December 2016
We did it...we finally made it to an all inclusive in Mexico!!
We have been talking about it for a very long time and in the summer Sue & I started to search in earnest. We all knew we wanted something reasonably priced, on the east side of mexico and nothing sketchy. The search began. Over the months Sue & I texted back and forth about various properties and prices.
Finally we settled on the Catalonia Yucatan Hotel.
Pictures looked good (but don't they all??), Reviews were very good on Trip Advisor (the bad ones were complaints about bugs and rain - um ya cause the hotel can do something about that!) So In December we got on the phone with Jod & Sue and we all agreed to book. Kels & I booked first and they followed a few days later with booking. 4 of us agreed it would be easiest to fly from out prospective home cities (Kelowna & Calgary) and meet at the resort. Vacation booked - count down was on.
Jod & Sue flew out from Kelowna on Sat December 24. We flew out the following day (Sun December 25) at 10am. Left Calgary in 2 ft of snow! Plane had issues (knocked part of the nose and front tire had to be replaced while we were on the plane) and we were delayed for over an hour on the tarmac. Once underway we spent the time with various movies (Tarzan and X-Men for me) and TV shows (got caught up on Big Bang). Tried reading a little and of course food. We were surprised that 1) they had warm sandwiches and they were actually pretty good 2) they didn't offer a free meal - we had to buy it. We flew with Air Transat and were pleasantly surprised at the level of service provided.
Arriving in Cancun at about 10pm we stood in line with out filled out country forms and passports. Once through there we headed to the luggage area and grabbed my checked suitcase (Kels only took a carry on). Once we had that we headed through the airport and out to the buses. We had been advised on the flight to look for our resort bus. Once out of the airport itself it was a cacophony of mugginess, people, busses and noise. We found someone in an Air Transat shirt and inquired where our bus was. Once we found our bus they checked us off the list and loaded our suitcases under the bus. Kels kept our camera and I kept our passports and other valuables. We were both pretty tired on the bus ride. The driver came by with juice and beer for sale. We still had water so didn't get any. It was over an hours drive to our resort from Cancun airport and we stopped at another resort along the way to drop off others. We finally pulled into our resort and there was Jod & Sue waiting in the open air lobby for us. Because of all our delays we were 3 hours late in our arrival and they had been there waiting the whole time. 😓
We checked in and unbeknownst to me, Jod flinched my cell out of the purse while we were checking in. They followed us to our room and we dumped everything off. I looked for my cell but honestly didn't look hard figuring it was somewhere in the tangled of bags, coats and various other things. Then since we were starving by this point we headed to the only open buffet at midnight. They had pizza, fries and other buffet midnight food offerings which was fine. We sat and caught up and generally just enjoyed being there for what we hoped would be a week of nothing but relaxation. We closed the bar and walked them to their room on the ground floor and conveniently placed on the way to our room. Jod gave me back my cell.
When we got back to our room the AC had done it's job and it was pleasantly cool. We set up and went to bed for the night.
DAY TWO - Monday Dec 26/16
We had decided the night before to take it easy and the first official full day to have a beach day. Poor Jod & Sue had rain when they arrived so were skeptical about the weather but it dawned bright and clear and beautiful. We had breakfast at one of the buffets (there were 7 eateries in total). There are two beaches connected by a boardwalk. The one next to the right side of the structure with the scuba and catamarans, is sandy at first but rocky when you get in past your ankles. The other is nice and sandy all the way out. And not too deep at all. Perfect for floating. There is a roped off area where they are trying to regrow a reef, but there's lots of places to snorkel even if you can only sign out the gear for an hour everyday (next year we are bringing our own). Theres also a lagoon behind the nice sandy beach - hubby had some great find snorkeling there. The lagoon goes quite ways back off the resort property into what looks to be private condos but we kayaked through the waterways with no problems. The beach was busy everyday but I was up early everyday to watch the sunrise, so getting beach loungers for the 4 of us wasn't a problem. However I did notice quite a few loungers taken and then weren't actually used until quite late in the day. We only saved loungers on the days we used them. We would leave for lunch or I would leave for breakfast when the rest of the family got up and our stuff was still there. I generally left sunscreen, bottled water and a book so it was more than just our towels. As the sun stretched into the afternoon, the lovely beach lounger lines the staff work so hard to make straight were most def gone. Loungers are pushed, pulled/dragged into shade or sun as needed so you get a willy nilly menagerie of people and things and loungers. We ended up snagging beach loungers on the lagoon side and lounged until 1ish and went and had food again. We decided to try one of our allocated reservations at one of the 4 restaurants that night. As we are a Japanese sushi loving family (it seems that is the meal of choice for family get togethers - that or greek) we decided on the Japanese restaurant. I think at some point that afternoon all of us napped on the loungers and shuffled to get under shade. We took stock and Jod & Sue filled us in on what they had scoped out the previous day and generally caught up from not seeing each other for quite awhile. I told Sue I didn't want to deal with my hair in the humidity the night before and so we scoped out hair braiding services and the resort itself was pretty pricey. We noticed a place just on the other side of the resort that did hair braiding and massages so Sue and I took a gander over there and inquired about prices. Sure enough the girl was VERY reasonable and had free time that afternoon. We told her we would go get the money and be back. At about 2ish we went back and the girl started braiding my locks. It would take a considerable amount of time so Sue decided to sit with me. At one point Jod found a large crab and Sue left to take some pics. Left alone with the girl, who while she spoke good English wasn't fluent, we made small talk. Turns out she was a sister and when I squealed Jod, Sue and Kels came over figuring that was the case. After that we became fast friends. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours getting my hair done. When she finished we exchanged information and we promised over the course of the week to come see her. We made our way back to the loungers and decided to get cleaned up for dinner and met at Jod & Sues room in an hour.
We headed to our room to cool off, showered and pulled out some non-beach wear - we discovered that there was a giant puddle in our entryway. We called the front desk and they had a maintenance guy up in no time and he had a security guard with him. We did our thing and then Jod called up and we headed down to their room. The resort looked very different in full dark as we made our way to the Japanese restaurant. They had a few xmas decorations but nothing over the top like we do here. In fact they were kind of creative and interesting artistically speaking.
Upon arrival at the restaurant it was very busy. The hostess told us that we wouldn't be able to get in until 9pm. That was 3 hours away! We were pretty hungry so decided to try the Steakhouse. No line up there! In fact it was kind of not busy at all. With their restaurants you get limited choices and a small menu (thank goodness for barely any choices!!) Jod, Sue & Kels got the steaks and I opted for the Mauhi Mauhi. All were excellent. It was a 3 course meal and we were pleasantly surprised at not only the presentation (it was very high class) but also the quality. During dinner entertainers came in in full costume to let us know about the nightly entertainment in the lounge starting later that night. after they left we decided to check it out.
It turned out to be a lip synced show of various popular artists. It was super high energy and at the end they wanted everyone to come up on stage and dance with them. We all made a bee line to the door at that point.
We wandered the resort grounds and eventually went back to Jod & Sue's room. We hung out a bit and then went up to bed. Jod & Sue told us their tried and true non-sickness method - a shot of tequila first thing in the morning. So we decided to tried it the next morning. We all decided that another beach day was in order but we were going to look at excursions for seeing turtles and anything else. Room was nice and AC'd when we got back. Did a little bit of reading but all of the excitement was catching up so crashed.
DAY THREE - Tues Dec 27/16
The staff rake the beach everyday, and even tho I was up at 6am this morning, stars in the sky - they were out even earlier than that setting up loungers, raking the beaches, collecting garbage and dishes! They even created a sand sculpture complete with shell decorations one morning that lasted 3 days! I grabbed our beach towels, knocked on Jod & Sue's door and grabbed theirs too. Woke them up - whoops. Note to self get towels night before. Then headed down to the beach to grab some loungers. We wanted something a little closer to the rooms. I was able to snag some but wasn't early enough to get front row. Ah well I wanted to see a sunrise at some point, I would just try harder the rest of the week! I had brought our backpack with water bottles, my book and my phone. I read a little and watched the crew tidying up the beach. Jod & Sue came with some coffee a bit later but had already grabbed breakfast so Sue decided to go back with me while I had breakfast and it was very nice company. The travel desk wasn't manned until 10am so we lounged and kels joined up just before I finished my breakfast. Kels wanted to snorkel that day and Sue & I wanted to go for a ride on the catamaran. So after breakfast we headed down to the beach desk to book our various in house trips. They were booked for the day so we booked for the Thursday hoping to go off resort Wed for an excursion of some kind. Kels got his snorkel gear and headed to the lagoon. Sue & I checked in with Jod and then headed to the excursions desk in the front lobby.
We ended up booking a full day excursion for the Wed - Snorkeling, Cenote and ruins of Tulum. We then grabbed some drinks and headed back to the beach to enjoy the rest of the day there. For dinner that night we left the beach early and got to the Japanese restaurant early. We got there pretty close to when it opened and weren't disappointed. We sat in the lounge area and had some drinks. Mother in law video'd during that time too. We were grouped with 8 other people and shown to the room when the dinner would be cooked and served.
All 12 of us sat around a large teppanyaki style grill. The waiter came around and asked us which choice of the 3 for appetizers and which of the 5 for entrees we preferred. Once orders were taken and drinks brought the cook came in and basically put on a show. He was very good, entertaining and comical. He even tossed scrambled eggs to various people to catch in their mouths. It was pretty cool.
We walked around the pools after and we were all pretty wiped and had an early morning the next day so we turned in.
DAY FOUR - Wed Dec 28/16
Day of the excursion had arrived - we got up and packed our pack with essentials and we met the bus in the lobby at 7am. We were a full little charter van heading out. We picked up the final couple in the lobby of the sister resort not that far down the road and then we were off!! We drove quite a long way and arrive at our first place - Yal-Ku
We were told that this would be an awesome snorkeling place and we would see lots of sea life. So off we trooped. We had our bathing suits on to start as they told us we would be in and out of the water all day. Our guide got us fitted for life vests and snorkel gear.
We got to the take out point and it was pretty slippery too. And there were lots of people too. We all trooped back to the starting point, rinsed off, used the washroom and got back on the shuttle. Off to the cenote!
It was a little ways away too. When we got there there was quite a few hard core divers and their gear in various forms of unload on trucks. I guess they use the cenotes for diving frequently as it is fresh water and some connect to larger cenotes as well. Since the driver was also coming down I decided to take our big camera to get some shots of the caverns. This particular cenote was located in an open cavern to the jungle. Once again there were groups ahead and behind us. I had an uneasy feeling about the cenote as we descended onto the jungle floor. We got down to the water and I got quiet. Everyone got into the water and I ended up having a panic attack (I've almost drowned in dark water a few times in my life) and our guide was so kind and using my name and encouraging me but not forcing got me to go into the water. Sue stayed with me for a bit and Kels but I was just too hysterical. Eventually I kept thinking about how my gram always said try something once and if you don't like it you never have to try/do it again. So when our guide came back to check on me I slowly got in the water. He was amazing and guided me through himself (taking injury on his ankle from more concern watching me than where he was going!) and made sure when I got out I was ok before going back to the group and spending more time with them taking them further back into the caves. I got out and tried to calm down. Eventually I took our camera from the driver and took some shots but I must have still been shaky as they didn't turn out :( After everyone was out of the water and back at the shuttle we were off again.
We stopped for lunch in Tulum and at a restaurant on the beach. Driving along the local road we caught our first glimpse of white sandy beaches. I thought the beaches at our resort were nice but Tulum....Oh Tulum. The driver dropped us off and we followed a wooden boardwalk over white sand to a over sized hut styled restaurant and as we mounted the steps the turquoise waters greeted us, gently beckoning us to forget our troubles and woes and relax. We had the most delicious meal since arriving in Mexico (at least in my opinion) and it wasn't that complicated. Beans, rice, tortillas and some kind of white fish. Topped off with an ice cold beer...ah that was just perfect. We wandered down to the beach after and just watched the surf after eating. Alas it was over far too soon. Our guide was calling us back to the shuttle. We still had one more stop to make!
The ruins of Tulum were pretty cool. Our only complaint was that they didn't inform us of how long of a hike it was into Tulum and everyone was in their flipflops/beach shoes or sandals and bathing suits. But even despite that it was a very nice excursion. The beach there was lovely too but they had just closed it off right before we were to head down to it. *disappointed* After the long hike back to the shuttle the driver had lovely cold face clothes for us to wipe down our sweaty faces and necks. We all piled in again and were headed back to be dropped off at the hotel. I believe that night we opted for buffet as we were all pretty tired.
DAY FIVE - Thurs Dec 29/16
I was up bright and early again and reserved some loungers on the sandy nice beach. Everyone got up at varying times and we spent the day relaxing on the beach. We had a very brief rain and after that the weather was lovely. Bright sunny days, clouds rolling in for about 1/2 an hour, maybe 5 mins of spitting rain, then bright sun again after. But we were always either in the ocean or the pool so rain didn't even affect us. The brief cloud reprieve was actually welcome!
That afternoon we decided to go shopping and got a taxi for 90 pesos one way to a Walmart-like store across the highway and got our booze, souvenirs and plane snacks for going home. It was another 90 pesos to go back to the resort. It was quite nice and SUPER cheap. Think if we go again next year we will just head there again. They had a shuttle bus that took you into Playa Del Carmen but they charged a mint and took you to a tequila tasting place AND a silversmith before you even got to Playa. We are didn't want to be THAT touristy.
Dinner that night was at the Italian restaurant. We saw our friend again the hostess and she got us in after a cocktail in the lobby. The table they seated us at was directly under an air conditioning unit and Sue and I were freezing. We ended up order hot water and baileys. The waiter was so kind - he brought us both blankets to wrap around our shoulders lol.
After dinner was the market again but we just walked a bit and then turned in.
DAY SIX - Fri Dec 30/16
Another lovely day at the beach and I was up early. Lounged, drank, ate, snokled. LOL not much else done that day. That evening we were to go to the Air Transat BBQ however neither Sue nor I wanted to. We were tired but changed and showered and got in line. We noticed that on the beach where they were having it there weren't very many tables and they were full by the time we got there. After much discussion we decided to hit the buffet instead. We ask for a seat close to the windows and spend a very long very lovely night. Kels drank about 22 shots of B52's (much to the waiter's amazement) and we got down to brass tacks and had deep discussions. It started POURING like torrential down pour so we just enjoyed each other's company and the last night together. None of us wanted to go to bed but Sue was starting to come down with something so we said our good nights and headed to our room for the last Mexican sleep.
DAY SEVEN - Sat Dec 31/16
The day dawned cloudy and it looked like it was going to be intermittent rain. Good day to go home. Since our flight was leaving at 4:35pm we needed to be at the airport at 3pm but it also took the shuttle an hour and a half to get there so we left around 12:30pm. We slept in and packed and all trouped down for our last breakfast together.
Jod & Sue waited in the lobby with us and we said our goodbyes when the shuttle bus came to pick us up. It was sad leaving and I watched out the window until I saw Sue getting smaller as we pulled away.
We once again stopped at the other resort on the way back to the airport and a huge group of rowdies got on. Got to the airport, checked my bag and got through security. It was a very large circular airport and right in the middle was a market of sorts. I wandered through it but didn't buy anything. We tried to spend all our pesos before we left however when we got home I discovered 60 pesos in my purse. Oops.
We got home at about 9pm and caught a taxi. :( And to snow no less. Ah well we left with snow on the ground so coming back to it only seemed right. We had a couple of days to put things back aright (Kels had Monday off and I took it off) and do laundry before getting back to daily life. But we agreed that it was incredible and we will do it again next year ^^
Stay tuned for next years excursion!
Viva Mexico 2017!
We have been talking about it for a very long time and in the summer Sue & I started to search in earnest. We all knew we wanted something reasonably priced, on the east side of mexico and nothing sketchy. The search began. Over the months Sue & I texted back and forth about various properties and prices.
Finally we settled on the Catalonia Yucatan Hotel.
Jod & Sue flew out from Kelowna on Sat December 24. We flew out the following day (Sun December 25) at 10am. Left Calgary in 2 ft of snow! Plane had issues (knocked part of the nose and front tire had to be replaced while we were on the plane) and we were delayed for over an hour on the tarmac. Once underway we spent the time with various movies (Tarzan and X-Men for me) and TV shows (got caught up on Big Bang). Tried reading a little and of course food. We were surprised that 1) they had warm sandwiches and they were actually pretty good 2) they didn't offer a free meal - we had to buy it. We flew with Air Transat and were pleasantly surprised at the level of service provided.
Arriving in Cancun at about 10pm we stood in line with out filled out country forms and passports. Once through there we headed to the luggage area and grabbed my checked suitcase (Kels only took a carry on). Once we had that we headed through the airport and out to the buses. We had been advised on the flight to look for our resort bus. Once out of the airport itself it was a cacophony of mugginess, people, busses and noise. We found someone in an Air Transat shirt and inquired where our bus was. Once we found our bus they checked us off the list and loaded our suitcases under the bus. Kels kept our camera and I kept our passports and other valuables. We were both pretty tired on the bus ride. The driver came by with juice and beer for sale. We still had water so didn't get any. It was over an hours drive to our resort from Cancun airport and we stopped at another resort along the way to drop off others. We finally pulled into our resort and there was Jod & Sue waiting in the open air lobby for us. Because of all our delays we were 3 hours late in our arrival and they had been there waiting the whole time. 😓
We checked in and unbeknownst to me, Jod flinched my cell out of the purse while we were checking in. They followed us to our room and we dumped everything off. I looked for my cell but honestly didn't look hard figuring it was somewhere in the tangled of bags, coats and various other things. Then since we were starving by this point we headed to the only open buffet at midnight. They had pizza, fries and other buffet midnight food offerings which was fine. We sat and caught up and generally just enjoyed being there for what we hoped would be a week of nothing but relaxation. We closed the bar and walked them to their room on the ground floor and conveniently placed on the way to our room. Jod gave me back my cell.
Red Circle = Jod & Sues room
Blue Circle = Our room
Black Circle = where I got my hair done (not on our property)
When we got back to our room the AC had done it's job and it was pleasantly cool. We set up and went to bed for the night.
DAY TWO - Monday Dec 26/16
We had decided the night before to take it easy and the first official full day to have a beach day. Poor Jod & Sue had rain when they arrived so were skeptical about the weather but it dawned bright and clear and beautiful. We had breakfast at one of the buffets (there were 7 eateries in total). There are two beaches connected by a boardwalk. The one next to the right side of the structure with the scuba and catamarans, is sandy at first but rocky when you get in past your ankles. The other is nice and sandy all the way out. And not too deep at all. Perfect for floating. There is a roped off area where they are trying to regrow a reef, but there's lots of places to snorkel even if you can only sign out the gear for an hour everyday (next year we are bringing our own). Theres also a lagoon behind the nice sandy beach - hubby had some great find snorkeling there. The lagoon goes quite ways back off the resort property into what looks to be private condos but we kayaked through the waterways with no problems. The beach was busy everyday but I was up early everyday to watch the sunrise, so getting beach loungers for the 4 of us wasn't a problem. However I did notice quite a few loungers taken and then weren't actually used until quite late in the day. We only saved loungers on the days we used them. We would leave for lunch or I would leave for breakfast when the rest of the family got up and our stuff was still there. I generally left sunscreen, bottled water and a book so it was more than just our towels. As the sun stretched into the afternoon, the lovely beach lounger lines the staff work so hard to make straight were most def gone. Loungers are pushed, pulled/dragged into shade or sun as needed so you get a willy nilly menagerie of people and things and loungers. We ended up snagging beach loungers on the lagoon side and lounged until 1ish and went and had food again. We decided to try one of our allocated reservations at one of the 4 restaurants that night. As we are a Japanese sushi loving family (it seems that is the meal of choice for family get togethers - that or greek) we decided on the Japanese restaurant. I think at some point that afternoon all of us napped on the loungers and shuffled to get under shade. We took stock and Jod & Sue filled us in on what they had scoped out the previous day and generally caught up from not seeing each other for quite awhile. I told Sue I didn't want to deal with my hair in the humidity the night before and so we scoped out hair braiding services and the resort itself was pretty pricey. We noticed a place just on the other side of the resort that did hair braiding and massages so Sue and I took a gander over there and inquired about prices. Sure enough the girl was VERY reasonable and had free time that afternoon. We told her we would go get the money and be back. At about 2ish we went back and the girl started braiding my locks. It would take a considerable amount of time so Sue decided to sit with me. At one point Jod found a large crab and Sue left to take some pics. Left alone with the girl, who while she spoke good English wasn't fluent, we made small talk. Turns out she was a sister and when I squealed Jod, Sue and Kels came over figuring that was the case. After that we became fast friends. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours getting my hair done. When she finished we exchanged information and we promised over the course of the week to come see her. We made our way back to the loungers and decided to get cleaned up for dinner and met at Jod & Sues room in an hour.
We headed to our room to cool off, showered and pulled out some non-beach wear - we discovered that there was a giant puddle in our entryway. We called the front desk and they had a maintenance guy up in no time and he had a security guard with him. We did our thing and then Jod called up and we headed down to their room. The resort looked very different in full dark as we made our way to the Japanese restaurant. They had a few xmas decorations but nothing over the top like we do here. In fact they were kind of creative and interesting artistically speaking.
Upon arrival at the restaurant it was very busy. The hostess told us that we wouldn't be able to get in until 9pm. That was 3 hours away! We were pretty hungry so decided to try the Steakhouse. No line up there! In fact it was kind of not busy at all. With their restaurants you get limited choices and a small menu (thank goodness for barely any choices!!) Jod, Sue & Kels got the steaks and I opted for the Mauhi Mauhi. All were excellent. It was a 3 course meal and we were pleasantly surprised at not only the presentation (it was very high class) but also the quality. During dinner entertainers came in in full costume to let us know about the nightly entertainment in the lounge starting later that night. after they left we decided to check it out.
It turned out to be a lip synced show of various popular artists. It was super high energy and at the end they wanted everyone to come up on stage and dance with them. We all made a bee line to the door at that point.
We wandered the resort grounds and eventually went back to Jod & Sue's room. We hung out a bit and then went up to bed. Jod & Sue told us their tried and true non-sickness method - a shot of tequila first thing in the morning. So we decided to tried it the next morning. We all decided that another beach day was in order but we were going to look at excursions for seeing turtles and anything else. Room was nice and AC'd when we got back. Did a little bit of reading but all of the excitement was catching up so crashed.
DAY THREE - Tues Dec 27/16
The staff rake the beach everyday, and even tho I was up at 6am this morning, stars in the sky - they were out even earlier than that setting up loungers, raking the beaches, collecting garbage and dishes! They even created a sand sculpture complete with shell decorations one morning that lasted 3 days! I grabbed our beach towels, knocked on Jod & Sue's door and grabbed theirs too. Woke them up - whoops. Note to self get towels night before. Then headed down to the beach to grab some loungers. We wanted something a little closer to the rooms. I was able to snag some but wasn't early enough to get front row. Ah well I wanted to see a sunrise at some point, I would just try harder the rest of the week! I had brought our backpack with water bottles, my book and my phone. I read a little and watched the crew tidying up the beach. Jod & Sue came with some coffee a bit later but had already grabbed breakfast so Sue decided to go back with me while I had breakfast and it was very nice company. The travel desk wasn't manned until 10am so we lounged and kels joined up just before I finished my breakfast. Kels wanted to snorkel that day and Sue & I wanted to go for a ride on the catamaran. So after breakfast we headed down to the beach desk to book our various in house trips. They were booked for the day so we booked for the Thursday hoping to go off resort Wed for an excursion of some kind. Kels got his snorkel gear and headed to the lagoon. Sue & I checked in with Jod and then headed to the excursions desk in the front lobby.
We ended up booking a full day excursion for the Wed - Snorkeling, Cenote and ruins of Tulum. We then grabbed some drinks and headed back to the beach to enjoy the rest of the day there. For dinner that night we left the beach early and got to the Japanese restaurant early. We got there pretty close to when it opened and weren't disappointed. We sat in the lounge area and had some drinks. Mother in law video'd during that time too. We were grouped with 8 other people and shown to the room when the dinner would be cooked and served.
We made friends with the hostess and she was a card. She told us to come visit her at the Italian place the night following. We said we wouldn't be able to but she said that she'd be there the night after too.
DAY FOUR - Wed Dec 28/16
Day of the excursion had arrived - we got up and packed our pack with essentials and we met the bus in the lobby at 7am. We were a full little charter van heading out. We picked up the final couple in the lobby of the sister resort not that far down the road and then we were off!! We drove quite a long way and arrive at our first place - Yal-Ku
We were told that this would be an awesome snorkeling place and we would see lots of sea life. So off we trooped. We had our bathing suits on to start as they told us we would be in and out of the water all day. Our guide got us fitted for life vests and snorkel gear.
The path leading down to the lagoon was very jungly. It was humid and they had lovely sculptures in the trees. Our guide took us down to the hop in point and we were handed flippers. Kels wheedled his way out of a life vest as long as he stayed with our guide.
The hop in point was VERY slippery and we had to be very careful. Our driver was on hand to take our shoes to the take out point. And into the water at 9 or 10am we went. I was a bit trepidatious about it as I've never used a snorkel before so it took some time getting used to. Sue and I stuck pretty close together. We did some pretty fish but no where near what I thought we would and there were tons of groups going through ahead and behind us. It felt like we were just part of one big tourist lemmings being shuttle through.
We got to the take out point and it was pretty slippery too. And there were lots of people too. We all trooped back to the starting point, rinsed off, used the washroom and got back on the shuttle. Off to the cenote!
It was a little ways away too. When we got there there was quite a few hard core divers and their gear in various forms of unload on trucks. I guess they use the cenotes for diving frequently as it is fresh water and some connect to larger cenotes as well. Since the driver was also coming down I decided to take our big camera to get some shots of the caverns. This particular cenote was located in an open cavern to the jungle. Once again there were groups ahead and behind us. I had an uneasy feeling about the cenote as we descended onto the jungle floor. We got down to the water and I got quiet. Everyone got into the water and I ended up having a panic attack (I've almost drowned in dark water a few times in my life) and our guide was so kind and using my name and encouraging me but not forcing got me to go into the water. Sue stayed with me for a bit and Kels but I was just too hysterical. Eventually I kept thinking about how my gram always said try something once and if you don't like it you never have to try/do it again. So when our guide came back to check on me I slowly got in the water. He was amazing and guided me through himself (taking injury on his ankle from more concern watching me than where he was going!) and made sure when I got out I was ok before going back to the group and spending more time with them taking them further back into the caves. I got out and tried to calm down. Eventually I took our camera from the driver and took some shots but I must have still been shaky as they didn't turn out :( After everyone was out of the water and back at the shuttle we were off again.
We stopped for lunch in Tulum and at a restaurant on the beach. Driving along the local road we caught our first glimpse of white sandy beaches. I thought the beaches at our resort were nice but Tulum....Oh Tulum. The driver dropped us off and we followed a wooden boardwalk over white sand to a over sized hut styled restaurant and as we mounted the steps the turquoise waters greeted us, gently beckoning us to forget our troubles and woes and relax. We had the most delicious meal since arriving in Mexico (at least in my opinion) and it wasn't that complicated. Beans, rice, tortillas and some kind of white fish. Topped off with an ice cold beer...ah that was just perfect. We wandered down to the beach after and just watched the surf after eating. Alas it was over far too soon. Our guide was calling us back to the shuttle. We still had one more stop to make!
The ruins of Tulum were pretty cool. Our only complaint was that they didn't inform us of how long of a hike it was into Tulum and everyone was in their flipflops/beach shoes or sandals and bathing suits. But even despite that it was a very nice excursion. The beach there was lovely too but they had just closed it off right before we were to head down to it. *disappointed* After the long hike back to the shuttle the driver had lovely cold face clothes for us to wipe down our sweaty faces and necks. We all piled in again and were headed back to be dropped off at the hotel. I believe that night we opted for buffet as we were all pretty tired.
DAY FIVE - Thurs Dec 29/16
I was up bright and early again and reserved some loungers on the sandy nice beach. Everyone got up at varying times and we spent the day relaxing on the beach. We had a very brief rain and after that the weather was lovely. Bright sunny days, clouds rolling in for about 1/2 an hour, maybe 5 mins of spitting rain, then bright sun again after. But we were always either in the ocean or the pool so rain didn't even affect us. The brief cloud reprieve was actually welcome!
That afternoon we decided to go shopping and got a taxi for 90 pesos one way to a Walmart-like store across the highway and got our booze, souvenirs and plane snacks for going home. It was another 90 pesos to go back to the resort. It was quite nice and SUPER cheap. Think if we go again next year we will just head there again. They had a shuttle bus that took you into Playa Del Carmen but they charged a mint and took you to a tequila tasting place AND a silversmith before you even got to Playa. We are didn't want to be THAT touristy.
Dinner that night was at the Italian restaurant. We saw our friend again the hostess and she got us in after a cocktail in the lobby. The table they seated us at was directly under an air conditioning unit and Sue and I were freezing. We ended up order hot water and baileys. The waiter was so kind - he brought us both blankets to wrap around our shoulders lol.
After dinner was the market again but we just walked a bit and then turned in.
DAY SIX - Fri Dec 30/16
Another lovely day at the beach and I was up early. Lounged, drank, ate, snokled. LOL not much else done that day. That evening we were to go to the Air Transat BBQ however neither Sue nor I wanted to. We were tired but changed and showered and got in line. We noticed that on the beach where they were having it there weren't very many tables and they were full by the time we got there. After much discussion we decided to hit the buffet instead. We ask for a seat close to the windows and spend a very long very lovely night. Kels drank about 22 shots of B52's (much to the waiter's amazement) and we got down to brass tacks and had deep discussions. It started POURING like torrential down pour so we just enjoyed each other's company and the last night together. None of us wanted to go to bed but Sue was starting to come down with something so we said our good nights and headed to our room for the last Mexican sleep.
DAY SEVEN - Sat Dec 31/16
The day dawned cloudy and it looked like it was going to be intermittent rain. Good day to go home. Since our flight was leaving at 4:35pm we needed to be at the airport at 3pm but it also took the shuttle an hour and a half to get there so we left around 12:30pm. We slept in and packed and all trouped down for our last breakfast together.
Jod & Sue waited in the lobby with us and we said our goodbyes when the shuttle bus came to pick us up. It was sad leaving and I watched out the window until I saw Sue getting smaller as we pulled away.
We got home at about 9pm and caught a taxi. :( And to snow no less. Ah well we left with snow on the ground so coming back to it only seemed right. We had a couple of days to put things back aright (Kels had Monday off and I took it off) and do laundry before getting back to daily life. But we agreed that it was incredible and we will do it again next year ^^
Stay tuned for next years excursion!
Viva Mexico 2017!
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