Kat
Contributor
My boyfriend & I went for 16 days to Mexico & Belize. We stayed at 5 different hotels & used every mode of transportation we could find. I have tried to break the trip report into small sections, to make it easier to read through.
Part 2: Majahual
Sunday August 6th - Travel Day
After it was all said & done, it ended up taking about 12 hours to travel from Chichen Itza to Majahual/Placer. Much longer than what I had planned. Our downfall was a 2nd class bus from Playa del Carmen to Limones. What we should have done was take a 1st class bus to Felipe Carrillo Puerto & then the 2nd class bus to Limones. This was the same problem we had in going to Chichen Itza. So, we lost 2 dives due to my bad planning of the busses.
We arrived at the Mayan Beach Garden at about 9:30P and the owner Kim was waiting for us & had dinner waiting for us too. Kim was really outgoing & friendly and made us feel at home right away. On their web site they had listed diving options & prices. I had not mentioned in my e-mails that we were going to be diving, but I assumed there was a dive op nearby. I asked Kim about diving the next morning & he told us that his neighbors were the DM's. Unfortunatly, they had no diving booked, so they had made other plans for Aug. 7th. My heart sank. I thought I had planned everything so well but it was all a mess. Kim mentioned going into Majahual & use Dreamt*** & I told him no. The cruise ship was going to be in port & I did not want to be on a cattleboat. Kim said he'd e-mail around as he knew of a couple other people who could take us diving. After dinner he showed us to our bungalow & it was just beautiful.
Monday August 7th
We were not able to see the hotel property because it was so dark when we arrived. But the next morning I was thrilled! Our bungalow was on the beach and the view was amazing. We went to breakfast & Kim told us his wife Marsha had lined up some diving for us, a 2 tank dive, leaving a 11 AM. Yea!! However, they said there was a catch. The man we would be going diving with was a fisherman, not a DM. They asked about our experience & if we would be comfortable diving this way. Absolutly! They warned us that the diving would be just the 2 of us, as he would be fishing. So after breakfast we sat on the beach & when the fisherman was ready we walked two properties down & Marsha introduced us to George.
1st Dive: The reef is very close to shore so the boat ride was short. We did a backward roll and descended. The reef was so healthy - virgin. The vis was about 80 ft. and we saw tons of lobsters, an eel & a turtle. It was an amazing dive. Our max depth was 50 ft. & we were down for 50 min. We had our surface interval on our hotels beach.
2nd Dive: Our next dive was a little southeast of the 1st and was just as spectactular. We saw a gigantic lobster & a stingray. It was another great dive. We asked the names of the reefs but they don't have names yet.
At dinner all the guests sit at one big table. It is really nice because you get to chat with everyone. Kim & Marsha's hobby is visiting Mayan ruins. I had some questions about some of the photographs on the wall & he was an amazing weath of Mayan history. He showed us some of his photo albums & the map of the Mayan world. He had hightlighted where he & Marsha had been. OMG , I could have talked to him all night.
Tuesday August 8th
Leaving already. I wish we had stayed here a few more days. Kim & Marsha were wonderful hosts. It was like visiting with old friends.
We had planned on getting a cab into Majahual to catch the bus to Xcalak, but Kim offered us a lift, as he had business in town. We arrived in Majahual at 9:05 to catch the 9:00A bus. I was not worried about being 5 minutes late for the bus, as I had seen how the busses run. Kim dropped us off & we waited for over an hour. As our luck would have it, we had missed the bus. Got a taxi and for $35 US we went to Xcalak.
Continued in Part 3 - Xcalak
Part 2: Majahual
Sunday August 6th - Travel Day
After it was all said & done, it ended up taking about 12 hours to travel from Chichen Itza to Majahual/Placer. Much longer than what I had planned. Our downfall was a 2nd class bus from Playa del Carmen to Limones. What we should have done was take a 1st class bus to Felipe Carrillo Puerto & then the 2nd class bus to Limones. This was the same problem we had in going to Chichen Itza. So, we lost 2 dives due to my bad planning of the busses.
We arrived at the Mayan Beach Garden at about 9:30P and the owner Kim was waiting for us & had dinner waiting for us too. Kim was really outgoing & friendly and made us feel at home right away. On their web site they had listed diving options & prices. I had not mentioned in my e-mails that we were going to be diving, but I assumed there was a dive op nearby. I asked Kim about diving the next morning & he told us that his neighbors were the DM's. Unfortunatly, they had no diving booked, so they had made other plans for Aug. 7th. My heart sank. I thought I had planned everything so well but it was all a mess. Kim mentioned going into Majahual & use Dreamt*** & I told him no. The cruise ship was going to be in port & I did not want to be on a cattleboat. Kim said he'd e-mail around as he knew of a couple other people who could take us diving. After dinner he showed us to our bungalow & it was just beautiful.
Monday August 7th
We were not able to see the hotel property because it was so dark when we arrived. But the next morning I was thrilled! Our bungalow was on the beach and the view was amazing. We went to breakfast & Kim told us his wife Marsha had lined up some diving for us, a 2 tank dive, leaving a 11 AM. Yea!! However, they said there was a catch. The man we would be going diving with was a fisherman, not a DM. They asked about our experience & if we would be comfortable diving this way. Absolutly! They warned us that the diving would be just the 2 of us, as he would be fishing. So after breakfast we sat on the beach & when the fisherman was ready we walked two properties down & Marsha introduced us to George.
1st Dive: The reef is very close to shore so the boat ride was short. We did a backward roll and descended. The reef was so healthy - virgin. The vis was about 80 ft. and we saw tons of lobsters, an eel & a turtle. It was an amazing dive. Our max depth was 50 ft. & we were down for 50 min. We had our surface interval on our hotels beach.
2nd Dive: Our next dive was a little southeast of the 1st and was just as spectactular. We saw a gigantic lobster & a stingray. It was another great dive. We asked the names of the reefs but they don't have names yet.
At dinner all the guests sit at one big table. It is really nice because you get to chat with everyone. Kim & Marsha's hobby is visiting Mayan ruins. I had some questions about some of the photographs on the wall & he was an amazing weath of Mayan history. He showed us some of his photo albums & the map of the Mayan world. He had hightlighted where he & Marsha had been. OMG , I could have talked to him all night.
Tuesday August 8th
Leaving already. I wish we had stayed here a few more days. Kim & Marsha were wonderful hosts. It was like visiting with old friends.
We had planned on getting a cab into Majahual to catch the bus to Xcalak, but Kim offered us a lift, as he had business in town. We arrived in Majahual at 9:05 to catch the 9:00A bus. I was not worried about being 5 minutes late for the bus, as I had seen how the busses run. Kim dropped us off & we waited for over an hour. As our luck would have it, we had missed the bus. Got a taxi and for $35 US we went to Xcalak.
Continued in Part 3 - Xcalak
