Beaches

Jewel of jewels Playa Mora is accessible by a steep but short uphill dirt road (at this writing in need of repair and only jeep-negotiable) running north from Playa Tenacatita [1] past the palapas. Playa Mora itself is salt-and-pepper black sand dotted with white coral, washed by water sometimes as smooth as glass. Just 50 feet from the beach the reef begins.

Corals, like heads of cauliflower, some brown, some green, and some dead white, swarm with fish: iridescent blue, yellow-striped, yellow-tailed, some silvery, and others brown as rocks. (Be careful. Moray eels like to hide in rock crannies, and they bite. Don’t stick your hand anywhere you can’t see.)

If you get to Playa Mora by December you may be early enough to snag one of the roughly dozen car-accessible camping spots. If not, plenty of tent camping spaces accessible on foot exist; also, a few abandoned palapas are usually waiting to be resurrected.

North-side Playa la Boca (fronting the palm grove to the right of the ingress road) is the overflow campground for Tenacatita. It’s not as popular because of its rough surf and steep beach. Its isolation and vigorous surf, however, make Playa la Boca the best for driftwood, beachcombing, shells, and surf-fishing.