Would you holiday at this former island prison in Mexico?

A view of the new Museum of Islas Marias, an educational tourist attraction in what once was the last island-prison in Mother Maria Island, Mexico. — Photos: Reuters

A small archipelago off Mexico’s Pacific coast that had been home to an island prison colony is finalising preparations to receive tourists.

Getting to Islas Marias, however, is currently a challenge for even the sturdiest tourist: a four-hour boat ride in often choppy waters. But Mexico’s government plans to make things easier, putting the country’s navy in charge of tours in the latest new function assigned to Mexico’s armed forces under President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.