Akumal July, 2009


For the first time our daughter, Cassandra, was coming with us. This was also her first trip to Mexico. Day one was pretty much just a travel day. Another first...we did not fly non-stop, but instead had a stop and plane change at Dallas. The first leg from MSP was uneventful, but the Dallas to Cancun plane left about 90 to 120 minutes late. Good prices on American for the tickets, but I don't think I want to do that again! Despite our lateness, Cancunrentacar was waiting for us at the airport and we quickly checked out a gold, low milage Tsuru and were on our way south. We did manage to make it to Lol Ha for Happy Hour and dinner, and spoke briefly with Xcalak Steve, who was in Akumal with his new book of photos. Another first for us: we stayed off the beach in the small subdivision of Chan Chemuyil at a friend's house.


Friday we had breakfast at Turtle Bay, then headed down the beach to rent chairs and spend the day relaxing and snorkeling. We saw a turtle, a ray, many small fish, and the cannons on the north end of the bay.


Cass on the beach, first full day

We had lunch at La Cueva del Pescador and at the same time set up a fishing trip for the next day. More beach time after lunch then happy hour at Lol Ha, followed by dinner at La Buena Vida.



Saturday started out beautiful, with bright sun and little wind. We had breakfast at Lol Ha then headed over to La Cueva del Pescador to start the fishing trip. Craig caught a medium-small barracuda and a medium-large dorado. That was a beautiful, fun fish to fight, clearing the water completely several times. Cass also caught a small barracuda.


Cass and small 'cuda

Shortly after we turned north again a squall hit, completely drenching everyone and seemingly lasting for an hour, although I suspect it was much shorter. Lightning flashed around us with deafening crashes of thunder and high waves. To complicate matters the captain and his mate had to pour more gas into the tank along the way. By the time we got back to Akumal the storm had quit and the sun was returning.


Cass with the dorado, back on the beach

We spent the rest of the day checking out souvenier shops along 307 (milepost 242) and in Tulum. After Happy Hour we dined at La Cueva on (what else?) Mahi Mahi (dorado). Among the others dining at La Cueva were Maggie McKown from Hekab Be and Locogringo Yaki Jaki.



Sunday was another quiet beach day. Craig had breakfast at La Loncheria while Kathy and Cass skipped breakfast. Once again we rented chairs from the hotel and set up just in front of the hotel building. During two snorkeling outings, concentrating for a change on the south part of the bay in front of the ABR, we saw a couple of turtles, some squid, and other small fish. For lunch we picked up some "flat chicken" (pollo asado) from Nadi's, across the highway in the pueblo. After Happy Hour we went back to La Buena Vida. LBV has drastically improved from earlier trips. The drinks were very good to excellent, service was great, and the food absolutely first rate. We had beef fajitas, rib eye steak, sopa de lima, and cheyenne's tacos.



Once again on Monday Craig had breakfast at La Loncheria, but this time brought home some danish for Kathy from Turtle Bay. Kathy has been to Tulum fairly frequently, but since this was Cass's first trip down, we all went to the ruins there. There seem to be some more recently opened areas to the north of El Castillo.


Kathy and Cass at Tulum

Leaving the site proper, we stopped for some cervezas and watched the "flying mayans", actually the voladores(fliers), who are from Papantla, a town north and west of Veracruz. They are Totonac Indians, not Maya but it's a neat show. My thanks to Judy from Indiana, who provided the details about them!


The "Flying Mayans"

We then went north to Playa del Carmen. We had a superb meal at Yaxche then did some more shopping. On the way back south we stopped at Puerto Aventuras to see the dolphins and manatees. At Happy Hour we talked with Yaki Jaki again and stopped in front of the webcam. For supper we went off to Pizzaria Leo's in Chemuyil.



Craig made breakfast in the house on Tuesday. Later, Cass and Craig went to the Xel Ha archaeological site, with the faint hope of seeing some monkeys in the trees. No monkeys but about a billion mosquitoes!


Cass at Xel Ha

On the way back to the house we stopped at Xcacel for a short bit of sightseeing.


Looking at the waves at Xcacel

All three of us stopped at Hekab Be with some donations, then set up once again on the beach. We ate lunch at Lol Ha and Kathy and Cass got some henna tattoos. After Happy Hour we dined at Turtle Bay, a great place to have our 36th Anniversary dinner. At midday it looked like a storm was brewing, but it dried up and we had yet another beautiful day.



Wednesday was to be our last full day. After breakfast at Lol Ha we again rented chairs and set up for a full beach day. On the morning snorkel we saw the usual turtles, barracuda, small rays and other fish. For lunch Craig went across the highway again to Nadi's, but only got some of her coleslaw. Then he stopped at Super Mar Caribe for ham, cheese, tortillas, and cervezas. We ate our makeshift rollups on the beach. On our afternoon snorkel we saw lots of turtles, a school of squid, barracuda, rays and others, along with a small fishball very near the beach circling a needlefish. At Lol Ha we had happy hour and dinner, then headed back to the house to pack.



The flight home was uneventful, although again it was far longer in duration than it could have been had we flown non-stop.