Cancun trip report, 02/02-02/09

[rodman]

I will attempt to begin to try to recall a trip 4 of us made, leaving from Milwaukee, Ground hogs day, except the Milwaukee zoo woodchuck died, so we have no clue about when spring will come......thus, off on Funjet to CUN, to our own special trip......
The women of the group work with a lovely seasoned citizen that invested in timeshares some years back, and in Jan of 2007, as was the case this year, she could not use them due to health problems.....enter our group. We took a week off her hands, as she had to pay the $500 maintainence fee anyway, and headed south.....Funjet got us tix, and off to the airport we went....I am Rodney, my bh is Marie, we traveled with Janet and Mark. At the airport, Janet, with her doctors note, got the "hand massage" at the TSA check in, this due to a pacemaker(cannot go through the scanners), that was pretty funny to watch......we have all been stopped on trips, but to see that unnecessary action, well, it was priceless. Poor Janet failed to heed any warnings about checking in "liquids" as she lost her shampoo, conditioner, and some other stuff she had in the carry on! Our flight was on Ryan Air, pretty uneventful, although we were told to get back in our seats as the seatbelt sign was on, just as 2 of us reached the head! Stormtrooper flight attendants! No Toilet for YOU!
It being a Saturday, the first of Feb, arrivals and departures were piling up all over the airport, we just shuffled along, did what we had to do, found the luggage after immigration right away, and then off to customs, seems they have updated the Red light/green light. It used to be on a familiar yellow pole, like we see on the street corners, but not any more! Tech has caught up, you will see! Off past the Timeshare Bandits, but I got the local map/coupon/sightseeing books off to the right, just before the door to freedom! I arranged transit with Entertainment Plus, for $65, to our hotel and back, on the top of the 7 that is the hotel Zone of Cancun. We stayed at the Casa Maya Cancun, 25 year old property.....across the street from the extra large Mexican flag that flies so proudly over the city, except for the week that we were there....not to be seen!
This is the front of the hotel, from the east/southbound lanes of traffic
I will post beach pics later...
Of course, since we arrived in the morning, few rooms were available.....so I did the check in, and we went down to look around a while, we were there about an hour and a half, and after checking at the desk, and not getting any satisfaction about getting into a room, we made sure our bags were secure, and hopped on a bus to go east! We headed out to the Punta Cancun area, as we wanted lunch, and I wanted to check in my scuba referral dives for the week, so, using the ever handy, totally wonderful Cancunmap.com maps, got out to where we wanted to be, had lunch, and it being "election day", we were not served a cervasia at all....had some later, along with other cocktails....seems some of the restaurants got the ok to serve, and some just did it to make a buck, as I had hoped they would! On Perry/Lauras Cancun Map, we had lunch across the street from the La Fiesta store, on the outside of the curve southbound, maybe the Tequila Factory? Not sure, but we were filled up and happy, I ambled over to the Clipper Club, on the lagoon, another timeshare/hotel Best Western, the where I was to complete my Open Water Diver's certification....met with Clemente, he let me know how to contact Octavio, my instructor, and firmed up the details for Monday and Tuesday.....I was good with that, we headed back to the west bound busses and headed back to the Casa Maya, where room assignments got screwy......as they always do on busy check in days....suffice it to say, we got a room that was not satisfactory, and due to 2 pit bull women, who both work in the hospitality business here at home, we got moved to where we thought we would be after sleeping it off the first night....
View looking east, towards the RIU's from our first room, at sunrise.....
View south, at the bare flag pole, before sunrise
I think I have one more to submit here, wait, 2.....once we got to where the women would be happy, (Mark and I just wanted a fridge for the beer, and a blender for the Margies/Daquiris) go the following views of the beach, first a great one, the second, well, he was called Thong Guy by our party.
Cover your eyes if you are scared....
All this, and some excellent eats along the way...more about them later....and this is what I was looking forward to for Monday!
Out on a boat with these 2 guys, Ocatavio, and Jorge....very nice afternoon just north of Punta Cancun with them....doing my first 2 open water dives....
Jorge saw the camera, gave the thumbs up!
Octavio was great, if you are staying in Cancun, and want to dive, go to Nautilus Dive center, at the Clipper Club, Best Western.....very patient, helpful, calm...everything you would hope a divemaster, instructor would be....well, more later.....got some snow to shovel this evening, enough reminiscing.......

Is this what kind of trip report you guys are looking for? I have more, still have a couple hundred more pics to down load to photobucket, they might disconnect me....but oh well, it was Mexico.....Salute!

Sorry to have done this on this thread, will continue at a later date, elsewhere within the "trip report" thread, unless the weasels rip my flesh.....just got off work, and am very tired of the snow in sunny southern Wisconsin this time of year....you could play hockey on my driveway tonight.....Game On!

[Libby]

Thanks for posting your trip report, rodman! I thought it deserved its own thread.

Great pics! I especially love the sunrise and diving/turtle pics!!

[bufante]

Wow...I am scared now.

[redhairgirl1]

This pic is amazing!!!

[Cuff]

Is it just my perspective, or does this guy look about EIGHT feet tall to you?


(Granted, I've had a few brain injuries ya know)

[redhairgirl1]

Originally Posted by Cuff

Is it just my perspective, or does this guy look about EIGHT feet tall to you?


(Granted, I've had a few brain injuries ya know)

Sorry Cuff, the height thing musta went over my head

[John]

Great trip report. Hope to read and see more soon!

Sunrise pic... awesome.

Banana hammock pic... vomit.

[redhed]

Thanx for the report! Luv your pics.......

uhhhh....the thong thing.....what's the white part?? (or shud I ask)

[RonH]

Hey Rodman, if your sick enough to post the thong dude, then ya gotta be well enough to post bikini chick. I hope ya got some good ones

[rodman]

Thong guy had 3-4 of those things, and they were all different colors. We would get up in the a.m., and he was setting up camp by at least 9:00. His wife wore a once peice suit, as a bikini would have been equally as scary as his sack was...so, no, I do not have the pics. He would latch onto the coffee cup, do his shore patrol, yep, the sand and water is still here, and so am I, and he would lounge most of the day, reading....not that we were watching all the time, just when we got up and had coffee and smoothies, or when we made lunch of guacamole and summersausage sandwiches(2 great tastes that go together!)
So, on Monday, I am off to begin my scuba certification, the one turtle pic was cool, and Octavio kept clicking his underwater camera, once I saw what he was doing, I gave it a thumbs up, as that was what I had wanted to see out there, and poof, up comes Tommy the turtle! Way, way, cool!
That afternoon, I saw that turtle twice, once on both dives, saw a barracuda hanging around, a small ray, about 2 feet across, a lobster was put in my hands, and those critters are strong, it blasted away from me like I was nothing!
This next turtle pic is my favorite, and is my desktop background now
Shameless plug again, look for the Nautilus Dive and Training Center at the Cancun Clipper Club...Octavio is great!
Here's me doing the superman rise to the top, part of the requirements for the certification
And at the top
Yes, the water is that blue....still, always, and hopefully forever, and Libby, thanks for moving this, I should have started it on it's own thread, but, duh....not so computer swift all the time
rodney

http://www.cancunscuba.com/index.htm

[rodman]

Tuesday of Dive Certification was an experience, and it was not always a pleasant one, as the book says "some dive experiences will be pleasant, some will not be". We headed out that a.m. with 3 other paying customers, they were diving with Scuba Fred, owner(I guess?) of Nautilus, and Leo, the "videographer". We headed out of the lagoon, past our hotel, my friend Mark was in the room, on the balcony, I stood and waved, but the ladies must have been out shopping already(?) Thong guy was on the beach..
We got out past the RIU, and Dreams Cancun, and the sea was choppy, very rough.....the waves got to at least 10 feet, maybe more...the boat ride was up and down....I don't get seasick, kept watching the horizon....go up, go down.....a decision was made to not go out as far as they planned, lets hit it! No pics of this trip, but the video of the group was cool...I will try to insert some later, but lets get on with this....I came up too soon, ran out of air early, and I thought I was going to die on the surface, yep, even thought about what the dog was going to think when Mama came home without me...but Octavio would not let it happen, "put your face in the water, look down.....use your snorkellllll!.....Well, it took about 8 hours for the boat to find use, actually about 5 of the longest minutes I ever spent....in I went, and seriously thought about calling it a day, until the rest of the gang came up, and one guy had 50 dives under his belt, he was whipped, and kind of scared too!,,,,so off to the next sight! Undersea currents were huge, but in the drift, Octavio and I saw a 5-7 ft nurseshark cruising along, but none of the rest did!
Even with my first dive faux pax, I got certified, as I showed enough to let him know I would be ok in dives that I had a little more control over, and not getting into something too much over my head. So, back to Casa Maya, and get showered up, we are off to Playa with our friends, for their first time in town, via the Playa Express! One of these trips, we are going to stay here, the La Lunata, on 5th, as it just looks too cool to pass up....stop in and look around sometime on your trip down the ave, very neat looking place
We were walking and looking, and it was a Tuesday, a Cruise ship day, so lot's were doing like us, we wound up at Los Tulipanes, at about Calle 15, at the bottom of the hill there....not such a memorable meal,the "computer" kept writing up incorrect orders, and that is why the manager/supervisor was kicking butt on all the servers, could not have been the chef/cook screwing up the orders, no way! That and do not try to substitute anything on a menu, as that does not work well in the kitchens! We ate, got full, and headed back to the express van, left about 10 got to Cancun about 11:20, took the city bus through an election rally......! More later, thanks for your interest, will post more pics once I put them onto Photobucket!
Rodney
This was what was going to happen at home the next day....
15+ inches hit Milwaukee on Feb 6th

[rodman]

We did not overimbibe, much. I was probably the leader in that category, but was always the first one up, so after the venture to Playa, we were off to Isla Mujeres....hike to the bus stop, ride the bus to Puerto Juarez, and pay our $7.00 round trip fee, and wait, so I clicked some pics,heres a boat bringing in "Todays Catch"
Back up a bit at the dock, and the lighthouse tower looks like it might have a restaurant on top....? Anyone?
The ride was pretty smooth, we got a seat on the top deck, in the sun, the breeze, and very little spray or bounce. I would assume most of the readers here have done some sort of boat ride in the Roo, and the water in Cancun Bay is as blue as you could imagine, or hope for!
So, we land on Isla, I have my trusty Can-Do Travel Guide with me! Off to look for Sol golf cart rentals, and lo and behold, they moved since my map was printed, but off we went looking for someone with carts....Hey, lighten up anyone, it's not Laura or Perry's fault if the map is not 100% up to date, stuff happens, we found Cardenas carts, price was right, off we went...but, it was a dog! I think a dog passed us once! FYI, saw some Sol Carts out there, and passed by their new location, but cannot remember which street it is on this far off vacation....someone else will know....we headed south out of downtown to explore, gotta love the Topes when you are on a golf cart for 4! Turned right at the Pirate Mundaca park, and headed back north, looking for the Turtle farm, as Marie and I had been there @ 3 years ago, while on the Dolphin Discovery boat trip......it was pretty neat then, it still is.....these little guys were in under the roof, and swimming like champs! No predators here!
These guys were outside, a lot larger.....
These were outside also, and sooooo cool to see swimming, doing fine, waiting to hit the high seas!
We left there after about a half hour, which is about all you need, and headed north to see......nothing, we were hungry, and headed south to lunch at Playa Tiburon, it was closed, being rebuilt to a very grand scale, so further south to Playa Lancheros, where we met a couple that we had met 4 days earlier at our hotel, they were doing the same thing we were doing that day, touring, and eating and drinking.....! Playa Lancheros was like a tour bus stop that day, except the vehicle of choice was golf cart! No photos here, we had chips and pico de gallo, they were out of guacamole
Did not understand that....they do have an awesome grill/barbecue area/pit, but I question the fuel source....looked like green treated lumber to me...but we were fine, off we went south!
So, fueled with beer and chips, we needed bano's....so here we found some.
At Punta Sur...with the little snack shop and parking lot with vendors...
After about $200 was spent by the women in that parking lot........
we headed north, past the dump, oops, sorry, the Garbage Transfer Station, on the east coast of the island, I was in search of the Villa Las Brisas, as they had responded to a couple of emails about single night stays, and since we did not opt for the stay, I figured a few beers bought by us would pay for the conversation...what a nice place to visit! You need to stop there if you are on a tour of Isla....
rodney

[TAPPY]

Awersome pics and report. Thanks for posting.

[rodman]

On the east coast of Isla is a small B&B, Villa La Bella. Here's their pool area
Also their lobby area, looks inviting to me!
And their sign out front!

Just a little bit more to add, coming later.....

[John]

Hey, your superman ascent while diving looked great. Remember to keep exhaling!!

When I was last on Isla Mujeres, we rented a golf cart and traveled most of the same path you did. It was nice to see things outside of their downtown area. I definitely recommend going south... turtle farm, Playa Tiberon, and Punta Sur. And, yes, when on the carts, warn your backwards facing companions of upcoming topes - they still hurt as much, but at least you know when to expect them!

Thanks for the excellent trip report and photos.

[HAWKEYE]

Great job.
Waiting for more!
Craig.

[lovbuds]

Thanks for the trip report Rodman. Your pictures are great! Especially loved the sunset one and the underwater ones!

[rodman]

So, Tuesday was Scuba cert finish day, then off to Playa, and Weds was the jaunt to Isla, on our return, we we got to the Ultramar just before it left, so the top deck was full, we rode in the hold! Too much air conditioning, but we survived, and caught the bus back home, with a stop on the way at Chedraui in downtown CUN for more AVACADO's! I was a restaurant and hotel cook in a former life, and the 2 ladies along are accomplish cooks, so we ate well, even if we weren't dining out.
Thursday we went into Cancun, to locate some of the very colorful oilcloth that is used all over as tableclothes......tropical in nature, and easily cleanable....we found a fabric store on Tulum, forgot the name, sorry, and lost that page of the Candu Cancun map! It is a mall just north of the McDonalds that is north of the bus station, east side of the street.....the fabric store puts many at home to shame! We bought 6 different patterns, 2-3 meteres each, and for a pretty good price.....off to Mercado 23 then, which is a breath of fresh air after dealing with the hagglers on 5th avenue. The vendors waited for you to come to them, and were oh so polite! This was an after noon trip, did not want to waste morning beach time, so late afternoon came along and we got hungry, and found our way to La Parrilla, on Yaxchilan(?) We ate there a year ago also, and when you see the locals dining in a location, you tend to have some confidence in a place. Yes, I know it is a chain, of sorts, but hey, good food, nice atmosphere, and cold Sol Beer? What's not to like? After dinner, we headed back to the Casa Maya again. Evey night, we would sit on our balcony, and watch the 2 ships from the Captain Hook dinner cruise, "battle" it out, and see the lights, hear the shouts, booms etc....from our vantage, it was entertaining, from Trip Advisor, it sounds like a rip off, but that's another story I can't verify.....so we watched this act every night, and we are out looking off the balcony on Friday, around 1 pm, having lunch(guacamole, and sausage sandwiches) and the ships are out and about! Must be a matinee!
Thong guy was out again that afternoon, lounging....ugh!
After our Friday beach time, we headed south and east, onto the hotel zone, as we wanted to eyeball the Ritz Carlton, and see if we could walk through the place...we did, got in from street level, and didn't get tossed out! Pretty Ritzy kind of place!
On the Ritz beach, looking north
Ritz beach loungers(nice, huh?)
Left there for dinner at Lorito Joes, just a bit south of the Ritz, overlooking the lagoon....ok meal,nothing spectacular, then headed back to the Kulkucan mall, wandered that for a bit before heading home for the night.
Loved the Tequila Factory store!
We arranged for a late check out from our room on Saturday. I booked our flights with Funjet, leaving and returning to Milwaukee, Saturday-Saturday, left here about 6 am, and the next week left CUN at 8:30 p.m, effectively giving us and extra day down there, late check out was $20/hour, but since we paid only the $500 maintenance fee on the timeshare our friend could not use, another $80 for the week was not a deal breaker
Departed from Casa Maya 15 minutes early, booked the transit with Entertainment Plus Brant, and those guys did a great job.....also, I ordered a floral arrangement prior to the trip, it was my wifes birthday that week, and the arrangement came, when we were switching rooms on the 2nd day, but it looked great, and fresh flowers just make a room!
Flight wound up coming in 2 hours late, they got behind early in the day with bad weather elsewhere, so we at at Fridays at the airport, and waited, then when we got on the plane, around 10:00 pm, it started to pour rain, like cats and dogs, and we were out of there, and back to the land of the ice and snow......so, thats my story, and I am sticking to it.....looking forward to warm weather here, and any warm destination, anywhere, anytime....
Rodney

[PlayaLove]

Thanks for sharing your great pictures