Chacala & Rincon de Guyabitos


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Chacala        21° 09.829′ N

                     105° 13.650′ W

Beach from Anchorage

Chacala is about 21 miles south east of San Blas and around 8 miles north of Rincon de Guayabitos or also known as La Penita de Jaltemba. I would have to say

Red Blossom

that Chacala is firmly established now as a tourist destination. Many restaurants small hotels and several minis supermarkets make this an easy stop for re provisioning and the restaurant

Chacmool has a small library for book exchanges. The entrance to the bay is now marked with not one but two buoy’s anchored so close to each other that as we approached from the south Ines and myself both mistakenly thought there was a worker repairing one of the buoys! The commercial fisherman’s dock located on the north side of the bay also spots two large light house’s, one red and one green marking the dock clearly. Chacala is certainly a better anchorage for northerly winds but we have spend several nights in summer there as long as there is not a big swell from the south or west. In southerly weather Guayabitos would certainly be a calmer spot to drop the hook. For mono hulls a stern anchor might be needed in case of big seas in either of these two spots. We anchored just off the commercial fisherman’s dock in around 25 feet of good holding sand.

 

The jungle surrounding the southern part of the cove is especially scenic in summer time with many large trees cresting the ridge lines next to the many Guanabana plantations that dot the hillsides. There is a camp ground/trailer park at the southern end of the road and the beach at Chacala was one of the cleanest and best groomed beaches I have every visited. Signs on the beach clearly show what is an is not allowed in the area and one of the signs stated clearly that fisherman are not allowed to work on their pangas on the beach. Recycling garbage containers are found all over town. For landing’s in kayak or dingy the best spot is right below the Port Captians office just to the left of the commerical fishermans dock on the small sandy rocky beach. Less surf is found here than on the main beach.

 

 

 

Guaybitos        21° 01.711′ N

                        105° 16,442′ W

 

Anchorage @ isla Coral Guayabitos

Rincon de Guayabitos is by far the more touristy of the anchorages with two small islands just in front of town. Isla Coral (larger) and isla cangrejo (crab), although I think isla cangrejo should be renamed isla cabeza de vibura, since it looks much like a snakes head when entering from the south, give beach goers at Guayabitos a decent place to snorkel. The restaurant located on Isla Coral has been closed as of this update, Sept 2012, for 5 years now but there is still a small hut on the island that serves cold beverages and Cocos. The old restaurant is now a favorite habitat for the many vultures that live on the island.  We anchored on the east side of at isla Coral in front of the small beach in 15 feet of good sand an also in Guayabitos in about10 feet of sand right next to the tourist pangas in the eastern most cove but you can certainly anchor in the first cove as well. Guayabitos is a major tourist destination and over the years was often the beach of choice for residents of Guadalajara who wished to go to the coast. With the completion of the toll highway between Manzanillo and Guadalajara it seems less tourists come here now but we found the town very clean with a very well manicured park and plenty palapas on the beach.

A few more pics of these beautiful spots on the Riviera Nayarit