The Vistas

Since I have been to Huatulco before, and you have too if you are a regular reader, I am not going to go on and on about how beautiful it is here. But it is!

Briefly, for the newbees, Huatulco is an area along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca state. It is comprised of the main town of La Crucecita and the more tourist zone of Santa Cruz. La Crucecita is a bit more inland and does not have views of the ocean. It is nestled in one of the flat areas and has a beautiful backdrop of mountains.

The Mexican Tourism Agency, FONATUR, decided to develop this area for tourism in 1992. They learned their lesson with bigger resort areas, especially Cancun, and are being careful not to repeat the mistakes made that. Especially those with the environment. Development here is slow and strictly regulated. Recently one developer cut down a tree that was not in his original plan to remove. He was shut down for 3 months and had to pay stiff fines.

Huatulco is the short version of the full name, Bays of Huatulco. No wonder they call it that. There are 9 bays here and 36 beaches. Of course, not all of them are swimable beaches. But there are enough around that you are sure to find one or two that appeal to you.

And not all of the bays are huge. Some are tiny with no beach at all. But they still qualify as a beach and are counted by the tourism agency. So on to the pretty pictures!















These next two pictures are of the Bay of Santa Cruz. This is the beach closest to town and civilization. They built a pier here to accommodate cruise ships during high season. I'm told that two a day dock here. I'm glad I am here during the off season! The actual beach, lined with restaurants, is just below all that smoke in the below picture.





Looking just beyond the Bay of Santa Cruz, you can see a neighboring beach. I don't yet know the name of that one!




I'll explain all of that smoke later this week. I think it is a pretty interesting story.