Quimixto
Village in Banderas Bay on Banderas Bay
A small village on the southern shore of Banderas Bay that has no road and is reached only by boat. Palapa restaurants face the water on its beach, and a trail up the river valley behind it leads to a seasonal waterfall.
Marinas
- Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta
Near Quimixto
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
Las Caletas
A small boat-only cove on the southern shore of Banderas Bay, below a nature preserve, where the film director John Huston once lived. One tour company runs the beach and grounds as its own day trip, and the sources do not settle whether a charter yacht's guests may go ashore.
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
Majahuitas
Majahuitas is a small cove on the southern shore of Banderas Bay, between Quimixto and Yelapa. No road reaches it, so guests arrive by boat.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
Las Ánimas Beach
A broad stretch of sand south-west of Puerto Vallarta, on the far side of Banderas Bay from the marinas, that works well as a lunch and swim stop on a day out by boat.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
Playa Caballo
On the south shore of Banderas Bay, Playa Caballo sits just north-east of Las Ánimas, on the Boca de Tomatlán side. No road reaches the sand, so it is a swimming and snorkelling stop that guests land at from the boat or walk to on a trail.
Boca de Tomatlán
A small fishing village at the mouth of the Horcones River, about 17 km south of downtown Puerto Vallarta. Its pier is the main departure point for the public water taxis to the beaches and villages of the southern shore.
Yelapa
A village in the southernmost cove of Banderas Bay, in Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, with no road fit for ordinary vehicles.
Mismaloya
A small village and beach on the southern shore of Banderas Bay, south of Puerto Vallarta, looking out to the Los Arcos rocks. The Night of the Iguana was filmed here in 1963.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
- Paddleboarding
- Scuba diving
Los Arcos de Mismaloya
Five granite islets just off Mismaloya, about 12 km south of Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay, with arches cut through the larger rocks and reef walls below.
Maps © OpenStreetMap
About Quimixto
A village you reach from the water
Quimixto is a small village on the southern shore of Banderas Bay, in the municipality of Cabo Corrientes in the state of Jalisco. No road comes in, so everyone arrives by boat: on the public water taxi from Boca de Tomatlán, a crossing of roughly twenty minutes, or on a chartered yacht. It sits between Las Ánimas, about 1.5 nautical miles to the east, and Majahuitas, about 1.3 nautical miles to the west, with jungle-covered hills rising behind it.
Getting there by yacht
Measured in a straight line from the village, Opequimar is about 11.6 nautical miles away and Marina Vallarta about 11.8. Marina Nuevo Vallarta is about 12 nautical miles off, and Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz about 14.8. At 20 knots the run from Marina Vallarta takes a little over half an hour; a sailing yacht making 8 knots needs about an hour and a half. The route runs down the southern shore, so a stop at Los Arcos or one of the neighbouring beaches fits into the same day.
On shore
Thatched palapa restaurants face the water across the sand, and the village itself is set back from the shore. The cove is usually calm, and boat trips that call here often add a snorkel stop along this part of the coast.
The waterfall walk
Many guests come ashore for the waterfall up the river valley behind the village. The trail climbs that valley upstream, and the walk takes somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour each way, depending on pace. The same trail can also be ridden on horseback. How much water comes over the falls, and whether the pool below is good for a swim, changes with the season, so treat the outing as a jungle walk with a swim as a bonus.
What to know
Leave enough time ashore for the walk, a meal on the beach and a swim before the run back. We'll confirm the landing arrangements and the horse hire with the captain when you book.