Semana Santa Warnings from Civil Protection

With unusually large surf for the last few days and the festivities of Semana Santa -- Civil Protection recommends that people take their precautions before entering into any body of water, watch the children and not swimming after eating food or alcoholic beverages.

Warnings come after a drowning in Arroyo Seco and a rescue in Perula and a rescue in Melaque

Arroyo Seco beach

Civil Protection Lifeguard

New Coastal Ecology and Management College Campus

The Department of Education for Sustainable Development of Coastal Zones located in San Patricio Melaque,  has authorized the construction of the University Campus in Jaluco, municipality Cihuatlán, which will host the aforementioned Department.

The news was warmly received by the audience and especially the students of the School of Marine Biology, and it is they who will use these facilities as well as students of the Doctorate of Science in Biosystematics, Ecology and Management of Natural Resources and Agricultural (BEMARENA ), focusing on management of coastal and marine resources. Through this project, the current administration is doing and demonstrating a breakthrough for the University Center since the building consists of a two-storey building for nine classrooms, a full library, four laboratories for teaching and research and healthcare. Ortega Ojeda said that the investment required of $ 19, 204, 835. 71 peso.

Centro Universitario de la Costa Sur -- Campus Jaluco, Municipio de Cihuatlán

Arroyo Seco Pro 2012 - Surf

Arroyo Seco is located about halfway between Tenacatita and Emiliano Zapata on the Costalegre (Costa Alegre) coast north of Melaque and Barra de Navidad. This event is partially sponsored by the new Las Brisas restaurant located on Las Brisas beach.

Trials and elimination start tomorrow the 13th of January and competition will be the 14th and 15th. Hours are supposed to be 9am to 6pm but they usually wait for the better tides. Follow the sign from the highway thru town past the plaza angling to the right until you can cross the "arroyo seco".   Follow that road to the beach.

Melaque Skim 2010

2010 skimboard contest in Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico Video

Carnaval Costalegre - 2010

Carnaval Costalegre Schedule
Febuary 12th - Febuary 16th
Barra de Navidad, Melaque, Villa Obregon

Click for larger copy

 

Update on Calechosa Bay

I was just over there today to see if the surf was up and it was. It had been over a year since my last visit and I hadn't seen Roy's house or the new development called Calechosa Bay. This beach is also known as Ranchito and is located behind the small community of the same name.

It looks like the road is slightly improved but will need 4-5 bridges to access the area in the summer during the rains unless you have a large 4WD vehicle. So far 3 structures are started, two houses and the "model home / sales office". All have a very long way to go. The picture also shows what the hillside looks like from Febuary thru June with no rain for many months. A dry jungle is pretty much the ecology we live in here.

I did include a picture of the beach which is beautiful but not for swimming, really only surfers use it and it's difficult for them to enter and exit the water. Many jump off the rocks on the far right to avoid the shoreline.

Costalegre Jalisco Mexico

Calechosa Bay - We're being surrounded

Yet another development on the Costalegre just outside of Melaque across the bay from Cuastecomate. This has been a very private community beach mostly visited by local surfers and known as Ranchito Beach. Growth and more growth all aimed at gringo bucks.


Here's the sales pitch ....


About Calechosa Bay
Calechosa Bay is a small, planned, sustainable community overlooking the ocean, six kilometers north of Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico. Facing south in a beautiful and secluded bay, it rises up from a rocky beach to a height of 70 meters, providing magnificent ocean views from all lots. Between the southern boundary of Calechosa and the ocean there is only a one-lane road and the Federal Zone (a strip of twenty meters from high tide). Phase One will offer six building lots of between seven and eleven thousand square feet. In Phase Two, about ten more lots will be offered. Phase Three will offer twelve condominiums on two remaining lots. There will be twenty-six lots in all, some of which are reserved for partners in the development.

Calechosa Bay Web Site

Experience Mex-ECO Tours on the Costalegre

Each of the tours organised by or in conjunction with Experience Mex-ECO Tours supports its local community in one or more of the following ways:

• Economically

• Environmentally

• Educationally

This is made possible through working together with community representatives, discovering exactly what their needs are and combining their needs with the interests of our clients. In this way we aim to provide ‘something for everyone’.

Experience Mex-ECO Tours also works on local fundraising projects, such as ‘Ayuda a Los Niños’, which provides support for local children; and C.A.M., the only special needs school in the area. As well as this we receive longer stay volunteers from abroad to support local teaching and Sea Turtle conservation projects.

The aim of Experience Mex-ECO Tours is to leave a number of local groups with the ability to organise and maintain their own tour projects without outside help, allowing them to benefit from the growing number of tourists that are arriving to Mexico’s Pacific Coast each year.

Experience Mex-ECO Tours is managed by Zoologist, Ruth Hazlewood, and marine biologist Daniel Patman.

Both have extensive experience of life and travel in Mexico, as well as spending time working as part of the ongoing efforts towards sea turtle conservation on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

Each of the tours operated by or in conjunction with Experience Mex-ECO Tours will be led by a bilingual member of staff (English and Spanish), usually employed from within the local area. Our staff are all appropriately trained and have extensive knowledge of the locations in which they work.

We look forward to meeting you and hope that you have the time to experience some of our tours and activities during your stay in the Costalegre.

Mex-ECO Tours Website

Cuastecomate

Cuastecomate beach is accessible from Barra de Navidad or Melaque by leaving Highway 200 at Melaque's last exit on the west as you reach the highway 80 junction (near the military base).

A paved road winds over the hillside to the beach on Cuastecomate Bay, where the small village is. Palapa seafood restaurants line the beach.

The waters of the bay are generally calm, making for good, safe swimming even for children, kayaking and a good snorkeling spot out along the rocks.

Besides the restaurants on the beach and houses, there is not much but one large hotel (Hotel Royale Costa Sur- under repair) and a few B&B's

Melaque

Melaque is a busy community located 4+ kilometers northwest of Barra de Navidad on Bahia de Navidad in the state of Jalisco. This area is actually comprised of three beachfront villages; San Patricio, Villa Obregon and Melaque - all generally referred to as “Melaque”. The small village of Melaque has been a vacation retreat for Mexicans for generations. San Patricio is a kilometer strip in the middle of the three villages that contains a colorful town square and lots of retail shops. Villa Obregon, to the east, is much more residential. The three 'municipios' form the largest community along the coast between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo.

Playa Melaque is the main beach in the area, and it is good for swimming, boogie boarding and skim boarding. The waves are more gentle on the protected west end. There is reasonably good snorkeling on the west end of town along the new Malecon. Lots of hotels and palapa restaurants line the beach.