A notorious prison island turned natural paradise |
In 2019, Mexico's Islas Marías prison – the last island penal colony in the Americas – finally closed. Now a biosphere reserve, the once-feared archipelago is open to tourists on restricted, navy-organised tours.
I was at the ferry port in San Blas, a coastal town in western Mexico's Nayarit state, when two men wearing fatigues and carrying machine guns passed me in the queue. Next came a guard leading an Alsatian, which diligently sniffed my backpack. Along with a few hundred middle-aged Mexican tourists, I was about to board a weekend tour organised by the Mexican navy to María Madre, the largest island in the Islas Marías archipelago – once known as the "Alcatraz of Mexico".
Unbeknownst to me at the time, my trip came just before US President Trump ordered his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the infamous former prison on an island near San Francisco whose operations were formally shuttered in 1963. Alcatraz has since become a major tourist attraction where visitors can experience the historic cellhouse as it once was, and Mexico's own notorious former prison similarly allows tourists to peruse its cells. Unlike Alcatraz, however, the Mexican island has been transformed into a remarkable place of conservation.
Located about 130km from the Mexican mainland, María Madre spans around 145 sq km and is part of a four-island nature reserve that's now managed by Mexico's navy. Since 2022, tourists have been allowed to visit via four-hour ferry trips from San Blas and Mazatlán city, exploring designated areas under supervision.
For many Mexicans, Islas Marías needs no introduction. The prison, founded in 1905, housed mass murderers and was the setting for the prolific Mexican director Emilio Fernández's 1951 film Las Islas Marías.
"They used to have the big shots here, the big criminals," said fellow passenger Francisco Espinosa, who told me was drawn to the tour by the film, which shows the island's beaches and salt flats that prisoners worked on. "It's like Alcatraz. Everybody knew about this prison."
The island is prone to extreme wind and a military base operates there, so we were compelled to watch a safety video about what to do if the island suffers a tsunami or gas attack (for the latter, cover your nose and run). After the video, I glimpsed huge sea turtles breaching the ocean surface from the ferry window.
The natural spectacle continued after we walked over María Madre's concrete jetty and dropped our bags in the hotel complex created for the new visitors. Herds of wild goats scattered from the pathways between restaurant buffet buildings and little gift shops as the incoming humans interrupted their wandering. The sound of hooves on concrete dovetailed with the burble of water crashing from a large waterfall-style water feature, plus loud squawks emanating from trees overhead.
One of our guides explained that the squawks signalled mating season for the green Tres Marías amazon parrots that are endemic to the island. Prisoners used to get family members to smuggle these prized parrots to the mainland, to sell. The boa population also took a hit as prisoners caught snakes to make belts from their skin.
I was assigned an airy, white-painted villa, which guides said used to house prisoners. They explained that some prisoners were allowed to have their........