Footprints across the empty sand of the big beach at Los Chonchos

Beaches & wildlife

Three secluded beaches, and the whales that pass them.

Three secluded beaches, and nothing built on any of them. Humpbacks pass offshore from October to March. Manta rays clear the water. Turtles nest on sand almost nobody walks on. None of it is scheduled, and none of it is staged.

3 Secluded, unspoiled beaches Nothing built on any of them, all a few minutes’ walk away
Oct – Mar Humpback season Most frequent mid-December to mid-February
0 Roads, cars, resorts Nothing built on the sand. No pier, so no day boats
60 min From the last road Water taxi from Boca de Tomatlán

What turns up

You do not go and look for it. It arrives.

There is no excursion to book and no guide to meet at seven. The preserve is intact, the shoreline is undeveloped, and the animals behave accordingly — which is why a humpback breaching while you are still holding your coffee lands as exhilarating and calming at the same time.

A humpback surfacing offshore at Los Chonchos, its tail above the water October – March

Humpback whales

They breach and, far more often, simply pass — in the channel straight out from the bungalows. No tour boat, no booking, no early start — you watch from the deck with a coffee. Breaching happens from time to time rather than on cue — most of what you see is a back, a blow or a tail. Guests routinely report ten or more in a day, and one counted fifty in five nights.

A mobula ray clearing the water off Los Chonchos Year-round

Manta rays

They come clear out of the water and land flat with a crack you hear from the deck — at dawn, at noon, at four in the afternoon. Nobody can tell you when. That is rather the point.

A pod of dolphins running the coast off Los Chonchos Year-round

Dolphins

Loose pods run the coast, usually working past the point in the morning. Often they are the first thing anyone sees.

A sea turtle at the water’s edge, its track running back up the sand Nesting season

Sea turtles

Turtles move through the shallows and come up to nest on sand that almost nobody walks on. Hatchlings cross the beach to the water — the sort of thing people travel a long way and pay a great deal to be shown.

An iguana stretched out in the shade on the terracotta tiles of a bungalow deck Every day

Iguanas

They take the warm end of the deck in the late morning and stay. They are entirely unbothered by you, which takes about a day to get used to and then becomes the best part of the morning.

Pelicans gathered on the rocks offshore with surf breaking around them Year-round

Pelicans and sea birds

Pelicans work the rocks offshore in formation. Frigatebirds hang above the point. The fishing tells them where to be, and watching them is how you learn to read the water.

A chachalaca perched on a bungalow railing with the jungle behind Year-round

Jungle birds

Chachalacas land on the railing. Vultures ride the warm air over the headland. Parakeets and parrots cross the canopy in noisy groups at dawn and dusk. And hummingbirds come straight through the bungalow — in one open wall and out the other, close enough to hear.

A hermit crab on the rocks at Los Chonchos Every day

Land and hermit crabs

Throw your vegetable scraps over the rail and the land crabs deal with them in front of you. Hermit crabs work the rocks at the tide line. It is the compost system and the entertainment at once.

A woodpecker working a palm trunk at Los Chonchos Year-round

Woodpeckers and eagles

Woodpeckers hammer the trunks all around the bungalows, loud enough to wake you and worth waking for. Eagles ride the thermals off the headland and work the coast at height.

A butterfly on the greenery beside a bungalow at Los Chonchos Year-round

Butterflies

They drift straight through the bungalow, in one open wall and out the other, all day and every day. Nothing about an open-sided house keeps them out, and nobody has ever asked us to try.

A giant manta ray breaking the surface off the point at Los Chonchos If you are lucky

Giant manta rays

The big ones come through now and then — several meters across, and unmistakable when they clear the water. Not every stay, not predictably. The guests who see one talk about it for years.

A seal surfacing in the swell off the rocks at Los Chonchos If you are lucky

Seals

Occasionally one turns up along the rocks. Rare enough that we will not promise it, common enough that it is worth watching for.

This is wild nature, not a show. Nothing here is fed, baited, scheduled or guaranteed. What is on this page is what guests see regularly, season after season — but the animals come and go on their own terms, some stays are quieter than others, and if you are not looking at the water you will miss things.

The beaches

Three of them, and nothing built on any of them

No bar, no loungers for hire, no vendors working the sand. There is no pier either, so yachts and day boats have nowhere to tie up and no reason to stop. Almost everyone you see lives here or is staying here, and most days that is nobody at all.

“A two minute walk brings you to a gorgeous beach that literally had no one else on it.”