Isla Holbox

The final destination of our one month drive through the states of Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo is Isla Holbox, Q. Roo, a 26-mile long island with a full-time population of about 2,000 folks. 

In about two hours from Tulum, we arrive at Chiquila, park, don our backpacks, grab the folding beach chairs and our over-the-shoulder cooler to get the ferry to car-free Holbox.  This will be the tranquil end of a lovely trip.

Coming into the ferry landing at Holbox:

Thankfully our Airbnb host meets us at the ferry in his golf cart (the vehicle of the island) as the distance from ferry to Centro is much further than we thought.  He advises us that we must try the island specialty for dinner - lobster pizza, and only at ROOTS pizzeria.

We could have each had a pizza and a drink for the price of the one lobster pizza that we share, but it is so worth it.  Better than delicious.  Our server Gina is very friendly.  We learn that she has picked fruit in Osoyoos close to where we lived in BC.  She guides Paul through a mescal taste at the end of the meal and advises us that the beach of choice is Punta Coco.

The next morning finds us with all our beach gear, hailing a yellow golf cart taxi to Punta Coco.

We arrive to find a nearly deserted and gorgeous beach...

… well, except for this crane who amuses us for some time as he twirls, hops and pounces on whatever it is that's good to eat in these waters

The water is crystal clear and not a spec of Sargasso seaweed

We walk to the lagoon where the flamingos from Celestun arrive to feed in the summer.  We don't see any on this day.

The beach becomes a bit busier later in the day so when its time to head back to town we simply hitchhike as one of the things to do here is to rent a golf cart to explore the island.  A couple of young German guys pick us up.  On this little island, we have met tourists from Germany, Switzerland, France and of course, Mexico, Canada and the USA. 

In the plaza that evening we note the kiosks selling tours.  The things to do are: a 3-island tour, swim with the mantas, swim with the whale sharks or various water sports.  We choose to not do any of them and simply enjoy the slow life.

Another activity on the island, depicted in this street art is to return to Punta Coco after nightfall and swim with bioluminescent plankton. 

Dinner finds us in a different establishment, but we return to ROOTS later for a drink as an excuse to listen to the band that we enjoyed with our lobster pizza.

And the following day, a return trip to Punto Coco.  Today the restaurant up the road is open.  The bar on the beach can take your order, call it up and soon its delivered right to you on china dinnerware, with real cutlery.

During the day, I feel like I've had 3 or 4 bites from a pesky insect of sorts.  By bedtime, I have at least a hundred itchy, hard nodules from my neck to my ankles (Paul - nada).  We see our host the next day and he says its bites from the sand flea and DON'T SCRATCH.  I have both oral and spray- on Benadryl and use them liberally to minor effect.  Reading up on sand fleas later, I see the welts can last up to 6 weeks and that's only if they don't get infected.  Meanwhile, I feel like I've been pierced all over with metal studs.

No way I'm going back to Punta Coco, so the next day starts with a walk to the market to pick up supplies for dinner.  We take photos of some of the street art around town.

A little shopping is done ...

This store has mirrors, boxes and whimsical creatures created out of what appears to be brightly coloured tape, rolled tightly into forms, then clear coated to be durable and probably food-safe.

It would be fun to have a collection of these gals in the Tulum condo, but we are fast running out of wall space.

The pizza oven in this restaurant is like a glittering jewel...

The afternoon is passed on the beach only a block from our Airbnb.  It has some seaweed and lots of wind, so the waves come in here, unlike to calm of Coco.  We end up having lunch with a couple of guys who became friends while travelling one year and ever since get together annually to do a trip together.  One a developer from Merida, the other a dentist from Switzerland.

Time to leave the island, and leave this vacation behind.  As the sign says:

Now to return Conny's Jeep without which all of our stops on this trip would not have been possible.  Our Permanent Resident Card is waiting for us to pick up in Playa del Carmen and its time to get on with integrating into our new country.