Isla Holbox/Mujeres July 2001
(Steve & Jeri Karl & Jennifer)
Well, this is my first attempt at a trip report so here goes. My wife Jeri and I have wanted to visit Holbox for some time now so we got together with two friends, Karl and Jennifer. Jennifer just happens to be my wife's sister and Karl her husband my best friend. By the way Jennifer and Karl were married on Isla Mujeres this last January. We decided that we would start off our trip by going to Isla Holbox and then move on to Isla Mujeres in a couple of days.
After arriving in Cancun we taxied to Chiquila about 3 1/2 hours and $90.00 US. From Chiquila it is an 8 mile boat ride to Isla Holbox $2.50 US.
The ride over was smooth but a little wet. The boats that take you over are small and as you can see they don't waste much space. When you arrive at the dock you see immediately that the island is less developed and quieter than Isla Mujeres.
As you arrive on the dock you will be met by locals wanting to help with your bags and to assist you in finding a place to stay but on a much smaller scale than what we we're used to. We did not have a place to stay so we walked down the sandy street leading away from the dock to the far side of Holbox. It took us about 15 min. to walk to the beach on the far side. We stopped at a couple of places and checked room prices and availability as we went.
Upon arriving on the beach we stopped and had a cold drink and surveyed to area. There were many fishing boats lining the shore in both directions. This is a fishing village after all and being early afternoon everything was pretty quiet.
The girls went looking for a room and found one with no problem one block over to the left and on the beach. Hotel Palapas had several small palapa style rooms one with a small kitchen. $25.00 US and quite nice. No air but the breeze was blowing nicely off the ocean so this was not a problem.
Check out the painting on the wall next to the bed, real looking isn't it. We settled in and had supper that night at the small Italian style restaurant just outside our rooms. Great pasta and fish tacos but not all that cheap. The next night we had supper on the beach at what seemed to be a popular local sea food establishment. Great grilled Hawk fish and seafood cocktail for a very reasonable price.
I don't have as many pics as I would like of the beach area but when traveling with just packs and moving around a lot you can't have everything.
The beaches are as you may have heard covered with shells. If you were to go down the beach and into some of the more remote areas you would be sure to find all types and sizes of shells.
Our second night we stayed at an almost new hotel. It was located to the right down the beach about 3/4 mile. It was also $25.00 US a night because they would match any price you could get from places closer to town. No air and no ceiling fan either. This was an issue that night as the wind laid down and the humidity was at least 90%. This also meant that the mosquitoes and biting gnats were out in force also.
Much of the island is not developed and all roads are sand. If you want to get away from it all and just relax this is the place for you.
After a couple of days we were ready to go to Isla Mujeres and see our friends so we started weighing our options on how to get there. Boat? too long of a ride and could be very rough and wet. Ferry back to Chiquila, taxi and ferry over to Isla Mujeres or bus. None of these sounded too good so we found the air strip on Holbox and the Airosaab plane happened to be there. Fransico the pilot said that he could take all four of us to I.M. then or in the morning. He was on his way back to Playa Del Carman anyway.
The next morning we were off to IM. What a great view as we lifted over the tops of the palms and did a hard bank over the shoreline of Holbox.
This is the beach where several of the hotels and restaurants are located. The island is much larger than IM with just a small portion is developed. You can see how it looks like IM may have looked 25 years ago.
This is looking back down the same shoreline. The far end of the island is where the town is. This is a beach combers paradise. Look at all the virgin beaches.
In the top pic you can see a light house. This marks the northern most point of the Yucatan. After about 30 minutes of the most beautiful flight I have ever taken you could see IM coming into view in the distance. North beach seems very quiet & tranquil in the early morning hours.
Home at last. What a great feeling to be back on IM. What a beautiful flight it was over the crystal blue waters and a nice smooth landing at the military airstrip where a taxi awaits. Take us to Play Sol por favor.
Like they say, a few pictures tell a thousand stories.
Thanks to Pulpo & Sergio for a great time.
13 fish from a 26 lb cuda to a 38 lb king mackerel WOW!
I love Isla Mujeres.