Acapulco Scuba Center

Acapulco de Juárez , commonly called Acapulco, is a city, municipality and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 380 kilometres south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico's history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruise lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo. Acapulco is also Mexico's largest beach and balneario resort city.The city is one of Mexico's oldest beach resorts, which came into prominence in the 1940s through to the 1960s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco was once a popular tourist resort, but due to a massive upsurge in gang violence and murder since 2014 it no longer attracts many tourists, and most now only come from Mexico itself. It is the deadliest city in Mexico and the third-deadliest city in the world, and the US government has warned its citizens not to travel there. In 2016 there were 918 murders, and the homicide rate was one of the highest in the world: 103 in every 100,000. In September 2018 the city's entire police force was disarmed by the military, due to suspicions that it has been infiltrated by drugs gangs. A health crisis has developed due to large quantities of uncollected refuse building up in the streets.The resort area is divided into three parts: The north end of the bay and beyond is the traditional area, which encompasses the area from Parque Papagayo through the Zócalo and onto the beaches of Caleta and Caletilla, the main part of the bay known as Zona Dorada , where the famous in the mid-20th century vacationed, and the south end, Diamante , which is dominated by newer luxury high-rise hotels and condominiums. The name Acapulco comes from Nahuatl language Aca-pōl-co, and means where the reeds were destroyed or washed away. The de Juárez was added to the official name in 1885 to honor Benito Juárez, former President of Mexico . The seal for the city shows broken reeds or cane. The island and municipality of Capul, in the Philippines, derives its name from Acapulco; Capul was the western end of the trans-Pacific sailing route from Acapulco to what was then a Spanish colony.
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