Well, I'm back and planning the next trip...
However....
Arrived at the Akumal Beach resort on the 9th of May. What a great place! 168 beach front, air conditioned, ocean view rooms. I have stayed at The Palladium, Barcelo Maya, Allegro Playacar, Hyatt Cancun Caribe, among others, and the ABR was my favorite even though its only 3 stars or apples, or what have you. It is not fancy, just really nice! Its Italian owned and that is reflected in the great food, International clientel, and layed back atmosphere. Its intimate, set on a great beach, and is only a three minute walk to town. The rooms are nice and clean. Showers are good and plumbing consistent. No elevators, so its an effort if you are on an upper floor. I didn't mind since we live at 8800 feet and anything at sea level seems easy! There is a dive op on sight, but its intro-to-scuba oriented so we went to Akumal Dive Shop.
We did a lot of snorkeling with our family and it was amazing! Right in front of the hotel are some incredible reefs. We saw 3 species of turtle. One of the biggest turtles I've ever seen..including in Hawaii, Huge 3 or 4 foot long Rainbow parrotfish, many sting rays, The biggest Barracuda that I've ever seen...esp. from 2 feet away! Big green morays swimming freely, and every tropical reef fish. It was almost better than diving! Also snorkeled Yal-ku lagoon. I'm glad I tried it, but the reef infront of the hotel was better.
Akumal Dive Shop. The reefs are 3 minutes boat ride. I was lucky enough to dive alone with the DM so I had a great time, and long bottom times. James Goddard sums the dive experience up really well in his report. I have done many dives at Akumal in the past, but only 2 this year due to arriving with a head cold. I shook that cold pretty quickly and got a bunch of dives in in Coz. That report will be under the Coz forum.
Food. The buffet and Italian and Mexican a la carte Restraunts at the hotel were so good that we only ventured out to dinner once. Cueva del Pescador. The service wasn't as good, nor was the margarita, as I remembered, but I will definitely give them another chance. The lobster was great..and its the way to go. My dad caught a Mahi while deep sea fishing that day, and I think that we ate it that night at the Cueva..it was awesome as well. We had drinks and snacks at La Buena Vida on a couple of occasions, and delicious Ice cream from the ice cream stand.
I will go back to Akumal over and over again. Next time I will go to Coz first and then to Akumal to relax. For an overall vacation experience, its great!
As James Goddard says, the reason to dive there is the cenotes, so I should be happy with the ocean and reef dives in Coz, and a few in Akumal, with most of the focus going toward the cenotes.
James and his family are really great people. I hope to spend some dive-time and SI time with them in the future.
Went to Tulum for the 6th time..its still awesome!
By the way, the weather was perfect the entire time, including Coz. 12 days of paradise!
I will post some pics asap.
However....
Arrived at the Akumal Beach resort on the 9th of May. What a great place! 168 beach front, air conditioned, ocean view rooms. I have stayed at The Palladium, Barcelo Maya, Allegro Playacar, Hyatt Cancun Caribe, among others, and the ABR was my favorite even though its only 3 stars or apples, or what have you. It is not fancy, just really nice! Its Italian owned and that is reflected in the great food, International clientel, and layed back atmosphere. Its intimate, set on a great beach, and is only a three minute walk to town. The rooms are nice and clean. Showers are good and plumbing consistent. No elevators, so its an effort if you are on an upper floor. I didn't mind since we live at 8800 feet and anything at sea level seems easy! There is a dive op on sight, but its intro-to-scuba oriented so we went to Akumal Dive Shop.
We did a lot of snorkeling with our family and it was amazing! Right in front of the hotel are some incredible reefs. We saw 3 species of turtle. One of the biggest turtles I've ever seen..including in Hawaii, Huge 3 or 4 foot long Rainbow parrotfish, many sting rays, The biggest Barracuda that I've ever seen...esp. from 2 feet away! Big green morays swimming freely, and every tropical reef fish. It was almost better than diving! Also snorkeled Yal-ku lagoon. I'm glad I tried it, but the reef infront of the hotel was better.
Akumal Dive Shop. The reefs are 3 minutes boat ride. I was lucky enough to dive alone with the DM so I had a great time, and long bottom times. James Goddard sums the dive experience up really well in his report. I have done many dives at Akumal in the past, but only 2 this year due to arriving with a head cold. I shook that cold pretty quickly and got a bunch of dives in in Coz. That report will be under the Coz forum.
Food. The buffet and Italian and Mexican a la carte Restraunts at the hotel were so good that we only ventured out to dinner once. Cueva del Pescador. The service wasn't as good, nor was the margarita, as I remembered, but I will definitely give them another chance. The lobster was great..and its the way to go. My dad caught a Mahi while deep sea fishing that day, and I think that we ate it that night at the Cueva..it was awesome as well. We had drinks and snacks at La Buena Vida on a couple of occasions, and delicious Ice cream from the ice cream stand.
I will go back to Akumal over and over again. Next time I will go to Coz first and then to Akumal to relax. For an overall vacation experience, its great!
As James Goddard says, the reason to dive there is the cenotes, so I should be happy with the ocean and reef dives in Coz, and a few in Akumal, with most of the focus going toward the cenotes.
James and his family are really great people. I hope to spend some dive-time and SI time with them in the future.
Went to Tulum for the 6th time..its still awesome!
By the way, the weather was perfect the entire time, including Coz. 12 days of paradise!
I will post some pics asap.
.
