Mahahual, Costa Maya Trip Report

[SUNBABY]

Thanks for the report and pics, such a nice place....I love the malecon. I like how wide it is and all the lighting..great for night walks. Yes, Playa could use one for sure. Sometimes I hate trudging thru the sand carrying stuff.

Aruba had one, not as wide, where all the resorts and hotels are located. It was more lush with landscaping, but then again, they don't have hurricanes there.

Keep em coming.

[pour favor]

That was great you guys. They did a great job with the boardwalk! I like the lighting and trash cans. It reminds me of Playa 18 years ago We are planning soon to go check it out. The mangroves look really rough, I wonder how long they take to come back if they even do?

Thank you so much for posting! I'm hope there is more

[Dan-0]

Libby, great photos of Mahahual pueblo. We were there last December and the transformation from then to now is incredible. It was still a mess when we went, there were piles of sand and debris everywhere and you could hardly get to the beach. In the long run, it looks like Dean might prove to be a positive thing for Mahahual.

[John]

We don't have a good picture of the billboard announcing the reconstruction effort in Mahahual. However, piecing together what I can read from the two separate pictures, here's the English version of an announcement located by the lighthouse:

Welcome to New Mahahual

The Federal Government thru the Secretary of Communications & Transports and Mexico Tourism Board, executes restoration works on the boulevard Mahahual with a total investment of 4 million dollars in benefit of the community and tourism.

Drive Carefully.

I'm not sure how much of that 4 million dollars is going towards construction of the new cruise ship pier. But, as you can tell from the new road through town and the malecon (lighting, garbage cans, and public restrooms, new palm trees), they have obviously spent quite a bit restoring/improving the town of Mahahual itself. I think it's coming all quite nicely.

[TAPPY]

The love pics Libby - thanks so much for posting it.
The place you stayed at looks charming...does it have a website or how do you book ?

[Libby]

Originally Posted by pour favor

Thank you so much for posting! I'm hope there is more

Yup, there's more. Tomorrow, I'll post our pictures of the downtown area and give our snorkeling report.

Originally Posted by Dan-0

In the long run, it looks like Dean might prove to be a positive thing for Mahahual.

Yes, I think you're right Dan.

Originally Posted by TAPPY

The place you stayed at looks charming...does it have a website or how do you book ?

Balamku Inn - We would definitely stay there again!

[Libby]

Great news from Balamku! Carol and Alan, the Canadian proprietors, would like to extend a special offer to the In The Roo crowd. If you book a stay for September, October or November and mention In The Roo, you'll get a 10% discount!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to continue my report last night. I'll be back at it tonight.

[PlayadelSoul]

Nice.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Libby

Great news from Balamku! Carol and Alan, the Canadian proprietors, would like to extend a special offer to the In The Roo crowd. If you book a stay for September, October or November and mention In The Roo, you'll get a 10% discount!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to continue my report last night. I'll be back at it tonight.

Great trip report!! I know we will be making a trip there soon and we will absolutely stay at Balamku. My kind of folks!!

[Libby]

So, after our malecon walk, we decided to walk back south through the little town. It is quite small, and seems to exist mainly to provide services for visitors to the area. There are a few shops, restaurants, hotels and homes. I believe they are calling this area New Mahahual. "Old" Mahahual is north of the lighthouse and further west from the ocean. That's where most of the residents seem to live. More on that later.

A little bit north of town is the Tequila Beach Club. I would imagine it's hopping on cruise ship days, but there was no one there when we walked by. They have tables on the beach and a volleyball net.


This picture is for Claudiadeplaya.


The Hotel Mahahual seemed pretty popular.


You can take an ADO bus to Mahahual from Playa del Carmen. It drops you off right next to the Hotel Mahahual.


Here's the bus station.








EVERYONE seems to have a SKY dish!


The liquor store


Italian restaurant








This colorful house was a bit south of town towards Balamku.

[Libby]

After all that walking, we went back to our room for a nap and a shower. Then we had a fabulous dinner at Travel In. Travel In is owned by a Dutch husband and wife team. She cooks and he bartends and waits on tables. They have an eclectic menu that includes Mexican food, curries and hummus with homemade pita bread.



We had heard rave reviews of the pitas, so John decided to get the pork shawarma (like a taco but wrapped in a pita with Middle Eastern flavors). Unfortunately, they had a very busy night and were out of pita bread ... except that they could scrounge up just one more for John. Yay! Unfortunately, when his dish arrived, they had substituted the pita with regular bread. The pork was fabulous, but it just wasn't quite perfect without the pita. The owners had gotten slammed with a full house that night, so we excused them of this one oversight.

I ordered that night's special, the lasagna. Oh my god, was it exquisite!! I still daydream of it sometimes! It was made with cheese, ground beef & pork, spinach and tomatoes. It was not real saucy, which I really liked. Sorry, no pictures of our food. We were so starved when it arrived that we just dug in and took no prisoners. I think I could go back to Mahahual just to eat here again!

[Lovesthesun]

Great report and photos. How far is Mahahual from PDC?

[Libby]

Originally Posted by Lovesthesun

Great report and photos. How far is Mahahual from PDC?

I believe it's 170 miles. 3 1/2 hours driving time without stops.

[Libby]

The next morning, we headed to Balamku's dining room for breakfast. Breakfast is included with your room rate, another reason I chose to stay here; it was such a great value. Breakfast was great. You get your choice of a variety of egg dishes or pancakes. But my favorite part was the help yourself fruit, granola and yogurt. So yummy!



After breakfast, we went snorkeling. I heard that the reef in front of Balamku was terrific, and Carol told us that snorkeling tours often take their guests to snorkel there. The reef is a bit too far to swim to. So, we grabbed one of the kayaks (complementary) and our snorkel gear and headed off for the reef. I believe Balamku has snorkel gear available if you don't have your own.



Unfortunately, I don't have any underwater pictures but the reef here was fantastic. The quality is similar to Akumal's coral systems, but much more extensive. We could have spent hours and hours out there. We saw brain coral, elkhorn coral, sea urchins, parrotfish, blue tangs, butterfly fish and tons of other fish and coral. The coolest marine life we saw were a large purple sea anenome and and a brown spotted stingray! I've never seen a brown stingray or a spotted stingray, so that was pretty cool. Although, a cursory Google search doesn't reveal any such thing as a brown spotted stingray. But John was there! He saw it too!

To our dismay, it was time to checkout after our snorkeling. When we have more time, we will definitely go back to stay for 2 or 3 nights. After checkout, we went into town for lunch. A taqueria had caught my eye the previous day and that's where we went.





At Taqueria Chandes, we had panuchos and sopes topped with chicken and carne asada. So good! Especially the panuchos. Again, we forgot to take pictures of our food. Sorry. It's like we were on vacation or something!

I still have a few more pictures to share, but those will have to wait til another day.

[SUNBABY]

Dang it Libby, now you got me wanting to go there instead of spending all my time in PDC....So, Anyway to find the bus schedule and prices? I really don't feel like renting a car and driving. also..any idea when the cruise ships are not in port?

The snorkeling got me hooked!

[Libby]

Originally Posted by SUNBABY

Dang it Libby, now you got me wanting to go there instead of spending all my time in PDC....So, Anyway to find the bus schedule and prices? I really don't feel like renting a car and driving. also..any idea when the cruise ships are not in port?

The snorkeling got me hooked!

Well I was going to direct you to the ADO website or the Ticketbus website, but neither have Mahahual listed in their destinations. It's possible that Mahahual is a newer destination and they haven't added it to their websites yet. I'll look into it and see if I can find a schedule for you. I'll find out about the cruise ship days as well.

[SUNBABY]

Originally Posted by Libby

Well I was going to direct you to the ADO website or the Ticketbus website, neither have Mahahual listed in their destinations. It's possible that Mahahual is a newer destination and they haven't added it to their websites yet. I'll look into it and see if I can find a schedule for you. I'll find out about the cruise ship days as well.

Thanks..I did look at the ADO site..no schedules. Probably easier to walk down to the station and look at the board,...but that would be a very long walk for me from Texas.

[Libby]

After lunch, we knew we had to head back home to Playa del Carmen, but we decided to check out "downtown" Mahahual on our way out. Downtown Mahahual is north and west of the lighthouse.

When we drove by it on the road to Mahahual the previous day, we saw a lot of housing so we assume that's where most of the locals live. However, we found the town to be totally dead. In fact, it felt like a bit of a ghost town. It was Sunday, so perhaps everything competely shuts down there on Sundays. Here are some of our pictures.

One of several other vehicles we saw, this is their colectivo. We didn't notice if anyone was in it other than the driver.


Convenience store damaged by Hurricane Dean, I presume.


This large hotel was completely empty. It was rather eerie, actually.


Didn't look like there was much happening at Plaza Fuentes anymore.


Another part of Plaza Fuentes. Looks like there may have been a pretty gazebo or fountain here at one time.


New Construction


Street dog checks us out


Every street had these neat street signs, yet there was barely any signs of life around.


There were a few nice looking restaurants in town including this pizza place. All were closed.


We had wanted to drive north of Mahahual to check out the beach scene there, but we couldn't figure out how to get there. Next time, we'll ask for directions first.

We didn't need directions back to Playa; we made it back safely and soundly, wishing our time in Mahahual had been longer. Thanks for reading.

[maestranba]

Thanks for taking the time to report and post all of your great pics!

[Michele]

Travel In is one of our favorite family run eateries. Last time, we were there on Greek Night. Opah!!