Children from La Paz’s most underserved neighborhoods will receive free guided tours to Isla Espíritu Santo, Balandra beach, and whale shark snorkeling zones through a new joint program between the city government and the cooperative that runs tour boats from the Malecón. The program, set to begin after the Semana Santa holiday period, will operate roughly once per week. City officials acknowledged a striking reality behind the initiative: some children in this coastal city of nearly 300,000 people have never seen the ocean.
“There are some who, believe it or not, don’t know the sea, and they live in La Paz,” said Jehú Fernando Vázquez Savín, the secretary general of the La Paz municipal government. He said the program was launched at the direction of Mayor Milena Quiroga and will be tied to existing community outreach efforts, including the city’s Día del Pueblo events and public audience sessions.
Isla Espíritu Santo: UNESCO Site 25 Kilometers From the Malecón
Isla Espíritu Santo sits about 25 kilometers north of La Paz in the Sea of Cortés. UNESCO inscribed it as part of the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California World Heritage Site in 2005. Mexico’s federal government also designated the island and its surrounding waters as a national park in 2007, placing it under the management of CONANP, Mexico’s national natural protected areas commission.
The island’s 80 square kilometers of volcanic rock, white sand beaches, and turquoise coves are home to sea lion colonies, reef fish, manta rays, and migratory whale sharks. Jacques Cousteau once called the Sea of Cortés “the world’s aquarium,” and Espíritu Santo remains one of its crown jewels. Tour boats depart daily from the La Paz Malecón, and a standard day trip including snorkeling, lunch, and a visit to the sea lion colony at Los Islotes typically costs between 1,800 and 2,500 pesos (roughly $100 to $140 USD) per person.
That price puts the experience out of reach for many La Paz families. The city’s tourism economy generates significant revenue, but much of it flows through operators serving visitors rather than locals. Balandra, the shallow turquoise lagoon about 30 minutes north of downtown, is free to visit but requires a car or paid transport to reach. Whale shark tours, which run from October through April, typically cost 1,500 to 2,000 pesos ($85 to $110 USD) per person.
Malecón Cooperative Controls Most La Paz Boat Tours
The Cooperativa de Prestadores de Servicios Turísticos del Malecón is the organized group of licensed tour operators who run boat excursions from La Paz’s waterfront. The cooperative’s members collectively operate dozens of pangas and larger vessels. They are the primary commercial link between tourists and the islands.
Héctor Aguilar, the cooperative’s vice president, said the organization will donate the tour slots. The city government will select which neighborhoods participate. “They will tell us: ‘It’s this colonia’s turn, that colonia’s turn,'” Aguilar said. The cooperative is coordinating directly with the municipal government on logistics and scheduling.
La Paz has grown rapidly over the past two decades. Colonias on the city’s western and southern periphery, including areas like El Zacatal, Calafia, and Colinas del Sol, often lack complete paved roads, reliable water service, and recreational infrastructure. Many families in these neighborhoods work in construction, domestic service, or informal commerce. A $100 boat tour is not a realistic expense when daily wages in those sectors often fall between 300 and 500 pesos ($17 to $28 USD).
Weekly Tours to Begin After Semana Santa
The program will start after the Semana Santa vacation period ends in late April 2025. Tours will run approximately once per week to Isla Espíritu Santo, Balandra, and whale shark observation areas, though whale shark season typically ends in April, so those excursions may resume in the fall.
Vázquez Savín said tour vouchers will be distributed directly in participating colonias during community visits. The city has not yet announced which neighborhoods will be included first or how many children each tour will accommodate. Standard tour boats from the Malecón carry between 10 and 20 passengers.
The program does not yet have a formal name or a published end date. If it holds to its once-per-week schedule, it could put several hundred children on boats to Espíritu Santo over the course of the year. The next scheduled round of community outreach events, where the first tour vouchers are expected to be distributed, has not been publicly announced. The story was first reported by BCS Noticias.