You may have seen photos of this place on pinterest or some other form of social media. I mean, that’s where I first heard of it. Ever since I saw it, it’s been on my list of places to go. And luckily, I’ve already been able to check it off my list.
My family and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for spring break in 2016 and stayed at Riu Jalisco, an all-inclusive resort right on Bahia de Banderas (a Pacific Ocean bay between the states of Nayarit and Jalisco). Puerto Vallarta is a popular tourist destination, so therefore has a bunch of classy resorts and touristy excursions to go on. Which, of course, we did.
We booked our trip to Hidden Beach via a tourist excursion company called Vallarta Adventures, which offers a lot more options and things to do besides Hidden Beach. The morning of, the resort called us a taxi and we went into town to go to Vallarta Adventures. From here, we checked in and boarded the boat to go out to Marietas Islands (the islands where Hidden Beach is located). The staff and crew were so fun and entertaining the entire time on board. Seriously a 10/10.
Once we got close to the islands, everyone on the boat split up to go onto smaller boats that would take us closer to the islands. On these little boats, we got our life jackets, flippers, snorkel, and goggles prepared. Then when we were about 100 yards away, the guy who was driving us said “Ok, jump in”. I, of course, immediately jumped in the water- I was too excited to wait. The Pacific waters were nice and warm, and the sky was pretty cloudy at this time so it wasn’t too hot. It was a perfect day because of the weather but also the tide was not too high. If it was, we wouldn’t have been able to go because it would be too dangerous for swimming through the cave to get to the beach.
One of the requirements for this trip was you need to be able to swim the length of a football field, because that’s how far away it is from where the boats drop you off to get to the beach. Marietas Islands are a National Park, which is why boats cannot come that close. And also, once inside you are not allowed to touch the rock walls.
Fun Conservation Fact:
Marietas Islands are only 1 of 2 places in the entire world that are home to the Blue Footed Boobie Bird. The other place they live is on the Galapagos Islands. These birds are super cool because of their bright blue feet. When males are trying to get a mate, they do a cute little dance by moving their feet up and down to get attention. The male with the best dance wins the girl!
And according to Britacnnica, they get their name from their lack of fear of humans. Humans used to easily kill them because they thought they were ‘dumb’ essentially. Likewise, according to the Galapagos Conservation Trust, they get their name from a spanish word “bobo”, which means foolish because they can be kinda clumsy on land.
What’s their Conservation Status?
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies this species as a "least concern" meaning their conservation threats are not nearly as high as other species, such as gorillas. However, the past few years there has been a population decline due to two main factors: a decrease in their food source of fish (this slows down their reproduction) and an increase of their consumption of plastic in the ocean. I will post more in the future about ocean pollution, but if you are interested in donating to the Galapagos Conservation Trust to protect these cute birds, click here.
Once in the cave, you realize why it wouldn’t be good to be there with a high tide. The waves going through the cave to the beach have a strong suction and pull. With a high tide, you’d get knocked out from hitting your head.
Okay, so once we made it to the beach, we had like 30 minutes go hang out, explore, and take pictures. After 30 minutes, your boat guide calls you and you swim back out- which is way harder than coming in since you go against the incoming waves.
After we were done exploring and got back to the boat, we drove back to the bigger boat and saw other islands in the area. Eventually, we anchored for like 2 hours and had lunch, snorkeled, paddle boarded (yes, my very first time paddle boarding was in the Pacific Ocean), and kayaked. The skies were clearing up which was great for snorkeling; we were able to see tons of little colorful fish all around the boat.
The thing that’s great about this excursion with Vallarta Adventures is that it was such a fun and entertaining crew (they even put on a surprise show for us on the way back home), the food was great, there was music playing, there was plenty of time to do and see everything, and you had many options on what to do when out. Again, I give them a 10/10 and would for sure do a different excursion with them next time I’m in Puerto Vallarta. If you want to book something with them, check out their offers here!
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