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 Coral Beach at Isla Ixtapa. -- Photos courtesy of Chris Millikan |
Of all the wonderful ports along Mexico's Riviera, we love the twins best. Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo offer two totally different experiences.
A little island just off Ixtapa's resort area proves a perfect day-trip for us. Isla Ixtapa's Playa Coral embraces a large reef in a protected narrow bay along its south side.
Returning from marine encounters there, my husband Rick enthusiastically reports, "There's surprising amounts of bright-white coral here, some crusted with green or brown algae... spectacular swirls of blue fish with flashy iridescent dots, lots of yellow ones striped with gray and white, tiny electric-blue-fish flitting and mottled lizard-fish clinging along the rocky bottom."
He saunters over a wooded knoll to investigate another out-of-the-way cove. From my thatch-shaded lounge, I watch as children splash and paddle in the shallows. Several teens in tiny swimsuits stroll the shell-littered sands.
Elaborate lobster beach-lunches start when a waiter staggers past, presenting gigantic trays stacked with fresh seafood. Several families make careful selections and he soon returns, carrying hand-painted-ceramic platters heaped with succulent snacks... and enormous frosty Margaritas.
Cortez himself had once written to the King of Spain about secluded Isla Ixtapa, commenting that "only women and children live there." Scholars speculate that this island had been a refuge from foreign fleets or maybe Aztec invaders. Today the nature reserve protects deer, reef-life and turtles.
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Returning to the main beach, we stretch out to sun ourselves on lounges fronting a row of palm-roofed, open-air cafes. Hugging icy Coronas draped in fresh lime, we watch swimmers play in gentle waves and kids build castles in soft golden sand.
Eventually wading out to our bobbing, canopied fishing-pangas, we reluctantly leave this peaceful island paradise. Once boarded, we zip through swooping flocks of curious pelicans, gulls, terns and boobies and head back to Playa Linda near the hotel zone.
Sandpipers skitter and cry along the gentle surf at Playa Linda. We dawdle from the small, rustic jetty toward mangrove lagoons, searching out crocodiles lazing in the sun... and the bus.
At the croc pit, a new eight-kilometre cycle path meanders down the coast through an ecological park to Ixtapa's marina.
"Next time, we'll try it out," declares my hubby.
Along the groomed floral boulevard, the bus rolls past the picturesque marina, through the upscale beachfront hotel zone and past a lush, 18-hole golf course.
Embracing the five kilometre strip of beach on Palmar Bay, small world-class resorts offer palm gardens, turquoise-blue pools, classy restaurants and air-conditioned rooms with sea-views, balconies and satellite TV. Village-style shopping malls stretch just behind.
"In native Nahuatl, Ixtapa means the white place, named for that long white-sand beach," our guide Alejandro chuckled, "Or maybe for those guano-covered seabird islands offshore."
Originally mangrove swamps and coconut plantations, Ixtapa materialized in the early 1970's when neighbouring Zihuatanejo refused any drastic alterations to its appearance.
We travel back seven kilometres to Zihuatanejo where our elegant cruise ship waits offshore in cobalt-blue waters. Television's Love Boat once featured this small port. And in "The Shaw Shank Redemption," Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins daydreamed of the good life in Zihuatanejo, a rustic, old-world Mexican fishing village.
Today, perky sailboats and sleek mega-yachts anchor in Zihuatanejo's sweeping bay, which was once shelter to marauding pirates. Francis Drake lurked along the Pacific coast in the 1500's, as did George Anson in the 1700's and many others, plundering treasure-laden Spanish galleons. A pretty crescent of pale yellow-white sand at La Ropa beach was named centuries ago for luscious silk clothing washed ashore from a wrecked merchant-ship.
We pass a sculpture-park celebrating early history. For centuries a matriarchal society had thrived in this area.
Alejandro explains how Captain Chico, "exploring the area, witnessed women washing clothes in freshwater springs on the edge of the bay. His Aztec guide explained that this was Cihuatlan, land of women. Cortez altered that name, adding 'nejo' meaning little, which evolved into Zihuatanejo."
Waving adios, we exit our bus at the still-popular Central Market spreading along Avenida Benito Juarez. We check out lively stalls selling thick golden honey, crimson chilis and fragrant spices before wandering the narrow cobblestone street past the only church in town.
Low-rise, fan-only hotels, quaint shops and casual cafes line shady lanes and dusty side streets. Doubling as a traditional town square, a basketball court fronts Playa Municipal. There, fishermen beach their fishing pangas and sell plentiful night catches to locals and restaurants early each morning.
The brick-paved malecon ends at the museum where murals, maps and relics depict native cultures. A footpath cut into nearby rocks leads to Playa Madera, a loading point in the 1920's for exotic lumber from the Sierra Madres. Nowadays, it's a terrific gray-sand swimming beach for kids.
Locals and visitors linger in sun-drenched patio-cafes or look through family-owned handicraft stalls along Paseo del Pescador. We happily soak up traditional small-town charm and centuries-old traditions as we bargain for silver trinkets, souvenir T-shirts and hand-painted ceramics. Young girls sit patiently for elaborate hair-braids.
Boats regularly shuttle beach-goers from the pier over to Playa Las Gatas across from town. According to legend, an ancient Tarascan ruler built a seaside retreat at the bay's far end about 1400 AD, enclosing a swimming pool to keep dozens of royal wives and daughters safe from the whiskered nurse-sharks that gave the beach its name. I wonder, "Does this make Zihua Mexico's first tourist resort!"
We hop onboard a late-afternoon tender crammed with other day-trippers and speed across sparkling waters to our Carnival cruise-ship. Our excursion to Isla Ixtapa had introduced a twin holiday-paradise with an enthralling past.
At sunset our ship glides from the beautiful bay; beguiling lights twinkle ashore. Slightly off the beaten track, our discoveries at Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo ensure our return to Mexico's Riviera.