Trip Report

Akumal July 9 - 16, 2005
(Or How I Spent the Week Before Hurricane Emily)


What with the arrival of Emily and subsequent questions about what effects there were from the storm, it's taken me much longer than usual to get going on this report. However, all seems to be progressing well in the Riviera Maya, so let's get to it.

We were pleasantly surprised by the efficiency and service of Sun Country on our flight down…something they more than made up for on the trip home, but we'll get to that later. The flight was only about half full, which is something we've not had before, usually taking charters. They offered a breakfast sandwich and, in fact, seconds. The flight left on time and landed just a bit early. Terminal one (hadn't gone there for several years) was a great experience, but that may be simply because it's an off-peak time and there were not a lot of arrivals competing for immigration and customs. The longest part of the arrival process was waiting for the luggage to be unloaded. Avicar's rep was waiting for us when we left the terminal and, as last time, the process of completing the car rental paperwork was very fast. (This was matched by equally good service when checking the car back in at the end of the trip.) Total time from landing to driving out of the airport was less than 45 minutes. We made a brief stop at Chedraui in Playa to get some pesos from the ATM and also some soda and cerveza, then beat it the rest of the way to Akumal. Though we were at least an hour ahead of official check-in time, we were able to get right into the bungalow and then off to meet friends Jule and Dale and to find lunch at Lol Ha. Just after we sat down, someone came up to us and introduced himself as OK from the locogringo board. Doesn't take long to find people you know from the boards! Unfortunately, he was leaving the next day so, apart from seeing him in passing a couple of times, we didn't get too much time to visit. We spent the afternoon on the beach and snorkeling in the bay. Following Happy Hour at Lol Ha, we headed out to Pizzaria Leo's. Great pizza, as always.


Pizzaria Leo's

Back to Lol Ha for some wonderful chocolate dessert, then off to bed. All in all a great first day, but it had started in the early hours of the morning and we were ready for some sleep.

Sunday morning was spent relaxing and snorkeling, and walking down the beach to find a new turtle nest just a bit south of the ABR.


Turtle trail south of ABR

We took off to find Nacho's Latitude 20° for lunch. Nacho was the chef at Gringo Dave's Tulum location and now he has his own place just north of that location. (At least he did at that time…we really hope he's still there, after Emily.) Same great view, smaller area, but still a great menu. Also the same huge margaritas.

Nacho's entrance


View from Nacho's


Jule and Kathy enjoying Nacho's margaritas


Nacho's menu

After lunch, some nap time and internet time, some more beach time, then happy hour at Lol Ha, followed by Pasta Night at the main Lol Ha restaurant. After some beach star-gazing off to bed.

Monday was the day that Jule and Dale were heading home and also the day of the main Playa Fiesta '05 events up at the Iberostar Beach and Del Mar resorts. It was an interesting experience seeing how the All-Inclusive fans spend their vacations. Huge place, beautiful landscaping, but they could stand to put some alcohol in their drinks! The food was tasty and the beach was very wavy - no protecting reef there. It was so nice to reacquaint with Sandy and Bob from MN, and also wonderful to meet so many folks who have been simply board names and have been seen only in pictures thus far. To name just a few: Bandman and Joni and Heather, Dorees and Beence, the Chrises, Karen in NY and Ellyn in St. Louie, Tami, Keith, Okieman…and so many more. I am honored to have met all these wonderful people. We headed back to Akumal at about 10:45…very late compared to our usual Mexican habits!


PF '05 breakfast


Iberostar beach


Swim-up bar


Flamingos grazing at the Iberostar


Bandman and the Chrises(?) being photographed by Ellen in St. Louis

Tuesday was another typical beautiful day. We set up under a palapa for the day. Snorkeled and shot a video of a turtle. While resting up from the activity, Alice in AZ came up and introduced herself. So of course, we had to go have lunch with Alice and Chuck at Lol Ha.


Lunch with Alice and Chuck

The afternoon became pretty windy. Spent a little time on the internet and tried out Kathy's new split fins. Unfortunately the wind had stirred up the water and it was pretty murky. Iguana Mama found us sitting under the palapa…we had the Locogringo cooler sitting there just in case anyone from that board showed up. Later I discovered that my carry-on bag had disappeared from our room sometime between Monday and Tuesday. It appears that someone must have come along while the housekeeper had the door open, darted in and grabbed it. Spent some time with security reporting the loss. Later, during Happy Hour we started a conversation with a delightful honeymoon couple, Bart and Angi (TheBlinnsinIndy) from Indianapolis. They knew me from Locogringo!

The honeymooners

Chuck and Alice joined us, Barney1 said hi, and even Kay stopped by! The place was definitely becoming overrun with locogringos! After happy hour, Chuck and Alice, Bart and Angi, Kathy and I took off for Pizzaria Leo's. After another great meal, we drove around Chemuyil and located their little library, then drove around Akumal Pueblo. So mostly it was another wonderful day.

Lots of storms overnight, with the power out for about an hour. So Wednesday was pretty much a do-nothing day. Beach time, went to Tulum for awhile. Had dinner at La Cueva del Pescador (and ran into Iguana Mama again). I'll recommend their very good, smooth margaritas and their excellent grouper fillets with butter and garlic. Had coffee to-go from Lol Ha on the beach.

Thursday morning we spent at the Xel Ha ruins site. Interesting murals from the early classic period, several groups of buildings and a cenote. We happened upon a troop of monkeys in the trees along the walk from the Pajaros group to the Jaguar group.


Murals at Xel Ha ruins

We had lunch at Nacho's again then ran up to Playa for some tequila and a replacement carry-on bag. On the way back to Akumal the storms started again. After siesta time we headed to La Buena Vida for the big Locogringo gathering. Lots more fun people there. We signed Kay and Gary's plywood board (for protection from the oncoming hurricane) and Iguana Mama's LG cooler. Much discussion at the party about the expected hurricane. Altogether a wonderful way to spend our 32nd anniversary. A photo spread with our Locogringo gathering pictures is viewable by clicking on the picture of Alice's arrival, below:

Alice arriving at the bash, wearing her LG "hat"

Friday was another quiet beach day. Took videos of several fish and stills of others as well as some turtles.


Turtle and hitchhiker

Both the Canon underwater housing and the AquaPac worked great. The former is a bit bulky, however, while the latter takes some getting used to, as far as control access goes, but they both performed their task without any unfortunate leaks. Through the afternoon the beach chairs were gathered up and taken to more secure storage in preparation for the storm.

Truckload of departing chairs

Parts of the Lol Ha were also being boarded up in preparation. We made a stop at the library with gifts and also with a donation. We understand that many or most of the kids were going to be heading inland to stay with other family members. We took several pictures of the bay, just in case there are many changes coming from the storm. We had dinner at the Turtle Bay with Alice and Chuck.

The four of us at Turtle Bay

The company was great, but the food was at best adequate. The selection was a bit low, due to preparations for the oncoming hurricane, and I suspect that the quality of what was available was a bit below the usual par for the Turtle Bay. We've never had a complaint about the food there in the past, and I expect to be back there next time. We had coffee and dessert at the Lol Ha and listened to the live jazz music for awhile, then went to the hotel registration desk to settle the food/bar bill, in order to save time on our way out in the morning.

I do have to mention the trials of our flight home. All was going fabulously as we boarded the plane. We'd upgraded to first class for a bit more comfort on the way home. Then the plane taxied to the end of the runway and waited in line for takeoff. As we approached the front of the line a warning light appeared in the cockpit and we taxied back to the terminal for some repairs. A couple hours later we tried again, with exactly the same result. Again, spending a couple hours on board while repairs were discussed and attempted, then we were taken off the plane and brought into the terminal.


Waiting in the terminal

After yet another couple of hours we were bussed to a hotel (the Miramar Mision in the Cancun hotel zone) and told that we'd be going back to the airport at about 10:30. At the appropriate time we gathered in the hotel lobby to find that we wouldn't be leaving the hotel for a few more hours. No one could reach any airline representatives to get a true story of what was happening, and at one point we heard from two different sources that the airport had closed due to the upcoming storm. That proved to be untrue, and some time after 1 AM we did reboard the bus for the airport. No preparations had apparently been made to get us through the airport any quicker than a normal check-in, so it was more lines and standing around. Finally boarding a replacement plane at about 4:30, we actually left the ground at about 5 AM - about 9 hours before the airport did finally close. To add insult to injury, there was no food and very limited (non-alcoholic) beverage service on the flight. I do now have a fairly good understanding of exactly what transpired in the hours we were waiting, however the total lack of communication from the airline we all felt was inexcusable. Will I fly Sun Country again? I can't say for sure. I suppose to be fair I should give them a chance to prove that this was a fluke, but at this point I'm not entirely certain that I dare do so.

View the rest of the July 2005 Akumal photo gallery here.