Mahahual, Costa Maya Trip Report

[Libby]

This past weekend, John and I packed our bags and headed off for a quick getaway to the coastal town of Mahahual (aka Majahual). Mahahual is located about 3 1/2 hours driving distance (with no stops) from Playa del Carmen and is part of the area known as the Costa Maya.

Map of the Costa Maya area

Mahahual was a sleepy fishing village (sound familiar?) until it became a major cruise ship destination. This brought a lot of jobs to Mahahual. But then Mahahual was devastated by Hurricane Dean almost a year ago. I believe tomorrow, August 21st, is the anniversary. Slowly but surely, Mahahualians rebuilt their homes, businesses and lives.

We found Mahahual to be firmly back on its feet. We hadn't seen Mahahual before the hurricane so we couldn't make any comparisons, but we do understand it is not as lush as before. Regardless, Mahahual won a special spot in our hearts this weekend! For us, it was a peaceful, beautiful and charming escape from our sometimes hectic lives in Playa del Carmen. We will definitely be back.

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip report and lots of pics.

[maestranba]

Can't wait to see your pics Libby!! I'd like to travel down there one of these trips.

[Dan-0]

We didn't get to go to Mahuhual on our June trip, so I'm really looking forward to this!

[PlayaLove]

Always always love your reports Libby,,,,,can't wait

[lovbuds]

Can't wait to read your T.R. Libby and see your pictures!!! We have researched Mahuhual and it has been on our list of places to visit hopefully soon. It looks and sounds great!

[Libby]

Saturday morning, we packed up some clothes, our snorkeling gear, and a cooler full of water. Somehow we forgot to bring beer and/or wine! We're so out of practice!

We got onto Highway 307 and headed south. The road south of Playa is a nice highway with 2 lanes each way for about 40 kilometers. At Km. 250 by Chemuyil, it drops down to one lane each way. They are, and have been for quite some time, working on expanding the highway to 4 lanes all the way down to Tulum. Expected completion date: mañana.


South of Tulum the 2 lane highway continued with ample shoulders.


"Don't vandalize the signs." Wish I had a picture of one of the vandalized signs with this saying!

This guardrail is obviously brand spanking new as we didn't see any major dents in it. Give it a few days.


"Respect the speeding limit." Uh ... I don't think these signs are very effective.


We encountered a bit of construction at Laguna Muyil, Km. 205-210. The sign reads "Precaution. Deviation", but we like to translate the second word as Devastation.


Down to one lane only. Construction workers directed traffic, stopping one side while the other drove on through.


After the construction stretch, we lost our nice shoulder.

"Be very cautious."

"Use your seatbelt."

[Libby]

"Drive carefully"

"Take care of your life. Don't get distracted." -- Then stop distracting me with all these damn signs!!

One more ... my favorite.

"Remember that your family awaits you."

Before long, we arrived at the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Here is your last chance of filling up on gas. The gas station in Mahahual is no more! There is one Pemex gas station just north of town, and another in the downtown area. You can't miss either one.

We stopped at the first gas station to use the public bathroom (cost: 2 pesos) and pick up some cervezas (cost: $15 pesos a bottle). After the gas station, you can take a bypass to avoid downtown, but it doesn't take long to get through. We made one more stop downtown to pick up more ice. And I photographed this little chapel.


Felipe Carrillo Puerto is typical small Mexican town with roasted chicken joints, pharmacys, cell phone stores and churches.



Tope! (Speed bump)


"Thank you for visiting the Maya Zone"


They had lots of these new bus stops.


Approaching the town of Limones. This is a smaller town than Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Not a lot going on here.


Four kilometeres past Limones, we came to the turn off for Mahahual. It was well-marked. The road to Mahahual was another 2 lane highway, but we got our shoulder back. All the roads we took were well maintained and pothole free.


59 kilometers later, we knew we had arrived when we saw the Mahahual lighthouse which amazingly survived the hurricane unscathed.

[maestranba]

I feel like I was driving down the road with you guys!! I was telling John when I met him how I loved your billboard signs on the Walking in Playa thread. We both agreed that we love the highway sign that says "Después de un accidente, ya nada es igual." And then right after it you usually see a little shrine for someone who died in an accident.

Can't wait to see more pics!

[Dan-0]

Libby, great pics. of the drive, can't wait to see the photos of Mahuhual. Construction on this part of Hwy. 307 seems to be endless- I can't wait 'til they get through. I LOVE to stop and eat in Carrillo Puerto when we're making this drive- so many good places to eat. The restaurant on the left in this pic., El Faisan y El Venado, is one of my favorites:

[Libby]

Originally Posted by Dan-0

Libby, great pics. of the drive, can't wait to see the photos of Mahuhual. Construction on this part of Hwy. 307 seems to be endless- I can't wait 'til they get through. I LOVE to stop and eat in Carrillo Puerto when we're making this drive- so many good places to eat. The restaurant on the left in this pic., El Faisan y El Venado, is one of my favorites:

That restaurant definitely caught my attention, but we weren't hungry yet and were anxious to get to our final destination. Do they serve Yucatecan food? There's a restaurant by the same name in Playa del Carmen. I'm wondering if they're related.

[Dan-0]

Originally Posted by Libby

That restaurant definitely caught my attention, but we weren't hungry yet and were anxious to get to our final destination. Do they serve Yucatecan food? There's a restaurant by the same name in Playa del Carmen. I'm wondering if they're related.

Libby, yes, they definitely serve Yucatecan food. They have great breakfasts, too. I had some very good "huevos motuleños" there once. From what I understand it's a sister restaurant (same owner) to the one in Playa.

[SUNBABY]

Great report...but....I wonder what it means when I take pics of speedos and you take pics of road signs?

[tomkat2]

What, no Burma Shave signs?

[pour favor]

More please I am so excited to see this!

[Libby]

Originally Posted by SUNBABY

Great report...but....I wonder what it means when I take pics of speedos and you take pics of road signs?

Hey, if we had seen any speedos along the highway, we certainly would have taken a picture!

Originally Posted by tomkat2

What, no Burma Shave signs?

I had to google Burma Shave. Never heard of it. No billboards south of Playa del Carmen that I can remember. They're all between Playa and Cancun.

Originally Posted by pour favor

More please I am so excited to see this!

Hi Claudette! I'll work on this some more today, I promise!

[Libby]

So, we turned right at the lighthouse onto the new road that had been built just 4 months ago right through the mangroves. Dean hit the mangroves pretty hard, and with this new road, I wonder if they'll ever come back.


Approaching town.

There was some sort of magic show in town, but we didn't get a chance to check it out.

More shots of downtown later. For now, we were anxious to get to our hotel, Balamku Inn. Balamku is 5.7 kilometers south of town, so we drove on through.

The road to Balamku and a spattering of other hotels. **Note: If you drive to Balamku, the ocean should be on your left side. We forgot to take a pic, so this was taken on our return from Balamku.

Balamku was everything we had hoped for -- a tranquil and secluded spot on the beach with breezy, comfortable rooms.

Our room was on the top floor of this building.

Room pictures:

[Libby]

The grounds at Balamku:



This poor palm tree got it's head blown off.

Iguana sighting

Kitty sleeping in the beach garden.

We chose Balamku because it's on the beach but also because it's a "green" hotel. They've made a lot of environmentally responsible decisions, and I applaude them for that! It felt good knowing that I supported a company that does not pollute the beach, ocean and reef I just spent the weekend enjoying! Here are some of their solar panels.

Balamku is powered 24 hours by solar and wind power only! All the water from showers and sinks is diverted to support the mangroves and gardens. Soaps and shampoos are biodegradable and come in pump dispensers rather than those little plastic bottles, forever doomed to sit in a landfill. The Canadian owners use low-flush toilets and waste is composted. Ever heard of humanure? This is great because there's no risk of sewage seeping into the ocean. Finally, they have planted native endangered trees and plants. And they do it all in a way that doesn't negatively impact your stay at all!

A ground floor room.

[Libby]

After we settled in at the hotel, we made our way back downtown to get some lunch. We headed straight for the beach, where our new friend Juan quickly tried everything he could to convince us to dine at El Faro. It worked.


Juan seated us on the beach, we dug our feet into the sand, and enjoyed our view.



There is a natural sandbar here that makes for a nice calm swimming beach.

I diverted my look from the ocean for just a moment.






I just love this picture.

[Libby]

John ordered the garlic fish filet. His fish was very fresh and very garlicky.

I went with the fish and shrimp ceviche. Not my bestest ceviche ever but the fish and shrimp were so fresh!

There were no cruise ships in town the two days we stayed in Mahahual. Most of the people visiting and enjoying the beach during our time were Mexican. In fact the whole time we were there, we only encountered one other American -- a Texan. We also encountered a few Europeans at our hotel and our dinner restaurant.

After lunch, we decided to walk the malecon (boardwalk). The malecon was built after the hurricane, and runs between the shops/restaurants and the beach. It was so nice to walk along the beach like this, and I found myself wishing we had a malecon in Playa.

Some pictures from our malecon walk:











A pre-Dean relic.

Public bathrooms

[Libby]

More Mahahual malecon pictures. I have a million of them!

Here you can see more of the dead mangroves on the left. I've heard that the mangroves are coming back north of Mahahual.

Young palm trees have been planted all along the malecon.

Sign announcing the reforestation project along the boardwalk.








Biking is allowed on the malecon.

Plenty of lighting and trash cans.

John pondering what happened here.

Here at the lighthouse, the malecon ended and so did our walk.