Half Moon Bay in front of Yool Caanal condos
Living Room, Yool Caanal #2
Dining and Kitchen, Yool Caanal #2
Our eleventh trip to Akumal was every bit as wonderful as all of the rest. Our larger-than-normal group included Dale and Jule, Jule's sisters Barb and Sandy, and Kathy and me. The Sun Country flight was notable in that it was flawless: it left on time, arrived on time, and was pretty much turbulence-free. The Cancun airport was a little crowded with incoming flights, so we had a bit of wait time for the luggage, but still left the airport less than an hour after landing. Manuel from Avicar was waiting for us, as usual. This time, with a group of 6, there were two cars to deal with and we ended up going to an office off-airport to complete the paperwork. More on Avicar later.
After a quick stop at Covi in Playa del Carmen for supplies we reached "home" shortly after noon. La Buena Vida beckoned so it was off to lunch after a quick change into more appropriate (beach) clothing. Back at the Yool Caanal condos, we prepared for a lazy afternoon on the beach.
Friday the 9th dawned beautifully, as did most of the days we were there. We breakfasted at the Lol Ha main restaurant and put in an appearance in front of the webcam.
We had breakfast at Turtle Bay on Saturday, then headed down to Tulum. The women toured the ruins while us guys hung out on the beach to the south. We walked down as far as El Paraiso and saw the beach beds for rent there. Looked like they'd be kind of hot, being covered with a light blue vinyl. The women met us after their tour and we went to Oscar y Lalo's on Punta Soliman for lunch.
Sunday we had breakfast at Lol Ha and then returned to Half Moon Bay for snorkeling and sun. We lunched at La Cueva del Pescador and then just chilled until late afternoon when we headed north to Playa. By this time it had clouded up and begun to rain, off and on fairly heavily. We had a good dinner at Karen's then returned to the condos.
On Monday Dale and I went back to Turtle Bay for breakfast and then brought pastries back to the condos for the rest. It was still cloudy and a bit rainy at first, but then cleared and got windy. I dropped off a bunch of supplies at the library and had a little talk with Maggie there. She had just returned from a visit in the States. We spent the early afternoon at Puerto Aventuras, checking out the CEDAM museum and Gringo Dave's margaritas and food. I tried the beef kebobs, having pleasant memories of them at Tulum, but they just weren't the same. I think the Tulum location cooked things over a wood fire and the Puerto Aventuras location uses something else. They were okay, just not as good. The margaritas were very good, though.
The wind subsided somewhat on Tuesday morning and we were able to enjoy the Robinson Crusoe cruise arranged through the dive shop after breakfast at the Lol Ha. Actually now it seems that the arrangements for the cruise are made through TSA. As many have reported the cruise now goes to Chemuyil Bay rather than Xaak Bay, which was lost to the developers of the new Sirenis resort. No matter…Chemuyil is even more beautiful than Xaak was.
We began Valentines day with breakfast at the Lol Ha, then went to Yalku lagoon for some snorkeling. We managed to get there early enough to have some good snorkeling before the tour crowds arrived.
We had an early flight (10:40 AM) out of Cancun on Thursday, but still managed time for a nice breakfast at Turtle Bay. When we met Manuel from Avicar at the airport we learned that Avicar was about to disappear, joining with another company, and this would be one of Manuel's last duties for them. This is a large disappointment to us, as our dealings with Avicar have always been so flawless. Hopefully the new company, or Manuel's new company, will be as good. Guess we'll find out in July! Check-in at the airport went very smoothly and quickly and the plane left right on time.