Whale watching

The whales have arrived! According to the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), this year’s whale watching season officially opened on December 8 and will run through March 23, 2020.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Every year, during the first 12 days of December, the streets of Puerto Vallarta fill with Catholic devotees, making their way through the city in traditional peregrinaciones (pilgrimages), honoring Mexico’s beloved Virgin of Guadalupe.

With more than 30,000 “snowbirds” making their way to the Puerto Vallarta area over the next several weeks, it’s time for some of Vallarta’s best annual events to kick off the 2019/2020 season!

Croc abuse

According to a report in a local Spanish-language website, municipal police officers detained three male “foreigners” this week for throwing rocks and bottles at a crocodile in the Marina area.  The offenders, whose nationalities were not released, were trying to get a reaction from the reptile, the report said.

Tourism still strong

This long weekend will see hotels around 90-percent full, Jalisco Tourism Secretary German Ralis Cumplido said this week.

The recent rupture of a sewage pipe and temporary beach closures hasn’t seemed to affect hotel reservations, he noted. And the absence this year of some 13,000 spring breakers from the United States wasn’t due to security worries, tourism services abuses or transportation problems, but hotel room prices.

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No spring break

Spring breakers will not be coming to Puerto Vallarta in 2019, their first absence in 25 years.