Boca del Cielo Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Boca del Cielo
San Marcos Island in Boca del Cielo
Boca del Cielo Location in Mexico
Country	Mexico
State	Chiapas
Municipality	Tonala

Boca del Cielo is a small fishing town and beach in Mexico. Its name means "mouth of heaven" in Spanish. It is located in the municipality of Tonalá, Chiapas, on the coast of the Chiapas state. Boca del Cielo and Puerto Arista, which is about 15 km away, are two of the most famous beaches in Chiapas.

This area is part of the Istmus-Costa Region of Chiapas. Many beaches here are long and unbroken. They are only interrupted by estuaries and lagoons. These are formed by small rivers flowing from the nearby Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The weather is usually warm and humid. It rains mostly in the summer. The average temperature is about 27°C (81°F). Spring and summer are the hottest times of the year. The land around Boca del Cielo has many pastures for cattle. Raising cattle is a main way people earn money in this northern coastal area.

Life in Boca del Cielo
Discovering La Joya Lagoon
Exploring San Marcos Shoal
Tourism and Activities
Turtle Sanctuary
Images for kids
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Life in Boca del Cielo

The community of Boca del Cielo is on the mainland. For a long time, people here mainly focused on fishing. However, in the 20th century, it became a popular beach spot, just like Puerto Arista. Now, most people in the town work in both fishing and tourism. The town's houses are partly hidden by palm and flowering trees. They are surrounded by water and fields where cattle graze. The town's main area is around the docks. From here, boats go out for fishing or take tourists to a sandy area called San Marcos.

Discovering La Joya Lagoon

Boca del Cielo is special because of a long lagoon called La Joya. A narrow strip of land, or shoal, separates this lagoon from the open ocean. This shoal has an opening in the middle. The name "mouth of heaven" comes from this opening. It looks out to the open ocean, where the sun sets beautifully in the evening.

The water in the lagoon is usually shallow. It is a mix of fresh water from a small river's estuary and salt water from the ocean. The opening in the shoal allows these waters to mix. It also makes the lagoon's water level rise and fall with the ocean tides. The water is often shallow enough to walk across without a boat. At low tide, the water might only reach your knees or waist. In some spots, sand bars appear with small pools of water.

The water is deeper near the opening to the sea. Here, the currents are strong. The water can be as deep as ten meters (about 33 feet). The opening can be as wide as fifty meters (about 164 feet), depending on the tide. The lagoon stretches for many kilometers on both sides of Boca del Cielo. Many parts of the lagoon, away from tourist areas, are covered with mangrove trees. The lagoon is full of fish and shrimp.

Exploring San Marcos Shoal

The shoals protect the lagoon from the ocean's rougher waves and strong currents. This makes the lagoon waters safe for swimming, even for children. The part of the shoals popular with tourists is called San Marcos. It is on the east side of the opening to the sea. This narrow strip of land is about 200 meters (about 650 feet) wide. It is about half a kilometer (about 0.3 miles) from the main docks of Boca del Cielo. Other parts of the La Joya lagoon shoals are between fifty and three hundred meters (about 164 to 984 feet) long.

You cannot reach the shoals by road. Tourists get there by boat. The San Marcos shoal, often called an "island," has soft grey sand on the ocean side. It is filled with simple bungalows and palapas. These serve as restaurants and places to stay. There are also areas where you can camp or hang hammocks. The restaurants mainly serve seafood. Popular dishes include mojarra, a fish called "lisa" (which is a type of mugil), and shrimp.

Tourism and Activities

Boca del Cielo attracts many visitors from Mexico and other countries. Most tourists come from Chiapas, especially from the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez. This means it can get very crowded on weekends. Prices might also be higher than on other parts of the state's coast. For example, during the Holy Week holiday in 2008, over 30,000 people visited the beach.

Even with many visitors, Boca del Cielo is still less busy than nearby Puerto Arista. It has fewer boats, fewer street vendors, and less trash. There are many fun things to do here. You can take boat tours, go sports fishing, or try kayaking. Other activities include motor boating, water skiing, scuba diving, and riding inflatable "bananas" pulled by a motorboat.

It is important to know that the ocean side beach does not have signs to show how safe the water is. The ocean is usually safer at low tide when the waves are not as rough.

Turtle Sanctuary

Boca del Cielo has a turtle sanctuary. It is one of four such places on the Chiapas coast. The others are in Puerto Arista, Costa Azul, and Barra de Zacapulco. The Instituto de Historia Natural y Ecología runs this sanctuary.

Even though selling and eating turtle eggs is against the law, people still illegally take eggs from turtle nests in Chiapas. The sanctuary has two staff members. They patrol 75 km (about 47 miles) of beaches and mangroves every night. They look for freshly laid eggs. These eggs are then moved to a safe hatching area. Once the baby turtles hatch, they are released into the sea. Visitors can join the patrols and help release the hatchlings. The busiest months for this are from July to November.