We visited Playa Linda a few months ago but decided against taking the ferry over to Ixtapa Island. From our casa it requires an 8 peso bus, then two 12 peso buses to get to Playa Linda. With four people the cost would be 128 pesos. The taxi drivers will state a price of 180 to 200 pesos for the trip, but if you stick to your guns you can get the ride for the “real” price of 150 pesos. And we took the taxis for this trip. The nature reserve at the entrance to the beach is a great spot for checking out crocodiles, lots of iguanas, turtles, and birds.
On our next trip there I brought my snorkel gear and we headed to Isla Ixtapa. The roundtrip ferry service to Ixtapa Island is 50 pesos per person. You can bring a cooler, but there are no bottles allowed on the boats to Ixtapa Island. We bought beers before getting in line, but were turned away at the pier. After we chugged our beers, I ran the bottles back to the guy we bought them from. I had promised to return them after our trip to Ixtapa Island so he could get the 5 peso per bottle refund. When I showed up with the beers bottles 7 minutes after purchasing them he couldn’t contain his smirk as he told me that he forgot they wouldn’t allow bottles on the boats. The line for Ixtapa Island was about 20 to 30 minutes long to get on the boats, with the trip over taking only about 3 minutes. One Mexican man in line asked me to help him stop people from cutting line. He was super helpful, because a high percentage of people just walk to the front of the line. I quite enjoyed giving people a hard time as the Mexican man rejected them and they had to do the walk of shame as they turned around and slunk to the back of the line.
Ixtapa Island was extremely busy as well, but there was still plenty of space for seating at the restaurants. We did get overcharged a bit when we paid, but this can be typical when the pricing isn’t on the menu. We ended up renting two life jackets for 50 pesos each and a snorkel and mask for 80 pesos, although the waiter told us the total would be 110 pesos. The beers were all 20 to 25 pesos, but we were charged 30 pesos each. And he told us that two appetizers would be 130 pesos, but then billed us 160 pesos. The total was 500 pesos, so we paid exactly 500 pesos. His tip could be found in the extra 90 pesos he charged us.
There are three main beaches, and they were all packed. You can reach all of the beaches within a couple minutes walk, The water was nice, though. The fourth beach is supposedly a nudist beach, but we didn’t check it out.
The snorkeling was okay, but I actually think that you will enjoy Playa Linda more if you don’t trek over to Ixtapa Island.