Emergency numbers and help in Puerto Escondido

Puerto Escondido has some of the strongest surf in Mexico. Rip currents and heavy shorebreak can catch even good swimmers, especially at Zicatela. Check the beach flags and ask a lifeguard or your surf school before entering the water.

1. Stay calm and do not swim against the current: you will tire and it always wins.
2. Swim parallel to the shore until you leave the current, then angle back towards the beach.
3. If you cannot get out, float on your back and raise one arm to signal for help.
4. If you see someone in trouble, do not go in after them. Alert a lifeguard, call 911 and throw something that floats.

• Drink purified water all day, more if you surf or drink alcohol. Do not drink tap water.
• Use reef-safe SPF 50, a hat and a UV shirt; the tropical sun burns in 15 to 20 minutes. Avoid the beach between 12:00 and 15:00.
• Heat exhaustion signs: dizziness, headache, nausea, cramps. Move to shade, drink water with electrolytes, cool your neck and wrists, and seek care if it does not pass within 30 minutes.
• Jellyfish or stinging creatures: leave the water, rinse the area with sea water (not fresh water) and remove tentacles with a card or tweezers. Do not rub. Hot water of about 45 °C eases the pain. Go to a clinic if there is breathing trouble, swelling or severe pain.
• Sea urchin or stingray injuries on the rocks: soak the foot in hot (not scalding) water and see a doctor.

• The Oaxaca coast is an active seismic zone. If the ground shakes: drop, cover and hold on under a sturdy table or against an inside wall, away from windows. Do not use the lift.
• After a strong or long quake near the coast, move away from the beach to higher ground without waiting for an official alert, and follow instructions from Civil Protection.
• Mexico has a public seismic alert (the siren and phone alert). Do not panic if you hear it: it gives you seconds to move to a safe spot.
• The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from 15 May to 30 November, with the highest risk from August to October. Check forecasts from the National Hurricane Center and Mexico's Servicio Meteorológico Nacional if you travel then.
• If a storm is forecast: follow your hotel or host's instructions, stock up on water, food and cash, charge your phone and power bank, and stay out of the sea, river mouths and lagoons. Buy travel insurance with weather cover before you fly.

1. Keep a photo of your passport and your tourist permit (FMM/immigration stamp) in the cloud, and a paper copy separate from the originals.
2. File a report (denuncia) at the Fiscalía or ask the municipal police where to do it, and keep the report number: your embassy and insurer will ask for it.
3. Contact your embassy or consulate (links below). There is no consulate in Puerto Escondido, so they will tell you how to get an emergency travel document, in Mexico City or at the consular agency in Oaxaca.
4. Ask the embassy and Mexican immigration (INM) how to handle the lost tourist permit before you leave the country, and rebook your flight if the process takes more than a day or two.
5. Notify your travel insurer and cancel any cards that were stolen with it.