Swimming in the Aquarium

The paved road to Tenacatita turns off Hwy 200 15 km (9 mi) northwest of La Manzanilla. I’m going to dive “The Aquarium,” a group of islotes (small islands) and submerged rocks on the north side of Bahía Tenacatita. The road winds through agricultural fields and two rural villages. Early in the morning when I pass through El Rabalsito, the larger village, shopkeepers are sweeping out their stores, dogs and chickens are foraging in the street and young and middle-aged men are waiting in the back of pickup trucks that will take them to work on local farms or into La Manzanilla and Melaque.

Farm on the way to Rabalsito

I pass a small hotel, a one-story school with an open courtyard and the brick racilla distillery. People are eating breakfast under a palapa at white plastic tables with chairs that have Corona printed on the back. A steep-sided arroyo cuts across the road in the middle of town and I have to slow down to cross it.  Beyond El Rabalsito, which is known for its annual fiesta in February, cows are foraging along the road and people are walking into town.

Coconut palms and coffee trees

I drive through groves of coconut palms and coffee trees and sorghum. After a couple kilometers, the highway divides around a low block wall marking the entrance to Tenacatita. To the left is a small building with a thatched roof and several security guards standing around a pickup truck. The guards are a private “auxiliary unit” of the Policía Estatal (state police) and are paid by a landowner/developer (link). I turn right and park near the beach.

Coconut palms and sorghum

One of the guards walks over to meet me. He’s wearing a black uniform and carrying a radio and wearing a sidearm. He wants to know what I’m doing there. I was cautioned that the guards might hassle me, but that the beach was open to the public. I tell him that I’m going diving (voy a bucear) and show him the dive gear in the back of the truck. He points to the other side of the road and says “propriedad privada” (private property), and then points to the beach and says “pública” (public). “Entiendo” (I understand) I reply. He tells me that the yellow hotel at the end of the beach is “cerrado” (closed) and walks away. I have the same conversation with him or one of the other guards every time I come to dive at Tenacatita.

Pangas on the beach at Bahía Tenacatita

I get into my wetsuit, adjust my camera and wade out into the water where I put on my fins. I swim beyond the rocks and head toward the point. As I cross the shallow bay in front of Playa La Mora, I’m stunned to see massive blocks of green corals.

Islotes and rocks off Tenacatita

Up until recently, the West Coast of America was not considered favorable for coral reef formation and the coast of Jalisco wasn’t thought to have extensive coral growth. With the increased exploration of coral communities beginning in the 70s, true coral reefs were discovered in the region. The following description of the coral reef at Tenacatita was translated from two articles in Gaceta Universitaria (University Student Newspaper) published by the Universidad de Guadalajara on 13 December 1999 and 15 February 2002 (link).

Barred filefish (Monacanthidae) in a large block of corals

School of burrito grunts (Haemulidae) and two barberfish (Chaetodontidae)

Ernesto López, research professor in the Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA) (University Center of Biological and Agricultural Sciences) de la Universidad de Guadalajara, coordinated studies of coral reefs (los arrecifes de coral) in Tenacatita and Banderas bays.

School of scissortail chromis (Pomacentridae) feeding on plankton

School of razor surgeonfish (Acanthuridae) and school of sardinas (Clupeidae) [surgeonfish are reef residents; sardinas feed as they pass by the reef]

The investigators from CUCBA discovered that Tenacatita was a true coral reef (verdadero arrecife) and was unique among the beaches of Jalisco. The foundation corals of Tenacatita are two large, parallel blocks on each side of the inlet to Playa La Mora. The largest is 280 m (920 ft) long by 60 m (200 ft) across. The second is 210 m (700 ft) long by 30 m (100 ft) across. Both blocks have an average thickness of 1.72 m (5.6 ft), with a maximum of 3.20 m (10 ft) and a minimum of 0.85 m (2.8 ft).

Green jacks (Carangidae) feeding on zooplankton over the reef [green jacks are pelagic (water column) fishes occasionally seen on or near the reef]

Spottail grunts (Haemulidae) school on the reef during the day and move off the reef at night to feed

The reef at Playa La Mora comprises hermatipic branching corals (reef-forming, stony corals with symbiotic photosynthetic microalgae), principally Pocillopora damicornia (cauliflower coral), P. capitata and P. meandrina. Porites lobata (lobe coral), P. panamensis and Pavona gigantea (colonial stony coral), three large corals, have less coverage. Some ahermatipic corals (non-reef forming corals lacking symbiotic microalgae), like Tubastrea (large-polyp stony coral), are present in low in numbers and coverage, as are patches of Zoanthus danae (soft coral).

How many balloonfish (Diodontidae) can you stuff into a crevice? At least 10 [these spiny puffers are generally solitary, but occasionally form courtship groups]

Giant hawkfish (Cirrhitidae) (left) and Panamic soldierfish (Holocentridae) sharing a small cave

The investigators from CUCBA identified 155 species in the coral reef in Bahía Tenacatita:

• 60 genera of fishes (peces) that use the reef for refuge, nursery area and/or feeding ground.
• 30 species of crustaceans (crustáceos), like crabs (cangrejo) that live among the rocks along the beach and lobsters (langostas) and small shrimps (camaroncitos) live among the coral branches protected from their predators during part of their life cycles.
• 50 species of the molluscs (moluscos) [snails (caracoles), clams (almejas), etc.] live only in the coral ecosystem. Since the original surveys, more than 130 species of gastropod molluscs (gasterópoda) have been found in the rocky zone.
• 21 species of echinoderms (equinodermos) [starfish (estrellas de mar), sea urchins (erizos), etc.]. The most common are Diadema and Equinometra urchins, Phataria and Pharia starfish and Toxopneustes roseus and others.

Fish parade, from left to right: initial phase Mexican hogfish (Labridae), flag cabrilla (Serranidae), spotfin burrfish (Diodontidae), king angelfish (Acanthuridae) and several juvenile damselfish (Pomacentridae)

Mexican goatfish (Mullidae) use their barbels (fleshy projections under their chin) to dig for food [there's a juvenile jack (upper center) foraging with the goatfish]

According to professor López, the most important natural impacts on the coral reefs in Bahía Tenacatita are asphyxiation of corals by sediments produced from the land and carried by rivers to the sea, and thermal stress caused by elevated water temperatures generated by El Niño, a meteorological phenomenon.

Jewel moray (Muraenidae) lives among the rocks on the reef

Tiger snake eel (Ophichthidae) lives on sand flats and rocky areas with gravel and boulders [they can burrow into the sand tail first]

The investigators from CUCBA witnessed the impact of the 1997-98 El Niño (link) on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. In Jalisco, the coral reef experienced elevated temperatures for a long period, bleaching around 30% of the area of live coral. By 2002, the bleached areas had recovered.

Stone scorpionfish (Scorpaenidae) and Echinometra sea urchin [scorpionfishes are ambush predators that rely on camouflage to get close to their prey]

Flag cabrilla (Serranidae)

Human impacts on the coral reefs of Jalisco had not been evaluated until this study. They include the extraction of coral heads by villagers who profit by selling them as ornaments, and damage produced by tourist boats that drop anchors on the reef. According to professor López, anthropogenic impacts are more intense and more severe than the natural impacts.

Acapulco damselfish (Pomacentridae) [solitary reef damselfish]

Beaubrummel (Pomacentridae) [solitary reef damselfish] and Diadema sea urchin

The investigators from CUCBA noted that the residents of Rebalsito and Tenacatita displayed their concern by protecting the coral ecosystem, which is a tourist attraction for national and international visitors. Professor Lopez, concluded that it was necessary to monitor the status of the coral reefs and regulate their management.

Reef cornetfish (Fistulariidae)

Yelloweye croaker (Sciaenidae)

One day I arrived at Tenacatita when three-foot swells were wrapping around the point and breaking where I enter the water. I wasn’t going diving, so I slipped a camera into my pocket and walked down the deserted beach. Before the summer of 2010, this beach was full of palapa restaurants, strolling vendors and people enjoying the sand, waves and water. It was a popular destination for Mexican families and local expatriates.

Tenacatita before 2010 [photo posted on Google Earth by oro1526]

Tenacatita before 2010 [photo entitled “Paradise lost for everyone” and posted here] 

Tenacatita was also popular with international tourists. Many came in the winter to camp on the small beach at Playa La Mora (link). Some fell in love with the area, bought land and built houses.

Playa La Mora before 2010 [photo taken by Eduardo Vega and posted on Google Earth]

But that changed in the summer of 2010 when Real Estate Rodenas, the company that  had purchased land at Tenacatita in the early 1990s, brought in armed guards and state police to evict about 800 people living and working there. Bulldozers came to tear everything down. The police blocked the highway to the beach and put up a fence with a gate where they were confronted by angry residents. Pepper spray was used and several people were injured (link). Thus began the multi-year saga of litigation over who owns the land and access to the beach.

Gate blocking the road to Tenacatita [photo taken in August 2010 and posted here]

There were few signs of the former businesses along the beach. I saw the remains of several houses built in the dunes. All that was left of one property was the concrete floor, an horno (outdoor oven) and traces of a garden.

Abandoned house at Tenacatita

I passed an iron gate leaning against a wall at the bottom of a stairway leading up to what was once a beautiful two-story house with a magnificent view of Bahía Tenacatita. A dry, crumbling swimming pool spread across the patio. Holes in the front of the house once held sliding glass doors and tattered curtains flapped in the breeze. I could see broken furniture in the living room. 

Gate to an abandoned house

Later I dug deeper into the story of Tenacatita. The coast of Jalisco was largely pristine until 1944 when a road was cut through the forests and mountains from Guadalajara to Melaque (“March to the Sea”; link). The ejido (land cooperative) at El Rabalsito was formed in 1943 and is still active today (link). In 1991, the widow of Jesús González Gallo, a former governor of Jalisco who owned land at Tenacatita, sold it to Real Estate Rodenas, which is owned by businessman Jose Maria Andres Villalobos (link). Villalobos planned to develop the land and was awarded the federal beach concession in 1993; he tried to evict the ejiditarios (link).

Remnants of a garden

The ejiditarios, who claimed that they had title to the land, had built homes and beachside businesses that flourished with increasing tourism. Mexicans and foreign tourists bought land and built houses. On August 4, 2010, Villalobos, who claimed that he owned 42 ha (104 ac), evicted the residents, bulldozed the business and homes (link), including properties purchased and developed by gringos (link, link). He took possession of 90 ha (222 ac), including the beach at Tenacatita. He built a gate on the federal highway leading to the beach to control access, which is counter to Mexican law that allows public access to federal beaches. There were local demonstrations and confrontations with the guards (link), as well as demonstrations in Long Beach, CA (link).

Horno (outdoor oven) at an abandoned house

The legal machinations are complex, but in February 2012, a federal court in Mexico City declared that the “maritime land” and beach at Tenacatita was reserved for “recreational use, public beach and boardwalk” (link). The gate that blocked the road to Tenacatita was torn down in 2013 and access to the beach was restored; state police from Jalisco were brought in to keep the peace. The land ownership cases of Villalobos, the ejido and the gringos are winding through the Mexican judicial system, but it looks like Villalobos will keep the 42 ha. The beach is open for day use, but not for camping, and the federal use concession has yet to be decided (link, link).

Rock wall at an abandoned house

On the way back to the parking lot, I noticed that a guard standing on the foundation of a house in the dunes was watching me through binoculars. He was talking on his handheld radio as I drew abreast of him. That guard and two others met me at the parking lot; one asked me in Spanish if I had been taking pictures of the buildings, which he said was not allowed. I said I was taking pictures of the beach and the surf, which was true, if incomplete. I showed him those pictures on the screen of my digital camera.

Coatimundi footprints at a ghost crab burrow (left); gulf ghost crab (right)

The youngest of the three, a clean-shaven man in his 30s with dark, close-cropped hair, asked me for the camera in English. He quickly figured out how to view the images and began scrolling through them. A couple times he smiled and showed a picture to the older guards, whose faces never changed expression. I had taken 140 photographs and he deleted more than half of them. He handed the camera back to me; I thanked him – I wasn’t sure that I was going to get it back – and left. I dove at Tenacatita several more times, but I was careful where I pointed my camera.

Flowering amapa trees near Rabalsito

A moving, first-person account (in English and Spanish) written by a gringa who grew up in Tenacatita (her parents were travel writers) and visited the area in subsequent years, can be found here (link). Here’s the final paragraph:

I don't condemn people who stay in resorts, and I'm sure that there are nice people who are shareholders in resorts, and that some resort employees are satisfied with their jobs, but my point is this: just as a rustic beach like Tenacatita wouldn't appeal to a high roller, resorts are not for everyone. And I wonder if the state government, with its great reliance on tourist dollars, realizes that some of us don't come to the coast of Jalisco to swim in chlorinated pools and eat from never-ending buffets of Americanized food. I wonder if they realize that some of us won't come back anymore when there's no place left for us to go.