The Marietas Islands’ hidden beach is off the coast of Puerto Vallarta. It’s so exclusive the national guard only allows 625 people a day in the area. You need a special permit to access the hidden beach; if you get one, you must swim through a cave to set foot on it.

The Marieta Islands’ hidden beach is also called “playa del Amor” or lover’s beach and people come from all over the world to see it. I booked a tour boat and traveled to the islands to see it for myself.

Visiting the Marietas Islands

After booking a hard-to-get date to visit the beach, I was worried I wouldn’t make it to my boat to get to the islands at all. I made it to the boat port in time, paid the port fee, got in a long line, and waited for 15 minutes, only to learn I was in the wrong line. By now, I was 15 minutes late and had to sprint across the port to the correct place.

Getting a permit on one of the few boats going to the Marietas Islands takes planning. They book up weeks in advance. Getting through the hoards at the marina is an altogether different difficulty, but one you must plan for if you want to see this magical island.

I sprinted past giant macaw parrots and Aztec dancers with jingling shell ankle bracelets upon their approach. Then, I nearly boarded the wrong boat because they really leave a lot up to guesswork and I’m a terrible guesser. But finally, I was making my way across the blue, blue ocean to the rare islands.

Boat Ride to Marietas Islands

The boat ride to Marietas Islands is leisurely and takes about an hour. About three-quarters of the way there, we saw a pod of whales and many dolphins. The dolphins swam next to our boat, and the whales swam in the distance, flipping their tales and blowing water.

You can take a special whale watching tour in Puerto Vallarta from December through April, but the whales are so prevalent, any boat ride should put you close enough to see some action.

Soon, the Marieta Islands came into view.

Marietas Islands Protection

The Marietas Islands are a series of rocky, coral islands off the coast of Nayarit, Mexico, five miles from the mainland. Nobody lives on the islands. There aren’t even trees. What there is are fantastic sea life, coral, clear blue waters and a few exceptionally sandy, pretty beaches.

The Mexican government does not allow any fishing, hunting or much human activity near the islands. They’re a marine sanctuary with 44 species of plants and wildlife. It’s now a Ramsar site and a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. The islands are a feeding and breeding ground for the rare blue-footed boobie birds and other protected species.

Because of extensive tourism in years past, there are strict regulations about who and how many people can visit. Only 625 visitors can visit the islands with only a few companies a day. There is just one secluded beach open to the public. Much of the island is marked with buoys, so boats know not to get too close.

The rules for what you can and can’t do – like go up on the rocks or beaches, touch anything and especially fish – is long. There are national guards in boats patrolling the islands to ensure that nobody tries anything prohibited.

Snorkeling at Marietas Islands

A few snorkeling areas near the islands are roped off, with designated areas you can view with goggles. No swim fins are allowed because of past coral damage, so you must make your way in bare feet.

We had to jump out of the boat at a distance because of the rope and coral. We swam to the snorkeling area. Because the site is out in the open ocean, versus being off the shore like snorkeling at nearby Los Arcos, the wave is bigger but less aggressive. I swam into the rolling sea and, putting my face into the water, saw an alternate universe.

Right away, I saw that schools of fish encircled me. They were like large gray pineapples with a white and black stripe and bright yellow tail. I saw black and white speckled pufferfish, a big black fish with a bright orange tail, silver fish, blues and violet color fish that glow ultraviolet.

At one point, I was in the middle of a school of hundreds of big gray fish with bright yellow tails. They seemed to investigate me as I was them, and they were all around me. They were so close they almost touched me before moving away.

Marietas Islands Public Beach

After a while of snorkeling, a small panga boat picked us up. A panga is a small boat with an outboard motor that can hold up to 12 people tightly seated.

We climbed in clumsily (at least I did), and they drove us around the island to the only beach the public could visit without a special permit. At the location, we had to jump out of the boat (again, not the prettiest) and swim to the beach.

The beaches are overflowing with white sands and aqua-blue waters so bold you’ll wonder how many colors you didn’t know existed. Shades of blue included but were not limited to:

• Aquamarine
• Blue-green
• Violet
• Cornflower blue
• Prussian blue
• Cadet blue
• Navy blue
• Teal
• Cerulean

Like Bubba Gump talking about shrimp, I could go on and on.

The public beach at Marietas Islands feels like being abandoned on an island in the middle of the ocean. Well, since the panga dropped us off and went to pick up more snorkelers, we were technically abandoned, if only temporarily.

After a while, the panga boat returned and shouted out the names of the people who paid the special fee to see the hidden beach. I was one of them! So, I swam back out to the boat and climbed in – more gracefully. I was getting used to this.

Marietas Islands Hidden Beach

The hidden beach is a strictly protected area that only 116 people can visit daily, only five days a week. That’s only about 550 a week, so planning is imperative if you want to go. It took me two weeks to get a spot.

Situated in an open crater, the Marietas Islands hidden beach is called the “beach of love,” but it is a beach to love. Its odd shape didn’t come naturally. the Mexican government accidentally created it in the 1900s through bomb testing. That, combined with erosion, made a perfectly secluded beach in a crater. It’s accessible only when the tide is low because you can only get to it if you swim through a cave.

Ten of us battled rough waves in our small boat as we made our way around the island. There was another small panga boat like ours but with a top where the national guard patrolled the Hidden Beach. They ensure that nobody unauthorized attempted to get too close.

Swimming through the cave

The guard gave us helmets for swimming through the cave. My guide said that sometimes the ocean is too high and rough to enter the beach. He said he’d been in the cave when the waves tossed him about “like a chicken” into the rocks – thus the helmets.

You can’t really see the cave entrance from the boat, and you might not pay attention at all. Many of the coral islands have caves and cave-looking structures, and this one looks like all the others. It’s different than other caves because the light is at the end of it. (Actual light at the end of the tunnel).

The cave isn’t as scary as it might sound. It’s about 20 feet wide and 100 feet long, and several people can go through it simultaneously. You can see the entrance and exit. On the day we were there, the water was low, and I couldn’t touch the top of the cave when I was inside it.

“Playa del Amor” or Lover’s Beach

Once you get to the other side of the cave, the water starts to lighten from dark blue through the spectrum of blues until it is light aqua. The sand under your feet is soft and white like baby powder. The beach is shaped like a perfect circle. You realize you’re in a deep crater hole with walls that go up 30 feet around you in a perfect circle. It’s one of a kind!

Each visitor is only allowed to stay at the beach for 20 minutes, so our time there was short. Too soon, we put our helmets back on and swam back through the cave. We had to wait for our boat to pick up back up. Since the boat was on Mexico time (late), I floated in the open sea under the shining sun with saltwater misting my face.

On the way back to Puerto Vallarta, we ate lunch and played music. Yes, we danced in a conga line while the sun set and dolphins followed us home.

Read other stories about Puerto Vallarta here.

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