Manzanillo

Manzanillo is a city and seat of Manzanillo Municipality, in the Mexican state of Colima. The city, located on the Pacific Ocean, contains Mexico's busiest port that is responsible for handling Pacific cargo for the Mexico City area. It is the largest producing municipality for the business sector and tourism in the state of Colima.

Manzanillo is the second-largest community in the state, after Colima, the capital. The municipality covers an area of 1,578.4 km2 (609.42 sq mi), and includes such outlying communities as El Colomo, in addition to many smaller communities.

HISTORY

Manzanillo Bay was discovered in 1527 by navigator Alvaro de Saavedra, naming it Santiago de la Buena Esperanza, or Santiago's Bay of Good Hope. Manzanillo was the third port created by the Spanish in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It became a departure point for important expeditions.

Cortes visited the bay twice to protect his galleons from Portuguese pirates. Over the next 300 years, the Pacific Coast's history is filled with accounts of pirates from Portugal, England, France and even Spain assaulting, looting and burning ships for their rich cargos.

TOURISM

The city is well known internationally for deep-sea fishing and the green flash phenomenon during sunsets, as well as the warm waters of the ocean. The city is a destination resort and has many hotels and self-contained resorts, particularly built on the De Santiago peninsula which juts out into the Pacific north of the city centre.

Manzanillo is also a beach resort, and is one of many locations to promote themselves as the "sailfish capital" of the world. One way they promote that claim is by hosting a yearly sailfish fishing tournament. The Revillagigedo Islands, off the west coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean, are part of the municipality, but they are directly administered by the federal government.

At the north end of Manzanillo bay is the resort Las Hadas ("the fairies"), which is the most famous of the city's resorts, having been featured in the movie 10 starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. Beach scenes were filmed on La Audencia Bay, just over the hill from Las Hadas.

CLIMATE

Manzanillo has a tropical savanna climate. The dry season, which is from November to May, has low amounts of precipitation, and temperatures tend to be cooler than in the wet season. The average temperature in March, the coolest month, is 24 °C (75 °F). The wet season, which runs from June to October, has warmer temperatures, averaging 28.3 °C (83 °F) in July, and humidity during this time is higher.

SEAPORTS

Manzanillo is a popular cruise ship port of call. Many tourists go from their cruise ships on city tours. Excellent swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving is found in Santiago Bay, a few miles north of the city where a cargo ship sank in a hurricane in 1959. Other wrecks and reefs plentiful with fish are scattered throughout the bay.

Manzanillo consists of two bays with crescent-shaped beaches, each about 4 miles in length. Bahía de Manzanillo is closer to downtown and is the older tourist section. Bahía de Santiago, to the west, is the newer and more upscale area.

The two bays are separated by the Santiago Peninsula. Ship channels are located at the southeast end of Bahía de Manzanillo where large cruise ships enter the port area.

Its peaceful bays and sophisticated tourist and port infrastructure had made it one of the main tourist resorts and trading centers in the west of Mexico.

Manzanillo is the busiest port in Mexico. Manzanillo is also home to the Navy's Pacific Naval Force.

ROADS & HIGHWAYS

Manzanillo is connected by Highway 200 to Colima City, to the Northwest and to Puerto Vallarta.

AIRPORTS

The Playa de Oro International Airport (ZLO) is a small airport located about 35 minutes north of Manzanillo along Highway 200. The airport offers international and national flights. In addition to flights to and from the US, the airport has international service to and from Canada.