Today is the busiest day of our Vallarta Nature Festival plan with two trips booked, one in the morning to the Macaw Sanctuary and Botanical Garden and one in the evening with a sunset cruise to Yelapa. And after all the surprises in the morning when the shuttle didn’t come on time and then another shuttle broke down leading to us being stranded at the Botanical Garden for a couple hours we are not sure what to expect.
We still exit at the given time, pass another tourist at the hotel entrance and go to the street to wait for the shuttle. Then one of us notices a truck that looks similar to the morning one in the parking lot of the hotel. We descend and it is our shuttle which is early (!) and the tourist that we passed was the guide searching for us. The drive is relatively fast and soon we are at Boca de Tomatlan from where we have to take our boat. If only we can find a parking spot as the road is blocked by another truck and there is a long negotiation before the truck moves so we can continue along the narrow roads and park.
Getting on the boat is a little interesting as there is no dock. We have to step on a stair at the bottom of the boat and then jump in while avoiding the waves. To our surprise everyone makes it in without getting wet and soon we are on our way.
The boat driver recommends to start first with Los Arcos and then go to Yelapa and our guide agrees so to Los Arcos we go. The boat is quite speedy and after a quarter hour we start seeing the rocky outcrops that comprise the protected area. Each of them has nesting birds mostly pelicans and magnificent frigatebirds who wait patiently for a catch by the pelicans to steal it from them.
The most interesting species nesting here is the blue booted booby. There are quite a few of them and it is a treat to be able to see them closely as they rest on the nearby rocks.
The water is quite choppy, at least for us, so taking good pictures is proving to be difficult. It is interesting that from here we can see Puerto Vallarta in the distance and various resorts even closer to us. In fact now we understand that all the pelicans and frigatebirds we see at our hotel are probably making a beeline to Los Arcos to rest for the night.
Still around the Los Arcos the boat is going slower and also the water is a bit more protected so we can take in the birds better and also the scenic views of the various outcrops.
Soon we notice that some of them are really “Arcos”, arches, with some large tunnels and our boat is heading directly towards one of them. Are we really going to go below an arch in these choppy waters?
Well, actually we cannot even enter it for a time as there is a party boat there that takes multiple photos of what seems to be a bachelorette party. Then we do enter but we do not go through as it is too choppy and the pilot abandons entering another arch as the waves are too much.
Returning we see a few dolphins but no luck taking photos of them. And then suddenly the pilot starts going full speed and the guide relays to us that whales have been spotted, ironically right where we started. We are the first boat to get close by and we notice it is mama and baby whale, quite interesting. The baby is very playful and allows us to take a few photos from a safe distance. After enjoying the spectacle for a while it is time to make our way to Yelapa our last goal for the day.
The whole shore is full of houses and resorts, some active and some abandoned. It is quite interesting to watch them as our boat tries to avoid the worst of the choppy water.
There are some birds on this stretch too. We see a few black hawks and even a couple of macaws pairs that do a flyover, very exciting!
It takes more than we expected to get to Yelapa, probably around an hour so when we get there we have only limited time. And first we have to make it to shore, as the climb is via a metal ladder that seems quite scary.
Everyone makes it safely and it is time to follow the beach to the estuary where we hope to see some interesting birds.
While there are no unexpected birds we can take some beautiful photos of the existing ones that are already settling for the night. We always like Snowy Egrets and here they are in beautiful breeding plumage, a sight to see.
The area itself is quite scenic with the beautiful protected harbor and the scenic village across the estuary. There is no easy way we can see to cross it though so we stay on this side while observing the many birds in the estuary.
There are quite a few of black vultures here both in the air and even more interesting in the trees resting or waiting for us to slip in the water….Other birds are already fighting even across species for some reason.
We really like here the ibis, they seem unconcerned by us and just wander close to us on the shore. And what would be an estuary here without the beautiful yellow-crowned herons? We try to determine if it is one from our hotel but there are no identifying characteristics unfortunately.
There is also a single Yellowlegs looking for food in the water, it is flying around much more often than we are used to but not that far so we can still track it.
As we return we also explore the beach side area, at this time of the day it is mostly deserted so we have to full attention of everyone here as they are curious at this group of people with large cameras and binoculars.
The sunset is approaching so the guide is herding us towards to boat to ensure we can return during daylight to Boca de Tomatlan. As we walk back to the dock we also see the best way to get to the village proper, you have to cross through the shallow water….
On the way back we catch a very beautiful sunset, it was a sunset cruise after all! And then it is time to return to the hotel where we basically fall asleep immediately as we are incredibly tired after a beautiful but very full day.
