Kate and I left the cold and snow of November for the sun and beaches of
Playa del Carmen on the
Mayan Riviera. We flew
Air Transat, the holiday package was through them, out of Toronto on the Monday afternoon of November 10 to Cancun where we were shuttled down the coast about an hour or so to our all-inclusive resort, the
Reef Coco Beach, very near the heart of town Playa del Carmen. We were there for a two week vacation and returned on November 14.
If you're brave enough to venture into the photo album at left you may be bored with too many sunrise/sunset photos like that shown. Every morning I was up to catch the sunrise; likewise every evening for sunset.
Our intention was to find a comfortable place where it would be warm and we could do a bit of snorkeling, swimming and have a fast internet so we could work on our photos and this blog. We're not resort types, we'd much rather visit an interesting city (like Austin) or a country like Australia, but have been to resorts like this before. When my brother Paul lived in Halifax (he's in Thailand now) we used to meet up with him and Judy for a week in the winter at a Caribbean all-inclusive resort (e.g., see Cuba (2005) and Mexico (2006)). That worked well then, we would visit and explore a bit together.
This resort is in, or at least very close to, the city of Playa del Carmen. The resort is on the beach with the city right behind us. To the north there's a large public beach, Playa Coco Beach, with some fenced off rough bush land (probably soon to be developed as yet another resort). To the south it's miles and miles of resorts right on the beach. The beach at our resort is somewhat protected by a nearby reef that we had hoped to swim to. Unfortunately many, many fishing and diving boats use that reef as a shelter — it's a bit of a busy harbor or anchorage for the many boats in the area. This meant swimming out through the boats would be dangerous at best (cf. Kirsty MacCall and her death at Cozumel). And, while most days were calm in the morning, the wind would regularly pick up which made for choppy waters. We often noted sailboarding and kitesurfing on the large area to the north of us.
With respect to the beach, to add insult to injury the resort has a fenced off swimming area to keep those boats away. The water quality within this fenced off area was awful with plastics, wipes and other crap floating about. And to add insult to that injury the beach, when we arrived, was awash in heaps and heaps of sargassum (a prolific seaweed and a problem throughout the Caribbean). To give the town and resort credit there were staff and machinery out every day to clean up the seaweed. I had thought their battle was a lot like the myth of Sisyphus; I am surprised at how effective they were!
All of the above means we didn't swim much in the ocean. Every day we'd go down to the dive shop and ask about snorkeling. They were always sending out scuba divers and they always promised us that they would send us out tomorrow, another day when it's not so windy, the weekend looks better, etc. That never happened. We did end up going out on a short catamaran tour out of a resort some distance to the north of us at Playa Maroma. Oddly, they wouldn't let me take any pictures with "that camera" although they were keen to sell us pictures they had taken. Oh yes, and I couldn't get my go-Pro wanna be under water camera to work. Sheeet!
We paid extra for better seats on Air Transat to accommodate Kate's mobility problems. The seats had a bit more room and were a little less crowded; but only a little. On long flights, like to Europe in June, we pay for business class seats and Kate insists on lay flat sleeping pods for overnight trips. Part of this trip was to see how Kate might fair on a daytime flight to this part of the world — we're thinking of a long stay trip to Central America this winter. Kate survived (obviously) but it was not easy for her.
We arrived very late in the evening of November 10; I recall it was around 10:30 or 11:00 at night. Kate was in considerable pain having been up and about for 12 hours. The shuttle, which we were told would drop us off first, drove through Playa del Carmen to the very large gated community of Playacar on the south end of the city before returning us, the last passengers, to our hotel on the north end of the city. This was a needlessly long an bumpy ride through the rough streets of Playa del Carmen and resort lanes of Playacar.
We were given a room with two single beds on the top floor above the hotel reception as far as possible from the ocean. This was not the partial ocean view room we had bargained on and paid extra for. We were not happy and there was no other room for us at that time of the day. It might have been worse, we met a couple who spent their first night at another Reef Resort (actually a hotel) in the city center. The next day we meet up with a resort Hospitality Manager/Liason, Yullianna, who appreciated our problem and helped sort things out. She found us lolling on the beach and took us to a much nicer room, with a king bed, close to the shore, a very good partial ocean view, and overlooking the pool. We were moved to this room after it was vacated and tidied up that afternoon.
That's when we discovered the very loud music system designed to entertain, motivate and exercise guests around the pool. Why does the music have to be so feckin' loud! "ARE WE HAVING FUN YET!" "Well I'd be having more fun if I didn't have to yell to be heard!". I don't think we're crabby old geezers and I don't think your having fun with LOUD MUSIC should impede on my quiet relaxation. We met a regular who had an ocean view (to avoid the loud music at the pool) and he tells us he and is wife have a running battle over the loud music. They even circulated a petition and have posted nasty reviews in hopes of getting the noise abated if only a little.
Here's an odd thing about the noise. Next door is an exclusive restaurant/pool area that's part of our resort. You need to pay an extra $30US per day, per person to go there. During the day it is a quiet oasis with it's own pool overlooking the ocean. At night, even there, they crank up the music. God knows where you go to escape the noise.
On hotel rooms, apart from the very large ocean view apartments, which cost a lot (well outside our reach) I really don't think there's much of a difference. There's about 300 rooms, all inward facing, where there's a largish pool, the building is in a U-shape, mostly 3 stories, with the open end to the beach. At the one end there's a garden area (taken up mostly by an unused min-golf), then there's the pool with the swim up bar, and at the beach end another pool that's a bit deeper. In the deeper pool (it's only maybe 5' deep) they do some scuba training in the morning; the rest of the day it's exercises, water polo and dumb games.
The resort has a buffet restaurant (for all meals) across the pool from us, a quick stop hamburger and chips kind of stand by the shallow pool, and three "restaurants" upstairs on the second floor above the buffet where you make a "reservation for dinner". They are Italian, Mexican and Japanese themed. We tried all three and liked the Italian restaurant the best (we had dinner there 3 times).
There is an odd funny story about the Japanese restaurant. This is one of those affairs where they cook in front of you on a large flat grill (I think it's called a Teppanyaki) and juggle their knives, spatulas, food, etc. We had been to one before, many years ago, in London with Jack and Doreta. Anyway, the night we were there the chef is doing his shtick (with lots of flames and odd sexually suggestive food arrangements) when one of the servers announces that it's the chef's birthday today. The server leads us in song, "Happy birthday to you!". I even add in a second verse, and got a few laughs:
May you live a thousand years
May you drink a thousand beers
Get plastered, you b...ad boy
Happy birthday to you!
Anyways, a few nights later we're at the Italian restaurant (they all share a kitchen and washroom area) and what do I hear people singing, next door, in the Japanese restaurant? Why they're singing "Happy birthday to you!" What an odd coincidence; odd that the same chef should have two birthdays! Does he have one every night?
When you arrive one of the things "The Reef" (ie. the resort company) wants you to do is sit for a morning sales pitch where they try to sell you on investing in a long stay — here or at another development (they have three and might be working on another). One of the rewards for doing so was a fancy dinner set by the seaside. We declined both. Although we did meet a Canadian who had invested in 60 weeks at this resort which he's been spreading out over several years. He gets an ocean view room that faces the ocean, just down the hall from ours, that avoids the noise and music around the pool. I don't think I'd like to come to the same resort every time; especially this one.
The food at the buffet was fine (never quite hot enough for me) and the staff were friendly. We'd often meet up with a server, Deyadira, at breakfast, she'd serve us coffee and would always joke with us asking if we wanted tequila with our breakfast. We'd decline but promised her that on our last day we'd try a "Tequila Sunrise" and we did. We got talking to her a bit; she tells us she works every day (I guess resorts jobs are pretty good in the pecking order) and is early in a pregnancy. We congratulate her and wish her well. Kate was talking to one of the young chefs at breakfast who was making omelettes. She tells us she's on an internship, is grateful to be there, and doesn't get paid at all!
On the pay issue, although I suppose resort staff are paid well by Mexican standards, I rather doubt it's paid well by our standards. We were encouraged by friends to bring some cash with us and tip the servers. This we did regularly, at meals, at the bar, taxis and for the domestic who cleans our room. We saw that others did the same (not a lot, but some). We had quite a bit of Mexican cash with us in fairly large denominations. We found it impossible to get bills changed. At the front desk the smallest bill they ever had was $500MX; we were aiming to drop $50MX here and there as a tip but found it difficult.
But people don't come to all-inclusive resorts for the food. We came for the drinks. There was a small bar with a quiet sitting area at reception, another swim up bar at the pool, a bar at the buffet restaurant and, by the dive shop, a small bar that opened in the evening — we called that one the "Dive Bar". We were regulars at the pool bar; Kate devoted to pina-coladas (more dark rum please) and Reg toyed with various Margaritas (blended, on ice, less sweet, no salt, even straight tequila with a slice of lime, and sorry we don't have any Mezcal). With our meals we'd usually drink their house white — a Spanish plonk a bit more drinkable than their house red.
Most days we'd loll around the pool, drinks in hand, maybe trying to work on the computer, until the entertainment came out and the pounding disco drove us away to the deck by the sea at the "Dive Bar" where we'd play Mexican Train. That's a simple tile/dominos game we brought with us; our friend Joan introduced us to the game years ago. It's fun, requires some thought, but the winner is often by luck. One day a guest walking by enviously asked if we had got the game at the resort. "Sorry no, we brought it."
Working on our laptops, tablets, etc. to sort photos and write in this blog was difficult. The screens just aren't bright enough when sitting outside. Our balcony might have been nice but then there was the loud "music" that would drive you away. And who wants to work inside?
There were a couple of parties around the pool at night. One night there was a staged show with fireworks, another night there was a wedding party. That was a small group but they were keen to party hard.
In other posts I talk about the Street Art work I found and our visit to a local Frida Kahlo museum/gallery. There's also a 3D-Museum of Wonders that we went to see downtown. We had been to one in Chaing Mai Thailand a few years ago and thought it might be fun. Unfortunately the entry fee was very expensive, way out of line, and we declined. We had a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant.
From the beach you can see large cruise ships and the resorts on Cozumel; a large island in the distance that shelters Playa del Carmen. In the evening the glow from the lights on the island lights the sky. At first I thought the large structures on the horizon where mountains on Cozumel. It turns out they were the massive, mountainous cruise boats.
We took a taxi to the Cozumel ferry terminal about 3km down the beach from our resort. One morning I had walked about half way there to the Muelle Constituyentes pier. The ferry terminal is a bigger deal by far with many high speed boats dashing back and forth. There's a park area, Parque Los Fundadores, with entertainers and lots of shops, and lots of lots of hawkers. We rode over to Cozumel, pooped around for a while, and didn't see much of the island. Apparently there's very good snorkeling around the island. We met an English couple (newly wed and Jehovah Witness) at the Japanese restaurant who had done a day long catamaran tour that stopped at 4 different snorkeling spots on the island. We might have liked that but couldn't see us lasting the day.
Years ago, in 2006, we had been to a much larger resort way out from any town, the Bahia Principe Luxury Akumal, which is closer to Tulum (see Mexico February, 2006). We had taken this resort because it was smaller and in the town. Because it was small you were not able to get away from the hub-bub. We avoided a large resort so we wouldn't have to walk great distances to restaurants and events at the resort (for the Bahia Principe we brought our folding travel bikes so Kate could get around).
