Having done a drive trip off Mismaloya Beach several years ago, I knew that Los Arcos was a great…read morespot for snorkeling/diving near Puerto Vallarta. Probably the best spot in PV, in fact.
My friend with whom we were traveling wanted to do cliff jumping and Mismaloya Xtreme offered that along with snorkeling and a visit to a "Secret Beach" and the price was very reasonable. And all the reviews online elsewhere were 5 stars.
I communicated directly with the tour operator and the owner (?) through Whatsapp and everything was smooth and well communicated.
We arrived by cruise ship and it was very easy navigating through the terminal and its shops to the OXXO gas station which was our meeting point. Maybe it was a 10 minute walk? Very convenient.
We met our friendly driver and were on our way to Mismaloya which is about 20-30 minutes south of PV. As I suspected from my last visit to Mismaloya, we were dropped off at the top the short street down to the beach, near Mismaloya Xtreme's office.
We paid for the tour in cash to save some $$, used the restrooms right there in the office and met our great guide Ivan who led us down to the beach (very short walk downhill).
We made our way onto the beach and Ivan as well as our Captain Sebastian and one other employee timed the waves an helped us up onto the boat. We had my 82 year old quite capable Mother-in-Law with us and even she made it on to the boat, thankfully (lol). She did stay on the boat the whole time but really enjoyed being out on the water.
Our first stop was just past the point where they filmed part of the 1964 classic "Night of the Iguana". Obviously, this is clearly a big deal for the folks of Mismaloya but as the years go by, sadly, it will become irrelevant for the Millenial set and those to come.
This was the time for our cliff diving and at that point, Ivan, while a great guide, truly, definitely seemed to be on a tight time schedule and did politely rush us a bit through the tour. But he has a job to do, does it well, and I definitely appreciate the need to nudge some folks frome time to time.
Still, for those who wanted to cliff jump, we di dhave time to do two jumps, including waiting for a nice fellow who had gotten up there and was scared to death. But as I positively and supportively said, "it's easier jumping than clamoring back down the steep rocks". Yeah, going back down the way we came wasn't an option.
I had water socks. and I was VERY, VERY glad I did because it definitely helped this 52-year old. The two teenage daughters with us did just fine as did my 6 foot maybe 4 inch buddy.
As a kid, I would have never done this but as I have learned in life, it's about the experience; I looked forward to it and with much somewhat riskier stuff I've done in my life I have realized that I'd later regret not doing it.
And it was a blast! Maybe 20 feet high? And even landing on my butt one of the times, it didn't hurt at all.
With the most possibly dangerous part of the tour out of the way, Ivan and Sebastian whipped out the plentiful beverages of all kinds, including beer (included in the price of the tour).
The snorkeling stop with the tunnel swim was fantastic. Lots of fish to see and I was even able to dive down a bit despite the life vest we had to wear by law. I had asked Ivan if I could go without but he explained that the game warden for this protected marine area requires that everyone wear one. Ivan did, at one point, let me take it off, which I appreciated as I am a strong swimmer and I really love diving down to check out all the sea life up close. Shh...don't tell the warden.
We then had about 15-20 minutes at "The Secret Beach" which they claim is only reachable by boat but I did see a road from the beach so I dunno...lol. It was a nice enough beach and there were more beverages provided there which was very appreciated. My daughter and I collected some sea glass while we were there.
When we arrived back at the beach, we were contemplating staying for lunch or going back to town, which was included in the tour. The beach is so lovely and there a bunch of restaurants right there on the sand so we took Ivan's recommendation to dine at Restaurante-Bar Chuyita and it absolutely did not disappoint (get the whole fried fish...amazing)(. Usually, I am very skeptical of taking a tour operator's advice because , you know, he's probably getting some kind of kickback from the restaurant, right? But this place was legit and I appreciated Ivan even more for honestly guiding us in the right direction. And whatever any possible kickback I hope he gets, Ivan deserves it.
Before we sat at the table, we went over to the base camp just beyond the beach where there was a shower to rinse off. We thanked and tipped Ivan and went over for our fantastic meal. And don't worry, you can trust the ice in the drinks. I warned the rest of our party that they might not want to eat the raw lettuce but the ice really was fine.
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
