Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 3, 2026 – Boat tours inside Estero El Salado are unlikely to resume before 2027 as Jalisco repairs the deteriorated pier used to board visitors and addresses additional requirements linked to the service.
José Daniel Graf Pérez, director of Natural Resources at Jalisco’s Secretariat of Environment and Territorial Development, said the boat tours will remain suspended for the rest of 2026 because the boarding area is not considered safe.
“For safety reasons, it is not possible” to restart the tours until the necessary work is complete, Graf Pérez said at a press conference attended by PVDN.
The official described 2027 as the agency’s goal for resuming the service, rather than a confirmed reopening date. No specific completion date for the pier rehabilitation or launch date for the boat tours has been announced.
The delay extends a suspension that has already lasted more than three years. The tours were previously affected by missing maritime permits, but the condition of the boarding infrastructure is now the immediate obstacle identified by state officials.
The development comes shortly after Jalisco announced work to rehabilitate the pier. A previous PVDN report noted that the infrastructure had suffered significant wear after years of exposure to humidity and was being evaluated for rehabilitation and improvements.
Estero El Salado itself remains open. Visitors can still access the property’s trails and visitor areas, while environmental technicians continue to conduct educational activities, host school groups and manage conservation programs. The park also has a protected crocodile on display.
The update was issued days after the park marked 26 years as a protected natural area. In a separate report, Semadet officials said several docks had reached the end of their useful life and that infrastructure improvements were needed to provide safer conditions for visitors and staff.
The current delay follows a broader rehabilitation project completed during the previous state administration. The project received 34 million pesos and included improvements to the entrance area, visitor plaza, information module, trails, docks, a 15-meter observation tower, nursery and bathrooms.
Jalisco reopened the renovated park in 2023 after a prolonged closure, with boat tours expected to form part of the area’s environmental education and low-impact recreation program. The latest timeline means visitors will continue to experience El Salado from land while the state works to restore safe access to the mangrove waterways.
More background on the ecosystem and its role within the city is available in PVDN’s report on Estero El Salado, Puerto Vallarta’s urban mangrove refuge.
