Yachts and boat tours near Punta de Mita

Getting there by boat

The anchorage lies inside the point, off the beach in front of the town, so most days start with a run across the bay. From Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz it is about 8.5 nautical miles, roughly an hour at a steady 8 knots. From Marina Nuevo Vallarta and Paradise Village it is about 14 nautical miles, close to an hour and three quarters, and from Marina Vallarta or Opequimar about 17, a little over two hours at that speed. The Marietas Islands lie about 5.6 nautical miles to the south-west, so the two fit well into one day.

The town and the peninsula

Punta de Mita is about 16 km (10 miles) north of Puerto Vallarta. The point is a 1,500-acre (6.1 km²) peninsula with resort hotels on it. Ashore near the anchorage there are palapa bars on the sand and more than one grocery store, handy for supplies before the boat heads out again.

At anchor

The bay off the beach is broad, with space for many boats at once, and yachts lie in 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) of water. South-west of the basin where the fishing boats tie up, the bottom is rock cobble and slab; sand that holds better lies further out or on the east side. A cruising guide lists the spot as sheltered from the north and the west. The moorings off the beach belong to others and are not for visiting boats, and the fishing-boat basin is no place to bring a yacht in. A guide for sailors visiting the bay names this as one of its three anchorages, with La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Yelapa, and some overnight charters spend the night at anchor off the point.

Surf and fishing

Surfers ride waves on three sides of the point: north, west and south. One surf guide says a boat from the Punta de Mita harbour is the only practical way to reach one of those breaks, and The Cove has a page of its own. Anglers fish the grounds off the point toward the islands, where one fishing chart lists sailfish, mahi mahi, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, amberjack, red snapper and roosterfish.

What a guest should know

Waves can break over rocky shoals a quarter of a mile or more from shore, so boats keep well clear when rounding the point, where a yellow buoy sometimes marks the turn. When the surf is high, a landing on the beach by tender gets harder; we'll confirm on the day whether the swell allows one. The rules for the islands offshore, including how close a boat may come, are on the Islas Marietas National Park page, and the wider bay is on the Banderas Bay page.