Its been FUN! El Cid Marina/Resort is a great place to have visitors and see family in Akumal. I (Rose) didn’t want to spend the money initially but Tom knew it would be a good thing. AND a good place it is (including the occasional free drinks we figured out how to obtain and the nightly shows). I loved doing the instructor led yoga/Pilates each morning on the finger pier jetting out into the bay. The pool was handy during hot days and WiFi access on the boat made life very cushy…. The collectivo’s are easy to figure out and reasonable to get to Cancun to Tulum. We have seen 2-3 northers go by since we have been here. I haven’t felt this cold in a long time while sailing in the Caribbean. I guess this means we are getting closer to the North America and the Canadian fronts. We see the end of our Caribbean journey and look back on all the wonderful things and people we have scene or met and were able to share our journey with some of you! I’m trying to be aware of more daily sites realizing that I won’t see them again in the same way.
We quickly learned how to get around via the collectivos (vans) that are reasonable and travel often up/down the main highway. To get to the highway was a mixture of biking (obtained from the marina), collectivo from Puerto Morelos, El Cid shuttle to end of their property, hitch hiking, walking and sometimes a expensive taxi when it was raining hard. Once to the highway you could take a van to Playa del Carmen and then another to Tulum (stopping off at Akumal) both around 25 pesos. It was the first time in quite awhile that they stopped taking passengers when the seats were full!
We both had teeth issues to deal with. Tom’s was left over from the infected molar that got pulled in Guatemala. So brother Joe suggested a dentist in Playa del Carmen, so after comparing costs in Puerto Morelos, Tom/I would take the collectivo to get his 3 tooth bridge created. Another first in awhile is they have Walmart, and Sam’s Club here but we only used the Walmart for basic items/vegetates. I obtained a cracked molar around the filling but I went to the Puerto dentist as Playa one was gone.
It was great to see some of the Hansmeyer’s in Akumal. Joe/Tony were great hosts and allowed us to hang at their place a few days. We even were able to take Joe out sailing inside the reef passing Puerto Morelos pueblo. Len’s family came down and was great to see them and Joe’s son Ryan’s and daughter Kristin’s family. My siblings are so different but all wonderful!! This whole coast has expanded so much that it was a shock. Our little Akumal destination for our honeymoon in 1989-90 is no longer. The entire coast has been discovered for us tourists and the prices have risen as well. No longer do you travel on rugged single lane road but a 4 lane highway with over passes and gas stations everywhere. A few of the sleepy road side restaurants are still hanging in – but barely as the coast prices rise. Joe took us to his jungle land. There was much more foreign development in the area than I expected as all I could imagine would be the heat, no wind and bugs. We walked into someones property that had beautiful virgin cenotes (underground cave area with fresh water pools)…. Unfortunately a lot of them on the coast have been blown up and developed into tourist traps.
We were shocked to see that Puerto Morelos still had a sleepy, small feel to it. We were told it was because Cancun restricted it from growing as they wanted to keep most of us there. The good news was that they created a marine park out of the reef in front of the town with snorkeling fees and vest requirements. That has probably saved the reef and fish from tourists standing on the reef to adjust their mask. We see now that most of the local workers don’t live in the coastal towns but been moved next to the highway to make room for us. Yikes! We would dinghy out to a mooring ball during calm sunny weather to snorkel this beautiful Barrier Reef (second largest in the world).
Mariana and Luis came to visit us from Guadalajara, MX. She lived with us in Mpls. for 5 months in 2004 in order for her to see some of the US and learn English. She is amazing how well she has retained English and Luis as well. They were both so much fun with their young spirits and laughter. We hope to visit them in Guadalajara when they choose to propose and marry. She was a trooper as she gets car sick – so you could only imagine how the movements of a boat at a dock affected her. Then there was Luis who would get bites from ANY flying object! It felt like it was just yesterday she was living with us! They even got to go on the 80′ yacht to see how others live. That yacht probably was blocking us from being able to listen to the SSB NW net as it has SO MANY electronic things turned on. So we were out of touch with what was going on with our cruising friends.
Next came Tom’s daughter Teresa, husband Wayne for 10 days. We did a lot of stuff with them. We started off with snorkeling, relaxing and going to Cozumel to dive before taking a road trip to Izumal. It took a FULL day to dive in Cozumel – organize ahead of time who to dive with/negotiate price, drive to Playa, take the ferry by 7am, drag all our gear, take a taxi to marina to get on dive boat that was was slow (was supposed to be fast boat), complete 2 dives, find a place to rinse off and reverse the steps. This brought us back to Puerto around 5pm in hopes to rinse off all the gear and hang up to dry before it was dark. Cozumel has ALSO grown since we were there in 2005 and the LARGE groupers/jew fish are fewer and hiding under coral. I didn’t realize before the reason for the quantity of fish was because dive masters were feeding them and that stopped finally around 2003 via a Mexican law in 1996. So its a good/bad thing as now the fish need to find their own food and are more cautious of divers (or there are less of them do to the fishing)….
Wayne had 2 Mexican brothers (Oscar & Alphanzo) from Izamal, MX as roommates about 15-20 years ago. Therefore he would go with them to visit their family in various places around Merida. Wayne and Oscar drove down several times with clothing and medical supplies as their father (Cappy Sosa) was very active in town affairs. So we stayed at Cappy’s Green River Hotel (which used to be a ranch) in this charming, clean, small pueblo called Izamal about an hour east of Merida. Its famous for having a Franciscan monk monastery which the Pope has visited twice! We took day trips to Uxmal Mayan Ruins (40 min. south of Merida) and Merida on Sunday which is the family day in the main square. They also close down the streets near the square for biking. On our way back to Puerto we stopped at Valladolid, another colonial pueblo.
The names of food have always been interesting in Spanish speaking countries but in Mexico I have found it even more delightful for all their taco delights. Things like cochinita, panuchos, sopes, salbutes, huaraches, poc chuc, tortas, churros, huevos munelatos….. In addition to my all time favorite of liquados, pastelitos and many fresh juices. As long as I’m on a roll, the helado (ice cream) of coconut and limon (lime) flavors together are a delight. What’s also interesting is I don’t think they have a name for yellow lemon’s? Maybe we will miss this cruising life more than I think.
There were other MN friends vacationing down here but we didn’t have time to see them as they coincided with above visitors. So Mexico is a popular destination and was a busy place for us. After this next COLD norther blows through we will head north to Isla Mujeras for more guests. From there we plan on flying to Cuba for 3 weeks before sailing Sojourn back to FL.