Boca de Pascuales

Boca de Pascuales is a small fishing settlement and beach on the Pacific coast of the municipality of Tecomán, about 12 km from the city of Tecomán, where the Armería River reaches the sea. The river, which rises in Jalisco and runs about 240 km across central Colima, gives the place its name (boca means river mouth) and carries volcanic sediment from the Volcán de Colima that darkens the sand. At the 2020 census the hamlet had just 115 inhabitants, most of whom live from fishing.

The beach is known well beyond Colima for its surf. Sandbars at the exposed river mouth produce powerful, hollow waves that break close to shore in both directions, and in the main swell season, from May to November, sets can reach several metres; travel writers have described tubes of more than 20 feet. Surf forecasters rate it as an advanced break that works best with north and northeast winds and south to southeast swell. It is the home beach of Alan Cleland Quiñonez, born in Boca de Pascuales in 2002, who in 2024 became the first surfer to represent Mexico at the Olympic Games, in Paris. Every year the Torneo Clásico de Pascuales closes the Colima surf and bodyboard circuit; the 2026 edition is scheduled for 27 to 29 November.

The settlement is a short strip of surf camps, small hotels and seafood restaurants under palm-thatched roofs facing the open sea. Las Hamacas, a family-run seafood restaurant, has been serving oysters, shrimp, octopus and seafood soup here since the 1950s. The sea is rough and not suitable for swimming, so non-surfers usually come to watch the waves and eat. East of the river mouth, a road through coconut groves leads to Playa El Real, with its row of beach restaurants.