Catch the charm

By Michael DeFreitas


The Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. © Stock Connection

Puerto Vallarta’s colorful past, on screen and in the history books, shape its modern-day amenities. But its pristine beaches and bountiful fishing remain unchanged.

A pink glow in the eastern sky signaled the start of another picture-postcard day in the seaside town of Puerto Vallarta. Our catamaran slid calmly toward the Islas Marietas Biosphere Reserve, a four-island archipelago made famous by the famed Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

In these waters you find 25-foot manta rays, marlin, eels, octopus and even sea horses. Nesting colonies in the volcanic outcropping host 94 aquatic and sub-aquatic bird species, including the rare white-capped marine swallow and the blue-footed booby (found only here and the Galapagos Islands).

Birdcalls greeted us as we tied up to the mooring about 100 yards offshore and donned our dive gear. We slipped into a cloud of blue and yellow king angelfish looking for a handout. As we reached bottom, I tried photographing a shy pufferfish hiding in the Elkhorn coral when my dive buddy nearly tugged my arm off. I spun around to see him frantically gesturing and pointing toward a giant manta ray, 15 feet above us, performing loops and rolls.

The composition in my viewfinder—manta and snorkelers above it—caused my heart to pound. I raised my camera, and remembered that it wasn’t set up for the wide-angle photo I wanted. All I could do was swallow my disappointment and watch the magnificent creature disappear into the blue abyss. Luckily, I got some manta shots before leaving town.

Scuba diving is only one of the great adventures Puerto Vallarta offers. Nestled along the coastal hills of Bahía de Banderas, one of the largest protected bodies of water on the West Coast of the Americas, Puerto Vallarta combines the charm of old Mexico with modern amenities. Its lush rainforests, dramatic mountains, friendly people and bucolic countryside make it an ideal and affordable alternative to Mexico’s other hot spots. Whether you’re a Gen-X adrenaline junkie, or a stop-and-smell-the-roses rambler, you’ll find plenty of activities to keep you busy in the town the locals call PV.

Colorful past
PV dates back to 1524, when Francisco Cortez de San Buenaventura first explored this area. Several thousand fierce Xalisco warriors with brightly colored feathered banners confronted his small group with bows and arrows. The standoff lasted all day until both sides retreated peacefully. The sight of all those feathered banners inspired the Spaniard to name the great bay, Bay of Flags.

Except for a few seasonal whalers, the bay remained largely unsettled for three centuries. Then in 1851, Don Guadalupe Sánchez Torres established Puerto de las Peñas, a small outpost on the banks of the Rio Cuale. The town became Puerto Vallarta when the new governor of the State of Jalisco, Don Ignacio Luis Vallarta, took office in 1918.

PV’s peaceful, low-key vibe ended abruptly when Hollywood came to town in 1963. Director John Huston selected the village as the backdrop for his steamy epic Night of the Iguana starring Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Richard Burton. That’s when a married Elizabeth Taylor bought a villa on the hills above the city to be closer to Burton during the filming. Their well-documented affair made the pages of every newspaper and gossip column in North America, providing a steady stream of free publicity for the small town.

Since then, PV has hosted the casts, crews and fans of more than two-dozen major films including Predator, Kill Bill and Herbie Goes Bananas.

Fighting a 120-pound Pacific sailfish. © Michael DeFreitas

White beaches, grilled dorado
The first thing you’ll notice as you fly into PV is lots of white sand—from the 100-yard-long Majahuitas, accessible only by boat, to five-mile-long Bucerias, a favorite with North American visitors. The most famous beach is the sensuous half-mile-long arc of Mismaloya that Huston showcased in many of his 1963 scenes. The original movie set is now a restaurant at the far end of the beach.

Besides diving and snorkeling, water sport outfitters offer a variety of other marine diversions—parasailing, sea kayaking, wild dolphin swims and deep-sea fishing for sailfish and marlin.

The day after our manta encounter we headed out to sea with Mike’s Fishing Charters. Just north of the Marietas Islands, three 25-pound, tail-slapping dorado (mahi-mahi) churned the water at the stern of the boat. Sunlight sparkled off their bright yellow and blue bodies as the crew delicately removed the hooks from their mouths and released them.

An hour later, we took turns in the chair battling a sailfish at the end of 300 yards of line. Forty minutes later the 120-pound fish hit the deck.

At dinner the previous night we chatted about our upcoming fishing trip with the cheerful hotel chef, who graciously offered to cook anything we caught. We took one of the smaller fish back to our hotel and that night dined on grilled mahi-mahi in a red salsa.

But it’s not only gringos and sailfish that flock to the great bay’s warmth. Each year, between December and March, about 350 Pacific humpback whales migrate 6,000 miles from Alaskan waters to give birth and mate. You can see the whales from shore, but for a more personal encounter take one of Vallarta Adventure’s combination whale and dolphin tours.


Night of the Iguana movie posters of Ava Gardner and Richard Burton mark the entrance to the restrooms at a
Mismaloya restaurant. © Keith Kaiser

Other distractions
Landlubbers will find a full range of land-based activities in and around PV. At El Eden you can see the old helicopter and the jungle waterfall where Arnold Schwarzenegger fought the alien in Predator. The park also offers rainforest hiking trails, canopy catwalks and a series of 13 zip lines that crisscross the Mismaloya River rainforest. Other land activities include four-wheel drive bird-watching safaris deep into the mountains, sea turtle nesting tours (August to January) and rainforest hiking. Or you can join Vallarta Adventures on one of their cultural flightseeing tours to the remote pre-Hispanic mountain villages of San Andres Coamihata—home to the Huichol Indians—and San Sebastian, a rustic 17th century mining town.

Also, within 30 minutes of downtown you’ll find seven championship courses designed by several golf legends. Nestled in the cool Sierra Madre foothills, the Vista Vallarta Golf Club boasts two championship courses designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. Each year the club hosts a number of world-class events, including the PGA World Cup of Golf and the Taylor Made Invitational.

Unlike many other Mexican resort towns, PV didn’t start as a tour spot. It didn’t have a paved airstrip or access roads until 1968. Rather, tourism evolved around the town’s traditional old world charm. As a result, Puerto Vallarta’s seamless fusion of traditional and modern cultures, along with its rich biodiversity, upscale amenities and numerous adventure possibilities, ranks it as one of Mexico’s premier seaside resorts.

As a visitor to more than 80 nations, Michael DeFreitas has covered scuba diving, sport fishing, hiking, adventure cruising and off-road RVing. His stories and images have been published in Canadian Traveller, Caribbean Travel & Life, Highways, Geographical (UK), Islands, National Geographic Traveler and Sport Diver.

Find out more

Back to Top





>>>Return to Table of Contents