Laguna Superior

Laguna Superior fills a stretch of the Gulf of Tehuantepec coast in south-east Oaxaca and is the largest lagoon of the Isthmus: between 350 and 380 km² depending on the source. A narrow mouth, the bocabarra, links it to the Pacific, and the Santa Teresa bar separates it from the Laguna Inferior, which is more enclosed and less salty. It belongs to the Isthmus lagoon system along with the Quirio, Occidental, Oriental and Inferior lagoons. The río Perros, the río Chilapa, the arroyo Estacudo and the arroyo San José flow into it.

Zapotec and Huave (Ikoots) communities line its shores: Playa Vicente and Playa Unión, Álvaro Obregón, Santa María Xadani, Unión Hidalgo, Chicapa de Castro and San Dionisio del Mar. Fishing is the main livelihood. Cast nets are thrown from wooden pangas, reed traps catch shrimp and people fish at night with lamps; the catch includes shrimp, mullet, snook and mojarra. When rain fails, shrimp vanish and the water turns saltier: in 2017 fishermen said the sea had pulled back more than 50 m from the beach. The same fragility shows at the bocabarra, which silts up with sand; in September 2021 villagers and fishermen reopened it by hand with picks and shovels.

The lagoon holds more than 20 islands. The ones with beaches that get the most visitors are Cerro Cristo, Cerro Pato, Cerro Prieto, Cerro Venado and Cerro Lepe. Migratory birds arrive between October and March; through the year you can see herons, pelicans and cormorants, and roseate spoonbills in the dry season.

The easiest place to visit is Playa Vicente (Playa San Vicente), about 10 km south-east of Juchitán. It began as a fishing hamlet called Playa Victoria, founded in the 1960s, and today has about 255 residents, two fishing cooperatives (Che Cata and Jaiberos) and some ten palapas serving fish and seafood, mostly cooked in wood-fired ovens. Tourism is still light; at Easter it fills with people from Juchitán.