Cabo Corrientes

Cabo Corrientes is the headland that marks the southern end of Banderas Bay, the counterpart of Punta de Mita on the far side of the bay's mouth. It lies at the western tip of the Jalisco municipality that takes its name, a wild, thinly populated stretch of jungle-covered mountains that drop straight into the Pacific, about 65 km west of Puerto Vallarta. The cape has been a key mark for navigators since the first Spanish charts of the coast, which already show it in the 17th century, and the sea off it is known for strong currents and rough water: sailors call it Mexico's Point Conception, after the notoriously windy cape in California.

On the point stands the Faro de Cabo Corrientes, one of the oldest buildings in the region. It was built in the early 1900s, in the time of Porfirio Díaz, with its structure and fittings brought from Europe, and has been lit since 1903. It is an octagonal masonry tower about 18 m tall rising from a single-storey keeper's house, painted white with a red lantern; because it sits high on the cliffs its light shines 93 m above the sea, a white flash every six seconds. It is still an active aid to navigation run by the Mexican Navy, although a visitor in 2012 found it in need of restoration, and it has run on emergency lighting at times since.

The nearest village is Corrales, a small fishing community on a cove about 2 km east of the cape, whose beach is known to surfers for its powerful waves. No road goes to the lighthouse: you walk from Corrales along a path over the headland, and the grounds are open but the tower itself is closed. From the top there is a sweeping view north across the whole of Banderas Bay. Getting to Corrales is an adventure in itself, either on a long dirt road through the sierra from El Tuito or by boat from Boca de Tomatlán on a guided trip.