Sayulita is Surf City, Mexico-style.

“We come for the surf­ing,” said twins Becca and Elie Meier­bach­tol of Portland.

“And the area is not too touristy,” Elie, 24, said as she looked over a table of local pot­tery. “You get a local feel.” 

“The small-town feel is what I love,” Becca said.

The world-class surf­ing and fish­ing and beach explor­ing attracts North­west peo­ple, but the slow-paced, close-to-the-earth rhythms of the Pacific coast town keeps them com­ing back.

MEXICAN SURFING MECCA

Sayulita’s famous surf, which rises from a rock river mouth reef and peels off into near-perfect right and left break­ers, first attracted vis­i­tors in the mid-1960s.

The Mex­i­can gov­ern­ment had built the high­way that con­nected tiny Sayulita – mostly a fish­ing vil­lage in those days – to rapidly grow­ing Puerto Val­larta. Surfers soon dis­cov­ered the tiny town with great waves. Surfers – always a trav­el­ing tribe – spread the word about Sayulita, and more and more vis­i­tors arrived.

Amaz­ingly, the big hotels, chain restau­rants and golf courses never arrived. There are no Senor Frog’s restau­rants. Sayulita has lots of for­eign vis­i­tors – and res­i­dents – but the town remains charm­ingly, stub­bornly, delight­fully Mexican.

Small stores carry gro­ceries, ven­dors ped­dle fruit and fish from bat­tered, cooler-equipped trucks and many res­i­dents toss their wash water out onto the packed sand-and-gravel roads.

SUN, SURF, SURPRISES

Steve O’Neal, who lives in San Fran­cisco, vis­ited Sayulita on impulse in mid-January, mostly because of the leg­endary surf­ing – and the warm water and sunny skies.

“I wanted to see what three hours of fly­ing from San Fran­cisco got me,” O’Neal said after he fin­ished his first day of surf­ing Sayulita. “I love it – the great waves and no wet suit is required.”

Sayulita’s south­ern beach has easy waves that are per­fect for begin­ners, while the swells break­ing near the reef can chal­lenge experts, said Nazario Car­ranza, co-owner of the Lunazul surf shop.

Many Mex­i­can surf­ing cham­pi­ons grew up in tiny Sayulita, and those experts are usu­ally in the lineup on good days, Car­ranza said.

Young Mex­i­can surfers – some younger than 10 years old – pad­dle short boards into the crash­ing, usu­ally unride­able shore­break and man­age slash­ing round­house cut­backs and quick tube rides. It’s easy to see why more Mex­i­can surf­ing cham­pi­ons will come from Sayulita. Yet, there is room for surfers of all abil­i­ties – although begin­ners should stick to the south end of the beach, where the waves are gentle.

Nearby areas – a short taxi or boat ride away – offer more world-class waves. Adven­ture­some surfers should check with surf shops or fish­ing char­ters to find these out-of-the-way waves. Some of these breaks are great for begin­ners or long­board­ers, while oth­ers attract wave-slashing short­board­ers. Those will­ing to explore and ask ques­tions can find surf­ing riches that are not far away.

But many surfers love stay­ing right in town.

“It is the waves that bring many peo­ple here, but it is the atmos­phere they come to love,” Car­ranza said. “The area and town have a spe­cial charm, and many peo­ple who visit Sayulita come to love it.”

LOTS TO LOVE

Vis­i­tors quickly dis­cover that they’re in a real Mex­i­can town – not a posh, pol­ished resort. Most of the town’s streets are packed sand or gravel, although some are cob­ble­stone. Mex­i­can fam­i­lies live in small, stucco houses right next to larger homes and hotels that cater to tourists.

It’s com­mon to see locals mix­ing con­crete on the street or side­walk, cut­ting down coconuts in local gar­dens or cast­ing nets for bait­fish in the surf. Fish­ing guides skid their pan­gas up onto the beach and carry catches to local restau­rants and taco stands. After­noons bring school­child­ren onto the streets – and onto the local waves.

The cen­tral plaza is the place to be in the warm evenings. Locals and vis­i­tors stroll or sit on the con­crete walls, while chil­dren ride skate­boards or prac­tice hand­stands and other gym­nas­tic moves.

On the beach, coconut palms sway in the evening breeze, and pel­i­cans dive into the surf in search of baitfish.

The win­ter months are the dry months in Sayulita. Day­time high tem­per­a­tures are in the 80 to 85-degree range, but a breeze from the ocean keeps things comfortable.

Heavy rains arrive dur­ing the sum­mer months, and many win­ter expats head back to the United States, Canada or Europe.

GOOD EATS

Most of Sayulita’s restau­rants are mod­er­ately priced, casual, open-air places where tourists and locals sit and eat shrimp, dorado – often called mahi mahi in the United States – and other seafood caught that morning.

Even the food carts – often a bad idea for tourists in much of Mex­ico – are safe and turn out deli­cious, sim­ple fare, such as Rico’s tacos with sweet roasted onions and peppers.

“Rico’s taco stand is excel­lent,” said Becca Meierbachtol.

“And it’s also inex­pen­sive,” said sis­ter Elie Meierbachtol.

And even the swanky spots – such as Don Pedro’s – are open to the soft, trop­i­cal air and offer Mex­i­can cui­sine at rea­son­able prices.

CHASING SOME FISH

Sayulita began as a fish­ing town, and that hasn’t changed – despite the many small hotels, restau­rants and swarms of peo­ple car­ry­ing surf­boards in the streets.

Avid anglers load into pan­gas – a sturdy, open Mex­i­can fish­ing boat – each morn­ing and rocket off to the nearby blue water for dorado, sail­fish, tuna, mar­lin and other big-game fish.

Beach anglers also find hot fish­ing for jack crevalle, snap­per – called pargo in Mex­ico – Sierra mack­erel and other fish.

Off­shore boaters also see hump­back whales, leap­ing manta rays and amaz­ing bird life.

But the big kahuna in this lit­tle trop­i­cal town on Mexico’s trop­i­cal Pacific Coast is still surf­ing. Vis­i­tors surf. Locals surf. And they share the waves and streets and restau­rants and shops. No big hotels, dis­cos or golf courses here.

Just sim­ple peo­ple hav­ing sim­ple fun.

“This place is won­der­ful,” said Mag­gie Mork of Peters­burg, N.D. “I stood up on my first wave – a great expe­ri­ence – and it’s beau­ti­ful here.”

All about Sayulita

HOTELS

In Sayulita, they run $60 to $130 a night. When they’re not in tow, Many expats from the United States and Canada rent their homes to visitors.

The Casablanca, a small, clean beach­front hotel with beau­ti­ful rooms and a pool, is $125 a night dur­ing high sea­son, Novem­ber through March. Locals say early Jan­u­ary through Feb­ru­ary is a great time, as hol­i­day crowds are gone and the weather and surf are great.

Infor­ma­tion: www.gosayulita.com

RESTAURANTS

Rico’s taco stand is located near the town plaza every evening. Look for a cir­cu­lar grill, the scent of grilled onions and spices and groups of locals and tourists eat­ing at tables set up curb­side. The food is cheap, won­der­ful and safe.

Bur­rito Rev­o­lu­tion serves mas­sive, tasty chicken, fish, beef and veg­gie bur­ri­tos made right in front of you at an open-air restau­rant. This is a must. The staff trade jokes with cus­tomers seated at a counter in this funky spot. It is located on Ave­nunida Rev­olu­cion near the plaza.

The best beach restau­rants are Don Pedro’s (www.donpedros.com), at the inter­sec­tion of beach sand and Marlin.

At the north end of Sayulita’s beach, La Ter­ra­zoln serves up fan­tas­tic, ultra-fresh Mex­i­can dishes in a charm­ing, open-air plat­form under a palm-thatched roof.

SURFING

Sayulita has good surf­ing all year, but the best swells – from the north – arrive from Novem­ber through April. The fall and win­ter months are the dry sea­son. Tor­ren­tial rains arrive dur­ing the sum­mer wet season.

Those new to the sport can learn the thrill of stand­ing up on a wave. Many good surf schools line the beach. One of the best is Lunazul (www.lunazulsurf.com).

FISHING

For char­ters, Cap­tain Pablo’s is the place to go. No one can miss the boats, bustling beach­side restau­rant and surf school on Sayulita’s beach.

GETTING THERE

A taxi from the Puerto Val­larta air­port to Sayulita – a 40-minute trip on most days – ranges from $30 to $40, depend­ing on your bar­gain­ing skills.

Chester Allen, The Olympian
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