Sunrise from La Iguana #11
We started planning this trip shortly after learning of our friends' plans to bring their family to Akumal on January 18. We set things up so that we'd be there starting the 15th. Then we managed to keep this a secret from them, which was no easy task!
We flew out of MSP at 9 AM on a Transglobal/Ryan Air flight, as has been our choice the last several trips. Everything went on time as usual. Our immigration and customs experience was better than last year, even though we traveled on Saturday this time. Around 45 minutes from deplaning to exiting the terminal...not as fast as some trips, but much better than last time. The Avicar rep was waiting for us, as promised, right outside the terminal. We followed him to the car in the airport parking lot, finished the paperwork, and were on our way. That's definately the way to go, no waiting around the rental office.
Just to see what the new Sam's Club in Playa was like, we stopped in. For anyone interested, they're open 8 AM to 10 PM every day. They also have two ATM's right inside the door. Those accustomed to using their Sam's Club credit will be disappointed, as that's not accepted there. Anyway, after a short stop there, it was time to complete the final leg to Akumal. Nothing compares to the feeling of driving through that arch and seeing beautiful Akumal Bay, especially in the dead of winter!
Check-in at La Iguana Condo's went quickly. The three flights of stairs up to the top level of the building was a bit of a challenge, but we managed it! What a view!
After all the travelling, we decided just to stay on Half Moon Bay for the evening, although it was hard to miss Happy Hour at Lol Ha. We did manage to make it there on most other nights, though. More on that later.
We enjoy breakfast at Lol Ha, so did that every day. Sadly, the main restaurant there is now only open in the evening so we couldn't have our usual table on the northeast corner of the deck. Had to settle for a table in the sand out in front of the beach bar. It was tough, but we managed!
It seems that every year there are more boats anchored in Akumal Bay. This year there's even a parasail operation, but fortunately all you see of that is the boat at anchor and then occasionally a glimpse of the parasail way out beyond the reef.
We spent the first morning on the beach, did a little snorkeling and tried out the underwater housing for the digital camera. Worked very well...this time. Headed out to Casa Cenote's Sunday barbecue, which was very good. Didn't do much the rest of the day.
Monday was our first adventurous day. We started out with a trip to Muyil, about 20 km south of Tulum. Very interesting ruins site. We also walked from the ruins site to Muyil Lagoon just into the biosphere. A fine map of the area is available online at http://muyil.smv.org/images/Areaeng.GIF.
Templo 8
Glyphs along the road to the lagoon
Laguna Muyil
From the ruins we travelled to Puerto Aventuras to try the Gringo Dave's restaurant.
Definately not the nice setting as the former Tulum locale, and the food wasn't nearly as good. It was interesting seeing the Dolphin Adventures activity there, though.
Back south after lunch to Hacienda Doña Isabel, the shopping area in front of the Bahia Principe resorts, then we stopped in Akumal Sur to see where Sharoon and Steve Wandler will some day be building.
Happy Hour Monday night was an event to remember. Several people from the Locogringo message board had planned to meet there at that time. Carol F and her husband Garry, Brian (McPlaid) and a sizable group, and Kay and Gary Walten showed up.
Absolutely a fine evening, with margaritas, cervezas, and several other concoctions flowing continuously.
Tuesday was good and bad. First the bad. Went snorkeling in Akumal Bay with the digital camera and underwater housing. Apparently I didn't properly seal things up because upon returning to the beach and opening the case, I drained water out of it and watched the camera self-destruct. (Later investigation proved that I was correct...no more digital camera.) After a trip to Chedraui in the afternoon, we headed over to the Lol Ha for (what else?) Happy Hour. Our friends were to have arrived today and we had made them promise to go to a specific spot in the bar and spiritually join us for a few drinks. (Remember, they thought we were back home in Wisconsin.) We sat down and waited for 5:30 to come. We could see them at the far end of the bar. At 5:30, we could see July tell Dale that they had to move "over there", pointing at us and dropping her jaw to the ground! It was priceless! Needless to say, a good time was had by all. At some point during the evening, a "Guest" poster from Locogringo came over to thank me for some information I had posted earlier that caused him to stay a few days at Akumal. Thank YOU, Guest! Always my pleasure.
Wednesday was basically just a beach day. Ran into Greg Brown at the Akumal Dive Center. Hadn't seen him since March, 2003. Nice to see him still around. We had fun showing one of our friends' granddaughters how to snorkel. Very rewarding to have her see a turtle on her very first time snorkeling.
After happy hour, when Carol F, Garry and Brian (Mc Plaid) made another appearance, we went to Pizzaria Leo's in Chemuyil. Leo's has expanded, basically adding one more row of tables along the front. We understand that more expansion is planned. That's good news, as this place is great.
Thursday was spent snorkeling both in Half Moon Bay and Akumal Bay. We saw a huge eagle ray in Half Moon Bay. Very neat.
The usual suspects showed up in Akumal Bay...turtles, baracuda, and so on, as well as some small rays. In the evening we dined at Turtle Bay. They are now open Tuesday through Saturday evenings. They still serve fantastic food as well as great desserts.
Friday we took off for Cozumel. Our son's inlaws got there on Wednesday, so this gave us a chance to visit with them. We snorkeled a bit in front of their condo which was north, almost to the marina. Then we drove to the other side of the island to revisit Mescalito's, where we had the most wonderful margaritas back in 2000. Unfortunately now they're just average. Continued around the island and found that much of the area nearer to town has been bought up by the cruise ship lines and turned into beach clubs for cruisers. We understand that the newer pier facilities for these companies were built at the cost of a good portion of Paradise Reef. All in all, the cruise ships have done their best to destroy yet another part of paradise.
All too soon it was Saturday, our last day. Fortunately we were able to schedule a late flight...10:30 PM...so we had all day to relax. More snorkeling, spotting such things as turtles, baracudas, and squid, and we even ran across a huge baracuda without its usual school of small silver fish.
Really a surprise to look down and find a 4-5 foot baracuda right there, only about a foot below you! We were able to spend the entire day on the beach before heading back to the condo to pack up and check out. One last happy hour and it was time to head north. We met the Avicar rep exactly where he had told us, right in front of the terminal. It took about a minute to complete the car check-in. We then checked in with the Ryan Air desk and found that our plane would be leaving two hours late. Could have been worse, as just about all the US flights were delayed, some up to 18 hours, due to huge storms.
And so another trip ends. We've finally decided that a week is far too short a time to be at Akumal. Unless we are planning a second trip later in the year, from now on it will be 10 days to 2 weeks. Still much more to see and do. We'd hoped to get to the Uxmal ruins, but that will happen on a future trip. We also want to get down to Xcalak at some time. And the search for better and better margaritas continues!