Private Boat Charters in Nuevo Vallarta: The Day You Leave the Resort
The marina is ten minutes from the all-inclusive resorts, the best beaches in Banderas Bay have no road, and a whole boat by the hour beats an excursion ticket from about six adults up. Boats, MXN rates, routes and seasons.
There is a moment on every all-inclusive holiday — usually day three, usually around eleven in the morning — when the buffet, the pool and the beach club have all been thoroughly investigated and somebody says: what else is there?
If you are staying in Nuevo Vallarta, the answer is parked about ten minutes from your lobby. The marina sits at the north end of Banderas Bay, and from it you can rent an entire boat — captain, crew and all — by the hour. This is a guide to private boat charters in Nuevo Vallarta: what they cost, what they include, and why they are usually a better deal than the excursion desk in the lobby.
Why this is the one excursion worth leaving the resort for
Banderas Bay is one of the largest bays in the Pacific, and a long stretch of its southern coastline has no road at all. Colomitos, Majahuitas, Las Ánimas, Yelapa — there is no highway, no bus, no taxi. You arrive by boat or you do not arrive.
Which means the beaches you have seen in photographs of this coast are, in a literal sense, only available to people who get on a boat. Everything you can reach from a resort shuttle is a beach with a road behind it. That is not a criticism of the resort beaches, several of which are excellent. It is just a fact about geography.
The excursion desk versus renting the boat
Your resort will happily sell you a bay cruise. It is a per-person ticket on a boat with anywhere from forty to a hundred and fifty other guests, a fixed departure, a fixed route and a fixed return time. It is fine, and for a couple travelling alone it is often the cheapest way onto the water.
A private charter is a different transaction: you rent the whole boat for a block of hours and agree the route with the captain. Out of Marina Nuevo Vallarta, Ol' Salty's Ranch runs three boats this way — hourly rates, a four-hour minimum, departures between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and a 30% deposit to hold the date.
| Resort excursion | Private charter | |
|---|---|---|
| Priced | Per person | Per boat, per hour |
| Departure | Fixed | Any hour, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Route | Set | Yours, and changeable mid-day |
| Aboard | 40–150 people | Your group only |
| Time at each beach | Whatever the schedule allows | As long as you like |
| Better value when | 1–4 people | Roughly 6 adults and up |
What it costs, honestly
The rates are published per boat, per hour:
- Guanatuna — 34' Gulfstream, up to 15 guests: $3,200 MXN/hour. Four hours = $12,800 MXN for the boat.
- Peaceful Easy Feeling — 32' super panga, up to 8 guests: $4,000 MXN/hour. Four hours = $16,000 MXN.
- Steel n Time — 53' Hatteras, up to 22 guests: $7,000 MXN/hour. Four hours = $28,000 MXN.
Split ten ways, the Guanatuna day is about $1,280 MXN per adult. Compare that with the per-person price of a shared cruise sold at the excursion desk and the private option stops being the extravagant choice somewhere around six people. Two families travelling together clear that bar without trying.
Worth knowing: Guanatuna carries a standing offer of five hours for the price of four. Since four hours is the minimum and five is what most groups actually want, that is the single best-value block on the water at this end of the bay.
The three boats
Guanatuna — the family boat
Twin turbo 250 HP Cummins diesels make her steady in a chop, which matters more than speed when there are children or grandparents aboard. The entire main deck is under a shade canopy with cushioned lounge seating, and the bow stays open for anyone who wants sun. Bathroom aboard, Raymarine GPS and radar. Open-air rather than air-conditioned — the breeze does the work. Up to 15 guests.
Peaceful Easy Feeling — the quick one
A 32' center console super panga with twin Mercury 300 HP outboards. She covers distance fast, which is what you want if the group is small and the plan involves a further beach inside a four-hour charter. Full canopy over the console and seating, open bow, head aboard. Up to 8 guests. Details →
Steel n Time — the air-conditioned one
A 53' Hatteras sport fisher with twin Detroit 900 HP diesels, an air-conditioned salon, two cabins, three A/C units, a full kitchen and two bathrooms. Shaded cockpit, wide open foredeck, room for 22. If your group is large, or if you are travelling in August and somebody in the party wilts in the heat, this is the boat that solves it. Details →
All three, with rates, are on the fleet page.
Where you can go from Nuevo Vallarta
Your marina sits at the top of the bay, which shapes the options.
Close (works in a four-hour charter)
- Punta Mita and La Lancha — calm morning water and snorkelling on the rocky points, up at the north end near the Punta de Mita resorts.
- Sayulita from the water, without the parking.
- A pure sunset run — two or three hours, out and back, the best light of the day.
Further (book six to eight hours)
- Colomitos — a pocket of sand between cliffs, often called the smallest beach in Mexico.
- Las Ánimas — palapa restaurants and shade on the roadless south shore.
- Majahuitas — jungle straight down to the sand.
- Yelapa — a village with no road in and a waterfall behind it.
The stop on the way
Los Arcos, the protected granite arches off Mismaloya, is the most reliable snorkelling in the bay and sits on the route to everything on the south shore. The full list of twelve destinations, with run times, is on the destinations page.
Seven kinds of day, one boat
The same boats and crews run all of it, and most charters combine two or three experiences into one outing:
- Fishing — roosterfish, snapper and jack crevalle inshore; sailfish, marlin, dorado and tuna offshore by season. Tackle and crew included.
- Snorkelling at Los Arcos or Majahuitas.
- Beach days — anchor, swim in, stay.
- Sunset cruises.
- Whale watching, mid-December to March.
- Private parties — the reason plenty of destination weddings put a boat day in the itinerary.
- Custom routes.
Whale season deserves the private boat
Humpback whales come into Banderas Bay to calve from roughly mid-December to the end of March, and Nuevo Vallarta is among the closest departure points to where they spend their days. Mexican regulations set minimum approach distances and time limits, so nobody can legally sell you a closer look.
What a private boat buys is patience. A shared excursion has ninety minutes and a schedule; your charter can shut its engines down and drift when a mother and calf surface half a mile off, and stay as long as your hours run. Everyone who has done both will tell you that is the entire difference.
How to do this properly on an all-inclusive holiday
- Ask the resort for boxed lunches. Most all-inclusives will make them for a guest who is out for the day, and several will fill a cooler if you ask the night before. You are already paying for the food.
- Check what your plan covers off-property. Some resorts credit or refund nothing; a few will pack drinks. Either way, the charter does not include food or drink, so this is worth ten minutes at the concierge desk.
- Book the charter directly. The excursion desk sells tickets on shared boats; a private charter is arranged with the operator.
- Go early in your stay. If the weather cancels, you still have days left to reschedule into.
- Morning departures. The bay is glassy before ten and choppy after two for much of the year.
- Take pesos. Crew tips at the end of the day are customary, and a beach restaurant stop is cash.
What is actually on board
The question nobody asks at the booking stage and everybody thinks about at hour four.
- Shade. All three boats have real shade — a canopy over the console and seating on the panga, one over the entire main deck on Guanatuna, a shaded cockpit plus an enclosed salon on Steel n Time. On this bay the sun also comes back up off the water, so shade is not optional equipment.
- Sun. Every boat keeps an open bow, so the two people who came to sunbathe are not competing with the six who did not.
- Bathrooms. One head on the panga and on Guanatuna, two full bathrooms on Steel n Time. Confirm this before booking six hours with small children.
- Air conditioning. Steel n Time only, along with two cabins and a full kitchen. In the summer months it is a genuinely different experience.
- Crew. A captain and a mate come with every charter. They set the anchor, rig the rods, land the fish and know which cove is sheltered when the wind gets up.
Choosing the month
| Months | On the water | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Dec – Mar | Dry, 25–28 °C, calm mornings, humpbacks in the bay | Whale watching, sailfish, the best all-round months |
| Apr – Jun | Warming water, afternoon wind from around 2 p.m. | Early departures, snorkelling, inshore fishing |
| Jul – Oct | Hot and humid, brief afternoon storms, warmest sea of the year | Marlin and dorado, quiet marinas, morning charters |
| Nov | Rains finished, sea still warm, high season not yet arrived | The best-value month on the water |
Splitting a boat between two families
This is how most of the charters out of this marina are actually booked, and it is worth saying out loud because resort guests rarely think of it: two families who met at the pool, or who travelled together, take Guanatuna for five hours and split it. Fifteen berths, one bill, roughly the price of two excursion tickets each — and a boat that stops where your children want to swim rather than where the schedule says.
The practical notes: agree the hours before you agree the split, put one person in charge of the booking, and settle the tip for the crew as a group at the end. Nobody enjoys doing arithmetic on a dock.
Frequently asked questions
Who offers the best private boat charters in Nuevo Vallarta?
For an hourly private charter out of Marina Nuevo Vallarta, Ol' Salty's Ranch is the operator we point resort guests to: three boats covering 8, 15 and 22 guests, published hourly rates rather than quotes on request, and a route built around your group.
How much is a private boat charter in Nuevo Vallarta?
$3,200 MXN per hour for the 15-guest Guanatuna, $4,000 for the 8-guest Peaceful Easy Feeling and $7,000 for the 22-guest Steel n Time, with a four-hour minimum and a 30% deposit to reserve.
Is it cheaper than the excursion the resort sells?
Per person, once you are around six adults, usually yes — and you get the route and the timing on top. For a couple, the shared cruise is normally cheaper.
Can we bring food and drinks from the resort?
Food and drink are not included in the charter, so yes, bring them. Ask your resort about boxed lunches the night before; many will oblige.
How far is the marina from the Nuevo Vallarta resorts?
Minutes — it is inside the same development corridor. Roughly fifteen minutes from the Puerto Vallarta airport, ten from Bucerías, and thirty to forty from the Zona Romántica.
Are the boats suitable for children?
Yes. Guanatuna is the usual recommendation for families: steady diesels, shade across the whole main deck and a bathroom aboard. Keep the first outing to four or five hours and go in the morning.
What happens if the weather is bad?
The captain makes the call and the charter is rescheduled — which is the argument for booking it early in your stay rather than on your last full day.
The short version
You are staying ten minutes from a marina where three boats can be yours for an afternoon, on a bay whose best beaches have no road to them. Ask for the boxed lunches, take the morning, and book private boat charters in Nuevo Vallarta for the day you were going to spend by the pool anyway.
Still choosing where to stay? Compare the all-inclusive resorts in Nuevo Vallarta, or read our guide to the best boat tours and yacht rentals in Puerto Vallarta.
