Traveling in Mexico

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Dan F

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 10, 2007
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Traveling in Mexico has been a big part of my life for the past 24 years. It started when I was a Rotary Club exchange student. I spent my tenth grade in Saltillo, Coahuila - a relatively large but little-visited city in Northeastern Mexico. In Saltillo I met some really good friends and learned to speak Spanish. During Christmas break I bussed and hitch-hiked my way down to Oaxaca with three friends and stayed in a hut on the beach in Zipolite for a week.

That was pretty much what started it, and for the next ten years I spent as much time as possible backpacking around Mexico. Usually I would go by myself, but sometimes I would travel with friends or a girlfriend. At that time I mostly traveled in central and southwestern Mexico - Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Puebla, Tabasco, Guerrero, and Michoacan - but also made it out to Veracruz and the Yucatan.

After I met my wife things changed. Our focus switched to diving more and we started staying in a lot nicer hotels. My uncle bought a condo/apartment just south of Puerto Vallarta, so we have spent a lot of time traveling around Jalisco and Nayarit. We have also gone back to Quintana Roo several times, mostly for cave-diving in the cenotes.


I am hoping that other members might share their experiences traveling in Mexico, so post away - photos, too, if possible!



I'll start with a little beach South of Puerto Vallarta called Tehuamixtle.

The road there used to be about 40 miles of narrow washboards, but has been improved a lot over the last ten years.
Tehua road.JPG

Overlooking the cove.
Tehua left.JPGTehua right.JPG

The boat ramp makes shore-diving ridiculously easy. About 75 yards offshore is a wrecked shrimp trawler that can be entered on very calm days.
Tehua  dock.JPG

From above you can see how clear the water is - not Caribbean-clear, but very good visibility for the Eastern Pacific.
Tehua water.JPG

My wife took this picture of me filming a stingray.
Tehua Stingray.JPG

Drying out the gear.
Tehua gear.JPG

Birds following an incoming panga.
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Looking down the beach.
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Tehua right.JPG

Tehua  dock.JPG

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Tehua Stingray.JPG

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Tehua beach.JPG
 
That looks like a cortez ray.I had one back when I was into salt.
 
That looks like a cortez ray.I had one back when I was into salt.

Thanks, that is good to know. I dug around and found a couple more rays, they are actually pretty common. The second one (third-fifth photos) is the same species as the one in the photo with me, but in a different location.

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Great photos,what was that shack on the beach?
 
Great photos,what was that shack on the beach?
Thanks. It is a restaurant of sorts, really just coolers full of beer/soda and a wood-fired grill.

nice pictures
Thanks. I'm not much of a photographer, I just take tons of photos on the 'auto' setting and hope for some good ones.
 
Quintana Roo (On the Yucatan Peninsula)

The last few times we have gone to Quintana Roo (south of Cancun) we have stayed in Tank-Ha at a hotel called 'Blue Sky'. This is an old photo and the place has expanded a bit, at this time it was only six rooms. The pool is right on the beach with great snorkeling in the ocean and in Cenote Manati which is located behind the hotel.
QR Blue Sky.jpg

Cenote diving is the main reason we go to the Yucatan. There truly is nothing else like it on Earth.
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This is the road to Punta Allen. The Yucatan is incredibly lush compared to Pacific Mexico. And incredibly flat....
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This is the Sian Ka'an Nature reserve on the way to Punta Allen (south of Tulum).
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A monkey near Coba.
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Sitting on a Mayan pyramid at Muyil.
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I love Mexico, we usually try to take a trip there once or twice every year. Usually we go to either Puerto Vallarta if we go to the west coast or Isla Mujeres if we want to be on the east coast.
 
Dan, you made me miss my Father with this post. He was a Rotary Governor....:(
 
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