Los Arcos is the postcard everyone has already seen before they land in Puerto Vallarta: a cluster of granite islets rising straight out of Banderas Bay, their white cliffs streaked by seabirds, their tops green with jungle, and dark natural arches and sea caves carved clean through the base at the waterline. It is a protected national marine park, which is exactly why the snorkeling there is what it is — the fish were never fished out.
What Los Arcos Actually Is
Los Arcos — Parque Nacional Los Arcos de Mismaloya — sits off the south shore of Banderas Bay, a short run below Puerto Vallarta's hotel zone. Four main granite islets break the surface, and the water around them drops off fast into a submarine canyon. That combination of shallow rock, deep water alongside and protected status is why it holds so much life: schools of sergeant majors, angelfish, puffers, parrotfish, the occasional eagle ray gliding past the wall.
The arches themselves are the draw above water. Wave action has cut tunnels straight through the base of the rock, big enough to swim through and, on a calm day, big enough to take a panga into. Frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies nest on the tops. It is genuinely one of the more dramatic pieces of coastline in Mexico, and it is roughly an hour of easy cruising from Marina Nuevo Vallarta.
What a Stop at Los Arcos Looks Like on Our Boats
Because everything we run is a private charter booked by the hour, there is no fixed Los Arcos "tour" here. You tell your captain you want to snorkel the arches and it gets built into your day. A typical shape: leave the marina in the morning, troll a couple of lines on the run south, drop anchor off the islets, spend an hour or more in the water, then either keep going down the coast toward Las Ánimas or Majahuitas, or head back and finish somewhere else.
Masks and fins are on board. Bottled water and ice are on board. You are not sharing the deck with forty people from three different hotels, and nobody blows a horn to tell you your twenty minutes are up.
When to Go
Visibility at Los Arcos is best when the water is calm and the swell is down, which generally means mornings. Afternoon wind picks up across the bay most of the year and stirs the surface. If snorkeling is the priority of your day, book an early departure and put the arches first on the route rather than last.
Winter and spring bring clearer, cooler water. Late summer and early fall are warmer and greener but occasionally murkier after rain runs off the mountains. Any time of year, your captain will tell you honestly on the morning of the trip whether the arches are worth the run that day or whether Majahuitas is the better call.
Combining Los Arcos With the Rest of Your Day
Almost nobody books a charter just to look at the arches. The most common day we run around Los Arcos folds in two or three things:
- Fish on the way down. The run from Nuevo Vallarta down the south shore is productive water. Rods and tackle are already on board — see fishing charters.
- Snorkel the arches for an hour or two at anchor.
- Finish on a beach. Las Ánimas is another short hop south if your group wants lunch on the sand, or Majahuitas if they want more water time and fewer people.
In whale season, roughly December through March, all of that happens while keeping an eye out for humpbacks — see whale watching.
Which Boat for Los Arcos
All three boats in the fleet make the run comfortably. Peaceful Easy Feeling is the quickest way to get a small group down there and back. Guanatuna is the sweet spot for a mid-sized family group who want shade over the deck and room to spread out. Steel n Time is the pick for larger groups or anyone who wants an air-conditioned salon and a real bathroom between swims.
What to Bring
Reef-safe sunscreen — it is a national marine park and the rules matter. A towel, a hat, and polarized sunglasses. An underwater camera if you have one; the arches photograph well from the water line. And cash if you want to tip the crew or buy lunch ashore at a beach stop later in the day.
