Las Ánimas is the south-shore stop for groups who want to actually get off the boat. A long curve of golden sand, a line of palapa-roofed restaurants serving fish that was in the water that morning, beach chairs, cold beer, and a village with no road in — you arrive the same way everybody else does, by water.
The Best "Get Off the Boat" Stop on the South Shore
Most of the south shore below Boca de Tomatlán is rock, jungle and pocket coves. Las Ánimas is the exception — a proper beach with a proper village behind it, and no road connecting either to the outside world. Everything and everyone arrives by boat, which somehow keeps it feeling like a beach town rather than a resort strip.
The sand runs long enough for an actual walk. The restaurants sit right on it, most of them family-run, most of them cooking whatever came in that morning. There are chairs and umbrellas, bathrooms, and cold drinks — the practical stuff that a jungle cove does not have.
What a Las Ánimas Stop Looks Like
Your captain anchors off the beach and gets you ashore. From there it is your afternoon: eat, swim, walk the beach, sit under a palapa, do nothing. Groups typically spend a couple of hours here. Since you booked the boat by the hour, you decide when you have had enough — nobody is waiting on a schedule but you.
Most south-shore stops on our charters include an hour free at anchor, so the beach time itself is not an extra line item.
The Classic Day That Ends Here
The route we run most often: out of Marina Nuevo Vallarta in the morning, lines in the water down the coast, snorkel Los Arcos while it is still glassy, then run down and spend the back half of the day at Las Ánimas eating and swimming. Head home in the late afternoon with the light going gold — which, if you have the hours, turns the ride back into a sunset cruise for free.
Bachelor, Bachelorette and Group Trips
Las Ánimas is one of the two places we send private parties (the other is Yelapa). It has the mix that works for a celebration: a beach big enough for a group, restaurants that can feed twenty people, and a run home long enough to put music on. Bring your own drinks and playlist for the boat; eat ashore.
Which Boat
Steel n Time takes up to 22 guests and has an air-conditioned salon, a full kitchen and two bathrooms — the pick for a big group making a day of it. Guanatuna handles up to 15 with full shade over the deck and an open bow. Peaceful Easy Feeling is the fast option for eight or fewer.
Good to Know
Bring cash. The beach restaurants and beach service are cash businesses, and there is no ATM in the village. Bring a dry bag for phones and wallets for the ride ashore, and expect to get your feet wet stepping off — there is no dock for a boat our size.
