La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla is a coastal village in La Huerta municipality on Tenacatita Bay, at kilometre 14 of Federal Highway 200 on the stretch from Melaque to Puerto Vallarta. It lies about 56 km northwest of the port of Manzanillo, which it should not be confused with, and roughly half an hour from Barra de Navidad and Melaque. It had 1,592 people at the 2020 census. It is a quiet, walkable place with modest hotels, and its high season runs from mid-November to March, when yoga, cooking and art classes are offered and there is an art gallery.

Its main draw is the estuary, some 264 hectares of mangrove and river mouth that hold the largest population of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) on the Jalisco coast, between 400 and 500 animals. Residents fought developers for years as they filled in the mangroves to sell as building land, formed a group called Cipactli, after the Nahuatl word for crocodile, and won government recognition of the area as an environmental management unit (UMA). In 2008 the Estero La Manzanilla was listed as a Ramsar wetland. The ejido's crocodile sanctuary has a 650-metre circular boardwalk over open water and through the mangroves, with a lookout tower halfway round and a nursery for young crocodiles at the end. One of the best-known residents, Pancho, is about 4 metres long and weighs around 380 kilos. Sixty-three resident and sixteen migratory bird species have been counted in the estuary, iguanas, herons, anhingas and white ibises are easy to spot, and baby sea turtles are released here in July, August and September.

In the sea you can swim, snorkel, kayak or paddleboard, or swim out to the rocks where a statue of María Asunción stands. Local fishermen take visitors out for dorado, sailfish and tuna, and spotted dolphins, whales, pelicans, cormorants, boobies and frigatebirds are commonly seen. Inland, a hike up a riverbed leads to waterfalls. Just north of the village is Boca de Iguanas, with beach campsites and hotels.