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Mexico- Cenotes and Cozumel

1K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  paul.shill 
#1 ·
Finally got round to writing my trip report for our mexico trip earlier this year. Warning, its quite long...


After finishing work for the day we set off for Heathrow. We were staying in the Easy Hotel, which was essentially a larger capsule hotel with no windows etc. Strange place to stay and I wouldn't rush back but it did the job and allowed us to get our head down before the holiday started in earnest the following day.

After a quick breakfast it was time to head to the airport, we were flying British Airways and I had an extremely pleasant flight watching the in flight entertainment and drinking free malt whisky. We got to Cancun Airport and got a pre-booked shuttle van to the hotel, we were staying the historic Morrison Clark Hotel, and when we arrived we got upgraded for free- the room in the beautiful hotel was excellent with lovely big beds- perfect for getting over jet lag! Apparently the hotel is haunted! After freshening up we walked down to the White House, then went to the Downtown Brewing Company for drinks and food before the jet lag caught up with us and we retired for the evening.


We got up to a lovely breakfast of fresh bagels and freshly squeezed juices before getting a taxi to Washington train station and got on the early hop on hop off bus to see the sights including the monuments, Arlington cemetery and the Pentagon. It was freezing so we got off at the mall to buy more clothes! We finished looking round the sights and went back to the Downtown Brewing Company again as we enjoyed it so much the day before, plus it was on the way home! I highly recommend the huge Margaritas!

More bagels for brekkie then hired city bikes for the day. First stop was the Whitehouse, then round the tidal basin past the Franklin memorial then back round all the rest of the memorials. We then cycled back to the Smithsonian for the Air and Space Museum for the 10:30 guided tour, before heading up to the Planetarium which was excellent.


It was the National Gallery of Art next, followed by the Natural History Museum and seen the underwater 3d Imax, which was superb. After grabbing a taxi, it was quick dash to the hotel to pick the bags up before heading to the train station to get our Greyhound Bus to New York where our flight to Mexico was leaving from. After a quick Taco Bell (my guilty pleasure) and an uneventful short Greyhound journey, we emerged from the Port Authority bus station to the bright lights of Times Square which was pretty mental! I've been to New York before but it never fails to impress.

After breakfast we headed to the airport, this time the flight was American Airlines which was terrible, the American equivalent of Ryanair, only worse if thats possible! Getting through Cancun Airport was a breeze and our driver was waiting just outside to whisk us away to our hotel in Tulum. The Xilalba hotel was lovely, fantastic location, with really good air con (a must in Mexico!).


After a quick change into shorts it was straight in a taxi down to the beach, we found a lovely little bar with its own private beach and ordered mexican/italian fusion tapas and cervezas, which was excellent, matched only by the stunning view over the beautiful white sands and blue water.

The breakfast on the roof terrace at Xibalba was excellent with freshly booked eggs to order and fresh fruit. Today we were going to Xel Ha, which is a natural lagoon with various activities to do, essentially a mexican theme park. First up was the river float through the mangrove forest, and on the way down the river I did the 2 cliff jumps as well as the zip wires, before heading for a (second!) breakfast. Food and drinks are all included in the cost of Xel Ha, this time it was a mexican breakfast with nachos, mexican spiced scrambled egg and refried beans. We walked around the lagoon which was beautiful, spotting loads of wildlife on the way including iguanas, skinks, basilisks, birds, and various little strange mammals. After the walk it was time for lunch which was a buffet affair with tremendous margaritas, and I had my first shot of tequila of the trip which was really nice. We had a little snooze in the in the hammocks in the beautiful sunshine before snorkelling right across the lagoon.

The following day was our first day diving, which was with Xilalba Dive Centre, our guide was Daniel, who really nice guy and we headed to Dos Ojos which was to be our first dive site. After a quick briefing it was time to kit up and get into the water. The entrance to the cenote was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie complete with bats flying around. We descended into the beautiful viz to find the barbie line, which was dive 1 at Dos Ojos, the water was about 27 degrees so the 3mm wetsuit was perfect. The underwater scenery was absolutely spectacular filled with stalactites and stalagmites, and was all that I was hoping for and more. Ther were some full on overhead environments as Daniel took us off the line quite a bit and there were some sections that were absolutely black dark. The first dive finished too soon and it was back out for a surface interval. We were to do the Bat cave second, also at Dos Ojos, this was more of the same but with surfacing inside a cave filled with bats! After lunch at a local taco stand, we got a taxi to the Tulum Mayan ruins which were really interesting but it was absolutely boiling hot. After nearly passing out with the head we found a bar with swings from the ceiling as seats and cooled down before getting a Taxi back to the beach bar strip for drinks at the beach bar from yesterday. We had shots of Mezcal (recommended by Daniel), tequila and the best cocktails (margaritas and daiquiris). We had food at the cantina opposite with lovely nachos and fish tacos to finish what was an excellent day.

The following day we were heading to Chitzen Itza, our private guide picked us up for the 2 hour drive to the ruins. What a stunning site and we had a fantastic day in the sun listening to the history from the guide. We seen the infamous ball court where the victors were executed to the gods, then seen the carvings (the skulls were awesome). Next was time to cool off in a cenote down the road which was beautiful, before having lunch in a local colonial town, including home made Guacomole at the table, which was amazing.


The following day was our second day diving in the Cenotes. First dive was at The Temple of Doom site and involved a 4m giant stride into the water, which was fun! It was starting to get hot on the surface, so it was nice to descend into the lovely clear water. This dive is all about the haloclines and we ascended and descended through a good number of them before the hour was up. Second dive was to be just along the road at Gran Cenote which was probably my favourite cenote of the trip. The guide line was arranged in a horseshoe and you could enter at either end. We went in on the left side and completed the whole circuit twice before our allotted time was up. This would be our last dive in the Cenotes for this trip and for me certainly piqued my interest to do the full cave course, something I had been considering for a while anyway. I absolutely recommend diving in the cenotes to any confident diver that has good buoyancy, and it is likely to be a completely different experience from any you have had diving before.


We were finished by early afternoon so we decided to head down to Le Zebra beach bar as we knew there was live music on there. After finding some free sun beds on the beach, we ordered some drinks and enjoyed lazing in the sun for the afternoon listening to the live jazz. The beaches are absolutely spectacular- as nice as any I have seen anywhere in the world. We headed back along towards Tulum and ate in a lovely cantina on the beach road, again with live music, tequila and more cocktails.


The following day we ordered a taxi to visit the ancient ruins of Coba. We were first through the door when it opened at 9am and after hiring bikes we explored the whole site, including climbing the pyramid for views over the surrounding jungle. In the afternoon we headed down to the public beach at Tulum, and found sun beds in one of the bars down there. Again there was live music so it would have been a shame not to order more beers! Heading back into Tulum on the evening we had cocktails, and more mescal and tequila at the beautiful Argentinian bar/restaurant on the main street. On the way home we stopped at one of the Taco street food stalls and had probably the best tacos of the whole trip.


Next day we were to leave Tulum and head up to Cozumel for more diving, this time in the sea rather than in the Cenotes. It was a simple collectivo ride up to Playa Del Carmen and then a quick 45 minute sail across to the Cozumel on the ferry. The scenery was beautiful and the sea was calm, meaning the only thing that spoiled the journey was the god-awful band that was playing for tips on the top deck!


On arriving at our hotel we set off to explore Cozumel and discovered that most of it was closed! A combination of it being a Sunday and there being no cruise ships in that day meant most of the shops and restaurants had closed for a day off! Still, we found somewhere decent for lunch and on the way back we had a quick stop at the dive centre, Blue Magic Scuba, in order to get fitted for wetsuits (the only thing we hadn't brought with us).


The next day was our first day diving in Cozumel! After a quick, but nice breakfast at the Hotel (the huovous rancheros was excellent) we arrived back at the dive centre, before being whisked off by taxi to the port which was about 10 minutes away. The boat was small but comfortable, and the dive guide Pumba knowledgeable, if a little deranged! When we got to the dive site it was quite rough and there seemed to be a lot of dive boats in the same general area. First dive was Palancar Horseshoe, and after descending the first thing I noticed is that the current was ripping, apparently very common at this time of year. It was quite a large group and there seemed to be a lot of divers on the dive site. Finning against a current whilst waiting for lots of other divers to fin through a swimthrough in the coral is not my idea of fun, and whilst the site was beautiful the dive was spoiled for me because of too many divers on the site.


After a quick toilet stop at a local beach it was time for the second dive, this time at La Francesca. When we descended there wasn't another dive group in site, and instead we were greeted by a huge shoal of barracuda- much better! After a quick swim by from a Turtle we hit the current and couldn’t do anything but ride with it as it was running around 4-5 knots!! After getting back to the dive shop we headed to the Lobster Shack for lunch. The lobster tacos were excellent and highly recommended.


Next day the first dive was on Palancar caves. This was my favourite dive of the holiday with loads of swim throughs and caverns. We were the only divers on the site this time and it really made it much more enjoyable. Second dive was Punta Delilla, there were more turtles, swim throughs and tunnels and everybody had an excellent second dive.


After a truly superb day of diving we decided to do a night dive and dived Paradise Reef. Having done plenty of night dives, and normally being fairly agnostic about them, I can honestly say this night dive was the best I have done- every time you moved your torch there was something else to see! Highlight was the endemic Splendid Toad Fish, but we also spotted lots of southern rays, sharp tail eels, peppered moray eels, huge Caribbean lobsters, cuttle fish, octopus and lots more. We did the obligatory switch off your torch and wave for the photo luminescence, and finally when we got out of the water there were krill swarming round our torches. A truly excellent day of diving.


Our third day of diving at Cozumel was to be our last days diving and thoroughly enjoyable it was too, although more of the same really. After washing our kit down it was time to depart Cozumel on the ferry and travel up to Cancun for our final night in Mexico. We had grand plans of partying in Coco Bongo, but we were tired by the time we got there so had dinner in a local restaurant and crashed out for the night.


Next day it was a quick bus ride to the Airport, we had lunch in Margaritaville there before our quick 4 hour flight to JFK. A quick airtrain and a subway ride and we were at our hotel which was conveniently located in central Manhattan. It wasn’t too late so we ventured out for the night, admiring the skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, Grand Central etc before finding ourselves in Times Square (as you tend to in New York!). We photographed ourselves on the 'loveison' billboard, which take video of the crowds in the square, with the rest of the tourists, before retiring for the evening.


Next day we utilised the excellent hop on hop off buses and started with the blue uptown tour, taking in central park and the Guggenheim, as well as places such as the Bronx. After a quick lunch at the famous Carlo's bakery, I headed up to the Moma, which is definitely the best modern art gallery in the world and I gazed in wonder at the masterpieces on show by the likes of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Klimt, Duchamp, Mondrian, Dali, Magritte, Monet, Rothko, and Pollock. After having my fill of art it was time to go on the cruise to look at the famous New York skyline, we passed by the Statue of Liberty and took the obligatory photos of the lady. Really making the most of our 2 day hop on hop off ticket we did the night-time bus tour to see New York lit up at night which was a highlight of the trip for me.


Day 17 of our holiday was our last day in New York, so we did the red bus tour first which took us past most of the famous sites including ground zero. The sun was blazing today so we spent our last few hours in central park where we watched some break dancers entertaining the crowd; I even entertained them a bit myself when the break dancers decided I would be the 'volunteer' for part of the show! Unfortunately the trip was now over and we had to get a taxi back to the hotel to pick up our bags and take us back to JFK to start the long journey home and finish what was an absolute trip of a lifetime.
 
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