What To Do In Ixtapa/Zihua

[CalicoCat]

We will be in Zihua and perhaps Ixtapa on November 17th. We have no excursions planned and are wondering if anyone has suggestions for our day in port.

 

Thanks for any input!

[CalicoCat]

Apparently there's absolutely nothing to do in Ixtapa/Zihua.

[Worfiedoodles]

Hi!

 

My friend Carrie and I are also on the cruise with you. We have heard this is a great port to do your shopping, so that's my plan. It's supposed to be very manageable on your own, so we're just going to walk around a soak up the atmosphere.

 

We're doing excursions in every other port, so I'm calling this my "rest" day!

 

I can't believe we leave so soon!

 

C'ya at the CC party!

[cruisinmamma]

This port was on our cuise last Jan and I did enjoy the shopping. We also took a ferry to a nearby beach for about $5 round trip. I don't remeber the name of the beach, but you could see it from the ship's dock.

[Kev and Tam]

we went to Ixtapa Island with a tour. It was very nice, but the snorkeling wasn't as great as we thought it would be. The water was cloudy, but remarkably the photos came out great! (yes, we came back today and spent all of our leftover $$$ processing photos!) Have a great time in Ixtapa and Zihua!

[CalicoCat]

Thanks for that input. It's very helpful. I think I'll suggest we just wander around and do a little shopping, eating and drinking.

[Aloha_Jackie]

we also just got back recently - we went to Ixtpa Island via a tour with Carnival Spirit. It was a nice area to hang out and have a nice lunch and a cocktail or two or three (its hot). I snorkeled on both sides, the front which faces the mainland isnt as good as the back which faces open ocean, snorkel wise. Its a short walk in either direction, but is kind of hilly, but I made it - so you can too! So you huff and puff a little. They had banana boats for $5.00 US and other diversions like jetskis etc, or just sit under the palapas or hang in a hammock and enjoy the beautiful scenery, unspoiled and gorgeous!

[Aloha_Jackie]

We also had some very good food and shopping in Zihua - they have some sort of law that doesnt allow for vendors, so no one approches you and waves items in your face - its really refreshing, especially after Acapulco or other area like Cabo where this happens constantly

 

La Sirena Gorda (chubby mermaid) had excellent shrimp and other food fare for lunch at decent prices onn the water near all the fishing boats along the shoreline of Las Gatas beach

[CalicoCat]

Thanks for that info! Sounds like we'll be wandering and shopping and having some lunch in Zihua!

 

Linda

[Aloha_Jackie]

Hola again Calico Cat - they had lots of neat things in Zihua to buy at the shops - we bought a wooden bowl that was handpainted - very cool - lots of handicrafts, also bought some woven fans (hot flash anyone?) and even a nicely done watercolor of the Los Gatos beach- bargain, its part of the deal, prices are decent and the work is good. Have fun:)

[Bucky3]

Does anyone know the name of the beach you can take a water taxi to that is near where the ship anchors. I believe you can see the beach from the ship. Is that Las Gatas beach?

[Aloha_Jackie]

yes - thats it - Las Gatas - Los Gatos whatever, I always get the tense wrong

 

 

if its "el gato" then it should be los gatos, right? it says it on my painting, Im too lazy to go downstairs to look

[Mandypup]

We did the Las Gatas Beach Club Snorkel and Jungle Hike tour. It is a quick trip over to the beach in a water taxi. The "club" is very rustic but pleasant, and you can walk down the beach to more luxurious resort type areas (we did not). The hike is paved and not too steep - to a lighthouse overlooking the ocean (you can see the lighthouse as you come in to the bay area). A couple of people had trouble with the hike because of bad knees and asthma, so you need to be in reasonably good health to try it, but it's definitely worth the climb and you can go at your own pace.

No one else in our group did the snorkel, which was a shame, but we (DH and I) really enjoyed it. The snorkel takes you around to a "reef"/rocky area with some brain coral so they ask you to wear life jackets but we protested and they let us drag a boogie board along instead. If the tide is low I could see a problem getting scraped by coral (their reason for the life jackets) but it wasn't an issue the morning we were out. The snorkeling was decent, visibility to about 15-20? feet in a protected area so you don't have to worry about boats. Our snorkel guide caught a puffer and brought some starfish and different creatures off the bottom for us to touch and see which was a lot of fun. (I usually don't touch anything if I'm snorkeling!) If you don't want to snorkel, you can swim off the beach or soak up the sun. After the snorkel we had a simple but DELICIOUS lunch and then the taxi took us back to the pier at 12:30.

We enjoyed the relaxing morning. Don't know if you can set the tour up independently but I'm sure you could just take a water taxi over and rent the snorkel equipment without any problem. You do need to have a guide for the hike as part of it is on private land. Food and drinks are available at the beach club.

[john2003]

We just got back from the Nov 5 Star cruise. We paid the $3 return for the water taxi across to Los Gatos. Chose one of the many restaurants along the beach and snorkeled at the reef just offshore. We bought drinks and got to use the chairs and shade for free. Nothing fancy.

 

Visibility was reasonable and quite a lot of fish. Santa Maria at Los Cabos was better snorkeling but this was fine. Water was very warm.

 

Afterwards, we took the water taxi back and walked around the town. We enjoyed it. Very simple and inexpensive.

[Bucky3]

Thanks so much for all this information. We will probably do this on our own.

My graddaughter wants to swim with the dolphins in Ixtapa. Has anyone done this or heard about it? Hope to have time to do both.

[Aloha_Jackie]

Gracias john2003 - I am going to be on the Santa Maria snorkel spot in a few days on a HAL excursion on Thanksgiving - I snorkeled next door at Chileno and loved it and wanted to test the waters at Santa Maria - glad to hear that you liked it and saw lots of fish! :)

[CalicoCat]

We just returned from the 11/13 Star Sailing. We got off of the ship's tender and there are lots of water taxi guys right there. We negotiated with Jorge (adorable) and he took us over to Las Gatas Beach and came to pick us up right on time when it was time to leave.

 

He recommended hanging around La Mesa del Pescador which is owned by his cousin Cruz (also adorable...definite family resemblance.) We had chaises and either sun or shade and decent snorkeling all day. We had a great lunch....guacamole to die for and awesome shrimps on a skewer, etc. Huge menu selection. Any and all drinks we wanted. I think we spent around $50 for four of us for all drinks and food. It was a lovely day and I can heartily recommend Jorge and Cruz. Great fun!

 

Linda

[CalicoCat]

Hey Jackie. We did a sail/snorkel excursion to Santa Maria Cove last week. The sailboat ride was awesome...And the snorkeling was OK. Not great, but fun to be in the water.

 

BUT, the news is...........On the way back to the Cabo Marina, we saw WHALES!! So keep your eyes peeled for those spouts coming out of the water. It was too, too kewl. Three or four humpbacks just meandering along.

 

:)

 

Linda

[gsb]

ntrnt

[Live the good life]

We had one of the best tours of all ports at this very charming and traditional village...This was actually an unplanned tour: we ran into Carlos (our taxi driver) at the pier and took up on the offer for a 2 hour tour of Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa...Carlos was so enthusiastic and proud of his village, and took us to all the picturesque places: Playa Las Gatas, which had white sand and crystal clear water; Playa la Ropa-another beautiful beach on the bay, and to a resort on top of the cove where one can have a spectacular view of the cove (reminding us of views at Santorini or high above VilleFranche)...From here, we could have view of the hotel "La Casa Que Canta" where one of our favorite movies was filmed "When a Man Loves a Woman"...Some of the cruisers went directly to this hotel to have lunch or a drink...We would have loved to visit there too had we had more time...Carlos also brought us to a place where we could see turtles and monkeys...About 10 miles away was Ixtapa, where we went to Hard Rock Cafe on the beach. Ixtapa was much more a party place (like Cancun, Cabos, and Acapulco) and had all the touristy restaurants, Carlos and Charlie's, Senor Frogs, etc..To us, Zihuatanejo was kind of different-a more natural place...very charming, romantic, and relaxing...Enjoy...

Kim

[roboref]

How much did Carlos charge? How many people were with you? It sounds like you got a great tour.

[karfest]

Kim,

Sounds like the tour you took with Carlos is exactly what we want! We were there last year and just wandered around and then grabbed a cab to Ixtapa. Our driver was a nice enough guy but didn't really say much or take us anywhere special.Do you have a contact number or e-mail for Carlos? I would love to have him meet us at the dock.

Zihua was my favorite port and I'm glad we get to spend moretime there this year!

[stockman]

Hi Kim,

 

If by some chance you have a phone number, email address or a way to track down Carlos, I too would like to book him up for our upcoming cruise.

 

Mucho Gracias!

 

Take care,

 

Steve (stockman)

[Another Cruise]

If you can't get Carlos, we had a great one to try. Actually I had read about him on this board. His name is Omar Galeana. His cell phone is 755-104-8516. He gave us his number and said we could post it. He was born in Zihuataneajo, but has lived in Europe and Seattle and speaks perfect English. He said he never studied it, just learned by living among English speaking people. He only drives a cab for cruise passengers. He and his wife own a store in Ixtapa, but he didn't tell us that until the end, and never tried to sell us anything. He took us to Barcelo Hotel and we told him what time we wanted to return. He was there early to pick us up. On the way back to the ship we had extra time so "his gift to us" was a five minute side trip up a back road that looked out over the ocean for a beautiful view/picture and a stop to see our ship from there and take a picture. He was great!! He also likes to take cruise passengers on all day tours wherever you want to go. He would be very trustworthy and dependable and he is a safe driver. Enjoy you day. This was my favorite stop on the cruise.

[PACURN]

How much did you pay for the taxi tour. Did you feel safe. My freind and I (were both female) are thinking of going on the Carnival Cruise out of San Deigo and this sounds fun. I'm a little concerned about safety though.