Huatulco (pronounced wah-TOOL-co ) ("Bahías de Huatulco"), centered around the town of La Crucecita, is a tourist development in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca. Huatulco's tourism industry is centered around its nine bays thus the name Bahias de Huatulco but has since been unofficially shortened to simply Huatulco. You will find a wide variety of accommodations from rooms for rent, small economy hotels, luxury oceanfront villas, vacation condominiums, bed and breakfasts, along with several luxury resorts standing on or near the shores of Tangolunda Bay. The Camino Real Zaashila, Quinta Real Huatulco, Las Brisas, Dreams Resort & Spa (Formerly the Gala hotel) and the Barceló are examples of the most popular larger resorts in the area.
Geography
Huatulco is located in the state of Oaxaca where the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean approximately 500 km south of Acapulco, Guerrero. Huatulco is divided into four main districts. Tangolunda is the area where the upscale resorts are located; Santa Cruz is a small town with the main marina and Santa Cruz beach; La Crucecita, is another small town just inland from the beach area that provides support services to the resort, and Chahué is an area between Santa Cruz and Tangolunda.
The Bahias de Huatulco, (Bays of Huatulco) are actually made up of a series of nine bays and numerous small coves stretching along 26 kilometers of jagged coastline, including 36 white sandy beaches. The most centrally located bay is Bahía de Santa Cruz, which is just south La Crucecita. It is also the center of commercial and tourist activities, with a large pier where yachts and cruise ships dock. Many resort offerings are found here such as hotels, craft shops, discothèques, bars, restaurants, excursion agencies, sailboat excursions as well as scuba diving, snorkeling and jet skis for rent. The Capilla de Santa Cruz is where many weddings and baptisms are celebrated next to the sea. Playa Santa Cruz , is the best known of the beaches here. It is 250 meters long, with soft white sand and turquoise blue water.
Heading east from Santa Cruz are the bays of Bahía Chahué, Bahía Tangolunda and Bahía Conejos. These are the more developed areas of Huatulco. Bahía Chahué is 2 km east of Santa Cruz and its name means "fertile or moist land" in Zapotec. It has a marina for yachts and 3 principal beaches; Chahué, Esperanza and Tejón. Even though these are wide beaches, their moderate surf makes them less-visited than those in Santa Cruz. Three km east of Chahué is Bahía Tangolunda, which has 5 beaches; Ventura, Manzanillo, Tornillo, Tangolunda and Rincón Sabroso. Here the water varies between cobalt blue and emerald green. Most of the better hotels are on this bay. Bahía Conejos is 4 km east of Tangolunda and has various residential complexes. The mouth of the Río (River) Copalita is here and alongside of it is a long zone of beaches. To the east of this bay are beaches stretching all the way to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Some of the best surf waves in Mexico are to be found from these point breaks. Playa El Mojon and Barra de la Cruz are two of the best and easiest to access. Playa El Mojon has some gorgeous residences that can be rented out, a great location to explore the surf breaks further East.To the west of Santa Cruz, the beaches are less developed; in fact most of this area belongs to the Parque Nacional (National Park) Huatulco. This is a protected area (Área Natural Protegida) created in 1998. It contains 6,375 hectares of lowland jungle and 5,516 hectares of marine areas, encompassing the bays of Bahía Maguey, Bahía Órgano, Bahía Cacaluta, Bahía Chachacual and Bahía San Agustín. In these bays live the most important coral communities of the Mexican Pacific. 723 species of animals live in the park as well as a number of species of colorful fish, and it is open to scuba diving, bird-watching and hiking. In 2006, the park received certification from Green Globe, mostly due to it management of potable and waste water, the first resort in the Americas to do so, and the third in the world. Bahía Órgano is named for the cacti that grow there. It is 240 meters long and only accessible by boat. Bahía Maguey is about 1/2 km long and is accessible by car. Both these bays have fine, white sand and waters of various colors of blue and green. Bahía Cacaluta and Bahía Chachacual are only accessible by boat, but there are absolutely no human constructions of any kind. Bahía San Agustín is the furthest west and the largest of all the bays. It has 1 km of beaches between 20 and 80 meters wide. There are also small islets inside the bay itself.
Climate
Sunshine can be expected about 330 days a year with the average temperature of 28C. The dry season extends from December to May and the rainy season is from June to November. The amount of precipitation has a definite effect on the local vegetation, being brownish in the dry season and very green in the rainy season.
Development of the resort area
In 1984, FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Turismo), a government agency dedicated to the development of tourism in Mexico, acquired 21,000 hectares of land to develop a tourism center, similar to that in Cancun. The existing population was relocated to Santa María Huatulco. The plan resulted in the improvement of roadways and other infrastructure. It also has populated areas mixed with "green zones" to make the area more ecologically-friendly. In fact, this is one of the cleanest developments in Mexico.
In addition to the beaches, one can explore and shop in the small communities of Bahias de Huatulco, such as Santa Cruz, La Crucecita, or old Santa María Huatulco (the municipal seat). When doing so, one can travel between the communities by bus or taxi. The entire area has a "small town" feel about it and is rarely crowded with tourists with the exception of the Christmas and Semana Santa holiday periods.
About 80% of all tourism in Bahias de Huatulco is domestic in nature. Only about 20% of Huatulco's tourism is foreign, mainly because international air access is limited. Bahias de Huatulco has a small international airport just 20 minutes from the main resorts in Tangolunda Bay. The peak season for foreign tourism is typically from December through April.
Nearby coffee plantations
There are a number of coffee plantations which are still in operation and give tours, including Finca (farm) Las Nieves , Finca Monte Carlos , Finca Margaritas , Finca El Pacífico and Finca La Gloria . Finca El Pacífico is known for the organic coffee it produces called "Pluma Hidalgo," and it is surrounded by waterfalls and ravines. Finca La Gloria is known for the butterfly sanctuary "Mariposorio Dain Biguid", where dozens of species of butterflies can be seen and the "Llano Grande Falls". The Río Copalitilla has its source here as well.
Transportation
Despite the improvements in infrastructure, Bahias de Huatulco is not as easy to get to as other resorts like Cancun. The drive south from Acapulco on Federal Highway 200 has over 300 speed bumps (Topes). Driving from Oaxaca city, the state capital is not any easier because Highway 135 is also full of speed bumps. Highway 190 has fewer but it's a much longer road with many curves due to the mountainous terrain.
Bahias de Huatulco has an airport, the Bahías de Huatulco International Airport, which is served nationally by Mexicana, Interjet, and Magnicharters, from other Mexican airports. Internationally , , and First Choice fly here from the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Large portions of the Bahias de Huatulco resort area are located within an "ecological zone"; much of the area is protected from future development, and the area is serviced by modern water and sewage treatment plants so that no waste goes into its pristine bays. Huatulco has been awarded the Green Globe certification, and it is the only resort in Mexico to receive this prestigious award (Green Globe is the worldwide benchmarking and certification system for the travel and tourism industry across the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental management).
History
Legends say the Toltecs and Quetzalcoátl came from this area. Quetzacoátl, according to a later legend, set an enormous and indestructible cross, which has never been found. Various people have passed through this area, including the Chatmos, the Zapotecs and the Mexicas.
After the Spanish Conquest, Huatulco thrived as a port under Hernán Cortés' control serving as a vantage point for Spanish galleons and a distribution centre for supplies on the Pacific coast. The latter half of the 16th Century saw Huatulco attacked by Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish - both of whom left their prints on the region's history and legends that continue to this day.
Vicente Guerrero was executed by firing squad here in 1831.
Until resort development began in the 1980s, Huatulco was
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