Guaymas (Sonora Mexico, San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas)

Guaymas (aka Guaymas de Zaragoza) is a port city in Mexico's Sonora State (northwestern Mexico). The city is located approx 115 km (70 mi) south of Hermosillo (state's capital) and approx 390 km (240 mi) from the USA border.

As cruise port, Guaymas (locode MXGYM) is the gateway to its beachfront resort district San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas.

San Carlos (Nuevo Guaymas) has population around 7,000. The town features a huge number of resorts, hotels and vacation rentals, plenty of RV parks and stores, many Canadians and Americans (also living here during winter months), plenty of outdoor activities (sea fishing, scuba diving, sea kayaking, etc), around 120 km (75 mi) of beaches.

San Carlos is among the best Mexican travel vacation destinations from the USA, at about a 6-hour drive distance from the border along Mexico's Highway 15 route. However, driving tourists from the US must obtain an FMM tourist card (available at the border's crossing points). If foreigners travel to San Carlos by private vehicles, they are not required to have car permits.

Gulf of California's warm waters are perfect for scuba diving the whole year-round. Water surface temperatures range between  63 F (17 C) in the winter and 90 F (32 C) in the summer. Underwater visibility is over 30 m (100 ft), sometimes even exceeding 60 m (200 ft). Underwater visibility of over 100 ft. (30m) is very common. Sometimes visibility exceeds 200 ft (61 m) as is often the case at San Pedro Nolasco Island. However, a consultation with a local shop dive shop or divemaster is recommended and can provide accurate and detailed information on current conditions at specific dive sites.

The San Carlos resort territories incorporate four privately-owned "rancho" estates (Los Algodones, San Carlos, El Baviso and El Represo). Tourist development started in the mid-1950s by private investor companies. Through a 1963-issued Sonora state Decree was established the San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas municipality as part of Guaymas. Fan fact is that San Carlos was used for the filming of the Hollywood movies "Catch-22" (1961), "Lucky Lady" (1975) and "The Mask of Zorro" (1998).

In January 2019, the UK-based company CMV (Cruise and Maritime Voyages) announced its plans to homeport in Puerto Penasco the 550-passenger liner Astoria. Shipping operations were scheduled to start on December 7 (2019) with voyages to Baja California and Mexican Riviera ports. CMV's 12-day itinerary "Treasures of the Seas of Cortez" visited as call ports Topolobampo, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Loreto, Santa Rosalia, Guaymas. Astoria ship's prices started from USD 1600 per person. With Astoria's Puerto Penasco homeporting, CMV targeted almost exclusively the Arizona USA market due to homeport's proximity to Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma.

Guaymas cruise terminal

Guaymas tours, shore excursions, hotels

City Tours and Shore Excursions

San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas