush. And of course around the resort area they keep everything watered. The infrastructure is really good there- roads were all well maintained, water pressure was great, and you could flush tp- bonus!

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