Playa San Pedrito is a beach that is
closest to the zocalo or central part of town. It is about 1km from the
zocalo. I don't recommend going to this beach as it is very close to the
grime of the port. The next closest beach is
Playa Las Brisas and it is
used by guests at several resorts but it is open to the general public
also. Playa Azul is a long beach that curves around the Bahia de
Manzanillo Bay. The best beaches by far are on the northern side of Las
Hadas Resort in the Bahia de Santiago Bay.
Playa Olas Altas
is a very popular beach that stretches around the majority of
this bay. There are vendors selling umbrellas at most of these
beaches and this beach is no exception. I highly recommend
getting an umbrella because it offers a welcome relief out of
the hot sun. |
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This beach has some good waves for
surfing for body boarding. It is not a small sheltered cove like some of
the other beaches. It is long and wide and is situated right next to the
road. Parking is also next to the road. Miramar Beach is the most
northern beach in the Manzanillo area. This beach is also good for body
boarding or surfing. Boards can be rented here.
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My favorite beach is
Playa La Audiencia which is situated in a small
cove at the end of a street which ends in parking along the side of the
street. This beach is on the same peninsula that the Las Hadas Resort is
located on. In fact it is off of the same road that you drive to get to
the resort. I highly recommend getting here early, (like before 9am), as
the crowds will fill up the parking spots very quickly. There are
vendors selling T-shirts and other souvenirs here. They price of the
souvenirs tend to be quite high priced because they cater to tourists,
hotels and guests of Las Hadas resort. They do have a good selection
though. The T-shirts are priced reasonably.
All sorts of sea equipment is rented here. Do not hesitate to
bargain. The men renting the equipment will quote you a price
depending on how they feel at that particular moment, and
chances are they will be feeling quite bad. You can rent |
wave runners (quite expensive at around
$40 per 1/2 hour), snorkeling equipment, boards, small boats to tour the
bay, and they also give rides on their banana boats. The snorkeling
equipment (fins, mask, and breather) wasn't very expensive but it was in
bad condition. If you have snorkeling equipment already, I would highly
suggest bringing it to Manzanillo. It will save you the aggravation of
having to rent cheap equipment. I found that quality of rental equipment
was not dependant on location. Every place that I rented equipment from
had lousy equipment. The renters let the equipment degrade until someone
finally breaks it and then they charge that person extra for breaking
their equipment.
This particular beach is not extremely large, but is big enough to
accommodate the general public as well as the guests of the local
resorts. The waves here are extremely gentle and in fact are among the
most easiest to deal with out of all the beaches in the Manzanillo area.
Snorkeling is fabulous here. The southern part of the small bay is the
best for this. There is an incredible array of variety of fish and sea
life lurking just underneath the surface of the waters. I was swimming
with schools of brightly colored orange, red and purple fish. The small
coves in the bay contained some of the most diverse sea life. This would
be a great place for an underwater camera. If you have never swam in the
ocean before, I would recommend to take a small bottle of freshwater
along with you. Perhaps hook it to your belt. This water will be a
welcome relief after swimming in the bay for a while. In my case I was
constantly sucking in saltwater which makes one quite queasy and having
some freshwater along would have helped me out considerably.
There is one main resort that is situated 10 feet from this beach. You
can tell who is staying at this resort by who is wearing the pink
bracelets. In my opinion the best part of this beach is on the southern
end. This part is away from most of the crowds and there is some shade
to escape to if necessary.
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