As the sun rose and the morning offshore breeze picked up, I thought, “Hot damn, let’s sail!” So off to Punta Chivato I went. The wind was light, but with only ten miles ahead, I was content with anything over two knots. For about an hour I was making 4.1 knots and feeling good…until the wind died and I had to switch to the motor. Damn.
The day grew hot and sunny, so I stayed aboard until the sun dipped lower. Once again, I wrestled with the swinging dinghy and managed to win. Ashore, I walked the beach to the shuttered resort. It’s incredible, and sad, how such a beautiful place could be left to decay by nature. After exploring, I followed a dirt road to what looked like a sales office half a mile away, then wandered down to the airport where a Beech Bonanza sat tied down. No hangars, just rows of car and RV storage buildings. Odd.
I continued along the beachfront houses for a while before deciding a dinghy tour sounded better. Cruising the coast for about a mile, I eventually turned back toward home, content with the day’s small adventure.
This hotel was open for a while. You are quite lucky you didn’t get met with some serious opposition while trespassing. The hotel is held in ownership on land owned by a FBI’s most wanted cartel leader. The hotel and land is also not for sale. We, as residents on the beach, do not go on that property as it’s trespassing. We have had a very scary year of events related to the cartel – we had 3 of our longtime paid caretakers/cook/hotel operator kidnapped and murdered in an attempt to get information/location of the cartel leader from them. Our “odd” dirt runway is like many others, and it serves us well and allows us to bring in our private planes. The runway is also part of our dirt 9 hole golf course. We have a wonderful active social scene among our nearly 200 residents, we give back over $10,000 a year to local schools, animal shelters and causes.
Jen, thank you for letting me know. There were no signs or other indication that it was anything other than an abandoned property. Hopefully my post and your comment will keep others from walking around the property. And thank you for the first hand information about life in Punta Chivato! That is great that you are all giving back while enjoying such a beautiful spot.