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Parque de Los Suenos was just down from our condo and we hung out there several times, we really enjoyed it.  It also is one of the few restaurants open on the southside of the island after dark.

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  • Few pics and thoughts about holbox.   Great place, we loved it. We had some stellar guacamole, street tacos, ceviche, octopus ala Mexicana, etc. The beach is white sand, clear water, the water te

  • Like the thread title says, just got back.  This was our second trip and we had a great time again.  Stayed at Ixchel this time (thanks to @wood for the contact info for rental) for convenience and th

  • BillyGoatHill
    BillyGoatHill

    Not Isla, but just got in today after spending a week at the Andaz Mayakoba just north of Playa Del Carmen. Really nice resort, especially if you like to golf as they have a PGA course there. We wen

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Went into town on our last day so the family could overpay for some trinkets. Grabbed lunch at Lola Valentina which I thought was just ok, decent steak tacos. Beers get warm quick in this heat. 

Around 3 we took the kids to the Dolphin Experience on Sac Bajo. Stupid expensive but it was the kids birthday presents. Swimming with dolphins was pretty cool but nothing I ever need  to do again. The never ending stream of T&A from the guests was unbelievable though. 

Grabbed some happy hour drinks back at Topaz (Annie was mixing her lethal margaritas again). Taking it easy and packing up tonight since we need to head north at 9. Planning on some chilaquiles at Topaz in the morning before we go. The hombres at Parque de los Suenos say they are the best on the island. 

Glad you enjoyed it.  If you get a chance go back again between November and March.   The weather is incredible (usually) at that time of year.   We go down every year for their Carnival (Fat Tuesday) and have a blast.  Low 80s, sunny and zero humidity. 

Yeah our first two trips were in Feb, but just day trips over from Cancun. The upside to coming in June is the whale shark season. But it’s hot. Apparently we got lucky because around 5 or 6 every day the temps and humidity dropped and it was gorgeous.

Chilaquiles at Topaz before we headed to the Ultramar was some of the best food we had all week. Daughter proclaimed the waffle her all time favorite. We gave Annie our leftover booze and beer, she said she’d make good use of it.

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Oh and for probably my oddest recommendation, but one that was a game changer for the week: if you see “El Ocho” when you’re renting a golf cart, grab it. I don’t know if the governor was broken or what but it was probably 20% faster than any other cart on the island. We walked down every cart we came upon.

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It has the Prisma logo on the side but we rented it from a place one block back from the ferry terminal.

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9 hours ago, BearCountry11 said:

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First night/morning on the island. Loving it


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OK, that lobster. Where is that?

Fair warning, We've probably stayed in that room. Look across to phase 2 at that corner unit on the ground floor by the party palapa. We'll be there in 3 weeks. Hopefully we'll make it through with no quinceaneras or weddings at the palapa.

Edited by wood

1 hour ago, wood said:

OK, that lobster. Where is that?

Fair warning, We've probably stayed in that room. Look across to phase 2 and that corner unit on the ground floor by the party palapa. We'll be there in 3 weeks. Hopefully we'll make it through with no quinceaneras or weddings at the palapa.

Lobster is the Mariner plate at Bally Hoo.  

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5 minutes ago, BearCountry11 said:

Lobster is the Mariner plate at Bally Hoo.  

Thanks. Looks damn good.

For posterity, here are the places the Buzzrock clan hit last week:

Isla 33 Resort (accomodations)

Topaz bar & restaurant

Basto's

Nash's sports bar

Panna e Cioccolato ice cream shop (next to Nash's)

Havana Cigar House

Tortugranja turtle farm

Oscar's

Carey Dive Center, scuba and whale sharks

La Playita

Buho's

Isla Brewing Company

The Coffee Break

Rooster

Brisa Mexicana

Villa la Bella

Mango Cafe

Mayan Beach Club Restaurant

Parque de los Suenos

Pizza Mike's (near Mango, better pizza than Oscar's)

Lola Valentina

Punta Sur

Dolphin Experience

Guy Fieri Kitchen in Cancun airport, only worth mentioning because they have a "beer garden" and huge beers. Food is mediocre bar food but it's an ok option when you're stuck in CUN.

 

 

Villa La Bella has a margarita that will kick your ass. 

Villa La Bella has a margarita that will kick your ass. 


Oh yeah. The Cadillac.

A double at Topaz will do it too, and it’s 2:1 from 4-7 each day.

About to get on the ferry to head back to Texas. It’s been an amazing week here and can’t wait to come back!


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  • Author
5 hours ago, BearCountry11 said:

About to get on the ferry to head back to Texas. It’s been an amazing week here and can’t wait to come back!

I fucking hate that ferry trip back to Cancun...

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7 days from now ...

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Soo...leaving tomorrow. Apparently there's a lot more sargassum seaweed than usual. Was it a problem on isla or the coast for any of y'all who have been recently?

5 hours ago, wood said:

Soo...leaving tomorrow. Apparently there's a lot more sargassum seaweed than usual. Was it a problem on isla or the coast for any of y'all who have been recently?

It was bad when I was there in October but didn’t see much on playa norte a few weeks ago.  

6 hours ago, wood said:

Soo...leaving tomorrow. Apparently there's a lot more sargassum seaweed than usual. Was it a problem on isla or the coast for any of y'all who have been recently?

Interesting.  I was sailing in the BVI a couple of weeks ago and we saw the same thing.  Sargassum where we’ve never seen it before. Two feet deep in some places. 

  • Author

Yeah apparently it's really, really bad in a lot of places. Looked at some webcams & yeah, looks good on Playa Norte. Akumal Bay & Half Moon Bay, not so much.

10 minutes ago, wood said:

Yeah apparently it's really, really bad in a lot of places. Looked at some webcams & yeah, looks good on Playa Norte. Akumal Bay & Half Moon Bay, not so much.

Half Moon had a ton of it a few weeks ago but we stayed at the northern edge of the bay and the wind/waves pushed most of it to the center of the bay...

Heading out this Sunday with the better half. Three days at Isla and two days in Tulum. Found out my boss has his 60ft boat at Isla.

Edited by ckhorn

Does it wash up on the beach or just in the water? There were senoras raking playa norte daily a few weeks ago when i was there.

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On 7/16/2018 at 9:23 PM, Grimas said:

Half Moon had a ton of it a few weeks ago but we stayed at the northern edge of the bay and the wind/waves pushed most of it to the center of the bay...

...which is right where we are. It's ok though. It smells, but of course it's not keeping us out of the cenotes, and Isla apparently isn't affected either, fingers crossed. Three cenotes in two days, so far (Azul, Dos Ojos, and Calavera). Probably heading down to Yal Ku lagoon in the a.m. It's a just a few blocks.

 

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On 7/18/2018 at 9:52 PM, Buzzrock said:

Does it wash up on the beach or just in the water? There were senoras raking playa norte daily a few weeks ago when i was there.

Both. It washes up, & then they rake it up and haul it off. Very slow process here, because they only have crappy rakes and a wheel barrow.

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I think they can't use bulldozers, etc because of turtles laying eggs on the beach...

8 hours ago, wood said:

...which is right where we are. It's ok though. It smells, but of course it's not keeping us out of the cenotes, and Isla apparently isn't affected either, fingers crossed. Three cenotes in two days, so far (Azul, Dos Ojos, and Calavera). Probably heading down to Yal Ku lagoon in the a.m. It's a just a few blocks.

 

Cenotes are groundwater.  No seaweed in fresh water, right?

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2 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

Cenotes are groundwater.  No seaweed in fresh water, right?

Yep. And they're awesome. They can get some seawater mixed in depending on how close they are to the beach or lagoons, but of course no seaweed. We did Cenote Azul again today, & it was awesome as usual.  Did Yal Ku lagoon this morning. It was beautiful and the water was great, but not too many fishes to be found.

Here's my boy at Dos Ojos yesterday. They say that at 265 km long, it's the world's longest underground river....

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Edited by wood

Awesome photo wood and thank you for the information. I know what I’m doing next time down there. 

Edited by VABuckeye

My 12 year old boys liked the cenotes better than the reef. Colder water but who cares when it's in the 90's...

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2 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

Awesome photo wood and thank you for the information. I know what I’m doing next time down there. 

Yeah Dos Ojos was awesome. Staff is great and the guided tour was only 600 pesos per person, which is crazy cheap for what you get. You go from one 'eye' to the other via the river underground, and to the bat cave, weaving through fallen limestone, stalactites, fish, etc, along the way. You also get to see the 'connection' - the passage via which divers go from one eye to the other underwater (something like 165m across). Dos Ojos is VERY popular with divers, and they always come out of there raving about the experience. It can get a bit chilly by the end (it takes over an hour), so you might want a wet suit, which they offer for no extra charge. Ask for Hugo if you get the guided tour. Good guy. Very helpful and knowledgeable. Hablas good Ingles.

Edited by wood

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1 hour ago, Grimas said:

My 12 year old boys liked the cenotes better than the reef. Colder water but who cares when it's in the 90's...

Yeah and Cenote Azul is just right. 

Funny thing is I've only actually felt 'hot' a couple times for just a few minutes since we got here - both times in town in Tulum when we were going to eat. The rest of the time it's really been great.

Heading out tomorrow. Probably will not get into IM unto sometime after seven or later. Any good rec's for eating that late and finding someplace to hang out.

39 minutes ago, ckhorn said:

Heading out tomorrow. Probably will not get into IM unto sometime after seven or later. Any good rec's for eating that late and finding someplace to hang out.

Most of the good spots mentioned should still be open...you should be just fine.

On 6/21/2018 at 6:53 PM, Buzzrock said:

Spent

 

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We need another creeper thread that focuses directly on foreign travel.  I can't remember how that took of on the other site.  I think it was an airport bar thread that was converted into posting pics of women in the wild.

Just got to the island. Electricity out for whole island. PA lost my reservation so we are in room the size of a closet. Electricity not expected to be on until sometime tomorrow. It is very steamy currently. Sitting a dark bar drinking cold beer so it could be worse I guess

3 minutes ago, Teddyballgame said:

Just got to the island. Electricity out for whole island. PA lost my reservation so we are in room the size of a closet. Electricity not expected to be on until sometime tomorrow. It is very steamy currently. Sitting a dark bar drinking cold beer so it could be worse I guess

We had power out on the North Side during our trip for a day, nobody seemed to notice or care too much.

13 minutes ago, Teddyballgame said:

Just got to the island. Electricity out for whole island. PA lost my reservation so we are in room the size of a closet. Electricity not expected to be on until sometime tomorrow. It is very steamy currently. Sitting a dark bar drinking cold beer so it could be worse I guess

Y’all put some beer on ice for me. See you tomorrow. 

Power came back on about 4am. Too bad the ac did not Brutal sleeping last night. Moved rooms and the electricity went back out about 900am. Still out currently. So sitting on beach drinking hard core. Goal is too pass out at some point so I won’t care about no a/c244ef4a55ca5c2fd409c24dbca2abc2e.jpg

Crushing some brews and garlic fish tacos at ballyhoo..:. we good here! 

I'm about to pull the trigger on a trip based 100% on this thread.

Quick question though...I'm probably staying at Ixchel. Is there a golf cart rental right there so I can grab one as needed?

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