Playa de las Tortugas

Playa de las Tortugas, Turtle Beach, is a long, open stretch of Pacific sand in the far north-west of the municipality of Compostela, Nayarit, running south from the rocky point that separates it from Platanitos. It lies about 21 km south of San Blas and roughly an hour from Tepic, the state capital, at the end of the back roads that cross the farming plain from Las Varas. Behind the dunes are the palms of an old coconut plantation and a mangrove estuary, and the beach itself goes on for kilometers with hardly a building in sight.

The name is earned. Olive ridley turtles, and less often hawksbill, black and leatherback turtles, nest on this coast, and the camps of Playa Las Tortugas and Platanitos, on either side of the rocks and both managed by Conanp, the national protected-areas commission, are among the most productive in Nayarit, together releasing more than 250,000 hatchlings a season. The busiest months are May to August, when the beach can fill with nesting turtles; in winter only one or two come ashore a night. Visitors can join the late-afternoon releases and, at the Platanitos camp, the night patrols that collect the eggs for the incubation corrals. Platanitos holds a Sea Turtle Festival every July.

The beach is also known for its waves, which draw surfers and bodyboarders, and the estuary's mangrove tunnels are good for kayaking and for watching water birds; crocodiles live there too. The way in is through Playa de las Tortugas Villas, a gated compound of rental villas set back from the dunes, and beyond it the beach is simple: sand, palms and surf, with no restaurants, so bring what you need or eat in Platanitos. The dirt road from Platanitos is rough, so try to arrive before dark, when cattle and cyclists are hard to see on the roads.