Animas Beach

Las Animas Beach is near Boca de Tomatlan and is accessable only by boat. Vendors set up their umbrellas and chairs and try to lure tourist into their beach bars for a drink, or to buy some gifts. The beach is beautiful and very lively! This was one of our stops on our cruise around Banderas Bay. That's our tri-maran, The Kontiki, behind Dorothy and the jet-ski.

The white sand beach is surrounded by mountains and jungle, making it impossible to get to by car. From here there are trails up to the mountain waterfalls that can be hiked, or you can rent horses. It was the dry season (and hot as hell) so we just enjoyed the beach!

The water is very warm, and clearer at this beach than to the north near the city. The boat tours from Puerto Vallarta bring many tourist and the beach gets pretty busy.We walked down the beach away from all the tourist, to a more secluded portion, near this dock.

Feels like a giant Beany Baby!

This is where we met the Lizard Lady and her little boy. Nice folks. Now you know why this is called Las Animas Beach! This iguana was so cool! And it knows how to pose for the tourist, too!

Yes, it's a real iguana-matching hat!

I got this picture right before the iguana grabbed the little boy's ear and made him cry. Dorothy would not come within 100 yards of the lizards!

After exploring Las Animas Beach, we got back on the Kontiki and headed back out into the bay. See the cruise around Banderas Bay page!