Sandos Playacar Mar 2008 Trip Report

[130taKen120]

Awoke and put beach towels on chairs at 7:30 a.m. The lateness of the hour meant our chairs were in the 3rd row back from the beach but we planned to go exploring today so that was OK. We then headed to the buffet for breakfast. Now I realize that there are those among us that are interested in food information, both written and visual, and then again there are those of us who are not – ever. Persons in the first category tend to hang on each descriptive forkful, savoring a cerebral cacophony of culinary sensations. Persons in the second category just want to know where to eat – period. Food is food, sustenance for the day ahead, and why waste time and cyberspace rattling on about it? It was for this reason that I have limited the buffet-blather, but like any decent Trip Reporter, it behooves me to address this with those of you out there that may actually be interested in what you may be eating when you come to the Sandos Playacar Hotel and Resort. (can your detect a “slow picture day”?)

Festival Buffet:



Located near the main check in palapa, the buffet serves 3 meals a day, buffet style. When you enter, most times there is a hostess waiting to seat you at a table, but you can politely excuse yourself from this formality and go directly to the buffet line if you like. In fact, we found this to be the quickest way to obtain our meals, as being seated and waiting for the understaffed wait personnel to come over and offer us a beverage often took a long time and on occasion, never happened at all. We quit letting ourselves be seated by the hostess and went directly for the food. Mmmmm….

Plates are to the extreme left as you approach the buffet, and their fruit choices and salads were very good – our favorite was the pineapple and plain lettuce salad with toppings. As you wound past this counter to the heated line, the breakfast foods included a number of warm dishes, my favorites were the Mexican sausage, mixed vegetables, pico, jalapenos, bacon, baked tomatoes and breakfast potatoes. You could then stand about the center cooking island and get eggs any style, an omelet, French toast or pancakes. Another island had bakery goods, freshly blended fruit drinks, and other sweets. A third island had an assortment of what Midwesterners would call “potluck” type salads and fruit mixes. I usually went for eggs over easy or an omelet, while Mamasita had a hankering’ for the French toast along with a variety of sides from the hot and cold buffet areas. We never went there for lunch as we were usually at the beach or off somewhere on an adventure.

Ola-La:



What we did for lunch while at the Sandos was venture into the Snack Bar, which is named Ol La and is the large restaurant near the pools and beach. No matter if you’d been beach-grunging all morning, as long as you wore a shirt and flip-flops, you could come in to the Snack Bar, grab a plastic plate & plastic silverware from the bar and load up your plate to take back to the beach with you. The Snack Bar featured a salad island, pico, guac, chips, many types of fresh fruit, pizza, hamburgers, assorted chicken seafood or beef featured on different days, and tacos or other traditional Mexican foods made to order. It also featured a self-service drink section, with soft drinks and cervezas available for self-pour. We would usually grab a plate of snacks (the pico was always good) and head back to eat on the beach. One day we sat down and ate there and other families chose to do so as well.

Dinner:

When you arrive seek out the Concierge to make reservations at the 3 formal restaurants during your stay. We ate at all 3, they were all good: Ol La (Mediterranean), Broccolino (Italian) and Los Alcatraces (Mexican). On nights we didn’t have reservations, we went to Festival. Depending on the day, they feature a theme each night: Mexican, seafood, Italian, etc… Also, there is another buffet in the rear of Festival that has Italian style food every night, and once we discovered this, we frequented it due to the quality. Go straight in and continue straight towards the glass doors near the rear and once inside, you can grab a plate, get what you want and sit anywhere – back room or front.

My running commentary to my lovely bride was, “I’m not going to post food pics on our trip report!” You can see how well that idiom was followed… In any case, I teased and pledged to post only one “food pic” – this one:



On to the real TR:

We’d been discussing what adventures we might have while in PDC for months, many such ideas coming from this forum. One thing we wanted to accomplish was an ATV ride. Earlier, we’d paid $5.00 for 30 minutes of Internet access time at the Sandos (no free wireless! Yikes!) and looked up some of the tour operator sites we’d seen back home. The pricing was a bit cheaper than what the Sandos tour representative was offering, yet it was still high. My confidence in using public transportation to travel about the Mayan Riviera was bolstered by two things:

1) People who’d done it and written about it on this forum, and

2) Mapchick Maps with their detailed listing of descriptions, times, prices and advice on using it.


We called them from our hotel (I never got the hang of making local calls so I always dialed 0 and had the front desk do it) and booked the 11 a.m. tour. With reservation in hand, we took the bikes up to Playacar Plaza and the ATM to get some cash, then straight back to the Sandos to head out on our first off tourista-zone adventure: ATV Explorer! Ole! ?

We actually used a taxi to get us to the ATV Explorer site, which is maybe 3-5 lm south of Playacar. This driver charged $10.00 (:-o) but he also knew that we’d be done at 1 p.m. so offered to come back to pick us up. Perfect! 10 minutes later, we were there and paying the fee at the check in palapa:



They recommended a bandana to keep the dust out of your lungs. I had one along in my suitcase, which did me absolutely no good at this point in time. Conveniently enough, ATV Explorer sells them for 50 pesos each, so we buckled under the intense pressure (everyone else had one) and each bought one. BRING YOUR OWN BANDANA:



The had us wait in the waiting area as the previous tour finished:



Then we got to pick our ride – I thought this might be good for my Mamasita:



Then again, there were some better choices:

[130taKen120]

Soon we were off on the trails. A guide leads the group, and one of the first things they do is stop the line and parade you one at a time past the photographer, bandana removed. At the end of the tour you can purchase the pic for $10.00. We chose not to at this time.

The trails are great fun, pretty safe and there are both fast areas and bumpy, curvy slower runs that are a blast to travel through. The bandanas are necessary to keep the dust off your face and out of your lungs – on a dry day, which 15 minutes into our adventure, our day was not. The skies opened up and it poured, which was both beneficial and detrimental: The benefit was that there was no longer any dust. The detriment was that now we were eating mud spattered up by the tires of the ATV in front of you. There was also slim chance of a bandana refund either.

Our first stop was to Cenote Luna for a short walk into the jungle. As we were walking, the man in front of me (here in white) thought that this might be a good time to share with me that of the 14 known snakes in the Ycatan, 12 were poisonous. All of a sudden, every tree root looked suspicious:



On to the cenote safely and then a refreshing swim:



Already soaked, so why not?:



It was fresh, deep (up to 70’), cool and life jackets, snorkels and masks were available. Cenotes are sink holes filled with fresh rainwater runoff, and this one has a very slowly moving current. Our guide explained cenotes and that Cenote Luna eventually mixed with salt water as it emptied underground into the ocean. The swim was refreshing and there were some very small and cool catfish type fish swimming there.

Some very cool plants in the jungle:



We trail rode for a while then headed for an underground cavern. In this one, there was an opening near the entrance where roots and vines from the jungle above dropped down and grew into the cave. There were also stalactites and stalactites and a pool of rainwater. I think one bat flew overhead too. The guide explained that since most of this area of the Yucatan was limestone, the rainwater runoff had eroded away the rock to form both cenotes and caverns over time. The guides did a good job explaining (in English and Spanish) these stops along the way:



Bats?



Back on the ATV’s:



A short ATV ride finished our adventure. Our cabbie, true to his word, came back exactly at 1 p.m. Some of the other ATV’ers tried to hijack him but he held out for us (tipping on the ride out was perhaps a wise investment) yet he did call his dispatcher to call some other taxis out to fetch people.

Once back at the Sandos, we headed out to the beach to retrieve our completely soaked towels. Due to the rain, many chairs were available, and the coolness may have driven some away as well. We found a nice spot and had some beach time:



Looking south:

[130taKen120]

Sandbag chasers:



Cooling off:



It was cool and windy today with white churl in the water. Chatted with a family from Chicago about prices, ATV-ing, food, etc… One of the nice things about the Sandos was being able to chat with many people from many different places:



For entertainment, two birds landed near us and began to fight, or mate, not really sure:



Around 4:30 we headed to our room to get ready for dinner, with reservations looming at Los Alcatraces. The service and food here were great. Mrs. Had fajitas and I had a crusted chicken dish – highly recommended!

OK, I’m caving: Desert pic (it was hers!):



Afterwards we hung out at La Bamba and listened to the music from 2 gal singers – quite good! Try a Mayan Riviera or Blue Scott at La Bamba – quite good. We sat on the plaza while enjoying refreshments outside on a beautiful night:

Reiterating - Beautiful:





On the Plaza:



No siesta today with all the activity so as eyes grew heavy sleep grew ever more attractive! Back to the room only to find…

Kleenex Art!:



Buenos noches!

[raquelle261]

Hahahaahahahahaahahaha...... first "toilet roll art" and now "kleenex art"..... hilarious...!!!

When I stayed at the Gran Porto in January, I had a maid with an OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and kept coming back to find all my toileteries had been gathered up from where ever I had strewn them and they were arranged in the bathroom in perfect descending height order. I thought that was bad enough. But these are brilliant!

[nng88]

fabulous report!!!

thank you....you are a beautiful couple--all the best!

[130taKen120]

Originally Posted by raquelle261

Hahahaahahahahaahahaha...... first "toilet roll art" and now "kleenex art"..... hilarious...!!!

When I stayed at the Gran Porto in January, I had a maid with an OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and kept coming back to find all my toileteries had been gathered up from where ever I had strewn them and they were arranged in the bathroom in perfect descending height order. I thought that was bad enough. But these are brilliant!

This cracked me up too. After all the romantic posts about swans and doves encrusted in "Towel Art", I thought the TP and Kleenex Art was a hoot. Funny about your organizational maid - ours did that too but not necessarily in height ranking order!

[130taKen120]

Originally Posted by nng88

fabulous report!!!

thank you....you are a beautiful couple--all the best!

Hey thanks nng88 - glad to hear you are enjoying it! I'm having just as much fun writing it! Thanks for the commentary about us two as well!

[raquelle261]

Originally Posted by 130taKen120

This cracked me up too. After all the romantic posts about swans and doves encrusted in "Towel Art", I thought the TP and Kleenex Art was a hoot. Funny about your organizational maid - ours did that too but not necessarily in height ranking order!

I've got a pic of it somewhere (never did get round to doing a trip report - oops). I'll dig it out and show it to you when I find it. The ordering was perfect!

[130taKen120]

If Akumal is not on your trip itinerary, it should be, period. If it isn’t, you may be in 1 of 2 categories of tourists: 1) Never heard of it or 2) About to.

Once again, Mapchicks maps was or local tour agent. After Desayuna at the Festival, we taxi’d to the ADO bus station on 5th & Juarez, bought tickets to Akumal for $3.50 apiece and made the bus with maybe 4 minutes to spare. It actually left 3 minutes early by my watch, at 10:17 a.m. Tip: Beach bags are great for the hotel you’re staying at, but to move about, bring a backpack. It can serve as a handy carry-on as well.

During the 45-minute ride south on Highway 307, this small Greyhound-style tour bus stopped at several bus stops to pick up and drop off passengers, much like the collectivos do. We got dropped off on the highway at the footbridge and crossed safely.

Looking south on 307:



No mistaking where we were at;



We walk the .5 km or so from the highway to a gift shop/convenience store near the beach and look about for a bit. Pricey but OK stuff, and here you can get snacks and beverages if you didn’t bring any with you. We look about a bit but decline to purchase anything and head to the Beach instead.

For months leading up to our trip, I had been checking the world famous Lol Ha Beach Cam online almost every day. Mounted on a roof support outside the Lol Ha Restaurant, the camera takes a picture every 10 seconds and posts it to the Internet. I even added it to my iGoogle start page so it would automatically load up a pic each day as I started up Firefox. It’s unreal how much motivation these pictures can provide for a Frozentundra-locked couple eager to make their first trip together to the tropics.

Need your own motivation? Try it yourself!

http://www.locogringo.com/Upload/netcam.jpg

The cam:



Some perspective:



We met a couple from Colorado standing on the beach in the camera’s view shot area. They had just carved a message in the sand and stood there posing for a minute or so. Struck up a conversation with them and they explained that they had just come from the local email station (see Mapchick) and exchanged emails with their daughter who was on the ‘net waiting to do a screen capture of them on the beach cam. This must happen a lot because we saw numerous people doing this while we were there. We had not arranged with anyone back home to do this so we’ll have to settle for this proof instead:



That’s our heart in the sand ?



Next we step up into the Lol Ha Snack Bar, north of the webcam on the beach. We sit at a table facing the ocean – wow what a great view!



Another great view:



The bar area:

[130taKen120]

We order some pico and chips which was great, and some jalapeno poppers and they were OK but not filled with cream cheese like we’re used to back home. Another in gratuitous food pic:



There are no free public restrooms at Akumal. The restrooms are located behind the Lol Ha snack bar and cost .50 cents to use them, unless you are eating at the snack bar or restaurant. In that case, you get a laminated restroom “ticket” to show the restroom attendant when you go. They were actually pretty nice for the area and I used them to change both before and after our next adventure:

We came here for 2 reasons: to see beautiful place that people raved about and that the webcam was daily taunting me with, and snorkeling with the sea turtles. We went to the dive center north of the Lol Ha and should’ve gone to the one right next to it – Akumal Dive Center – as they were cheaper and much nearer to where we eventually camped out and lit off on our snorkeling adventure. The gear, including tube, goggles and flippers, cost $12.00 per, plus another $5.00 for a locker for our valuables. You could also rent life jackets for an additional $5.00 but we chose not to. The locker was interesting – plastic door that seemed like a mere sneeze could blow open. Also, the key was sticky and hard to remove. Confidence not inspired, we placed our valuables in there and headed to the beach.

We parked our valuable-less beach bag by a palm tree in front of the Akumal Dive Center and headed into the water. Masks fit OK and off we went:



Variety of coral and plants:



Some fish:





Brain coral:



After about a half hour we hadn’t seen any sea turtles and were becoming discouraged. We had already been driven out of one area by a tour boat operator (our fault for wandering in the channel) and had seen few fish and other aquatic life so far. It was windy that day but fortunately, Akumal is located on a bay that keeps most of the waves way out from shore. I’ve read that you need to be careful and not get too far out lest you get caught in the riptide and get swept out to sea. We popped heads above water often to make sure we were not the farthest snorkelers out, and then it occurred to us that maybe we ought to follow some of these snorkel tour groups already in the water. Sometimes intelligence comes at the expense of frustration :-o

Finally, the first of three sea turtles appeared!



We swam in for some closer peeks and pics:

[130taKen120]

They can be swift and hard to keep up with, but we caught them lazily cruising around the bay:









This was fantastic and a great highlight of the trip!

Mission accomplished and getting colder, we headed back to the beach to find our beach bag undisturbed. We had about 2 hours before we had to head back so we planted ourselves on the sand, which was considerably finer and more compact than the sand at the Sandos.

Nevertheless, the views were spectacular:







The Akumal Dive Shop is in the rear of this pic:



Time for a siesta!

[130taKen120]

Following our nap, I returned the snorkel gear to the other dive shop and fetched our valuables from the plastic door locker, happy that everything was there.

We walked up past the Akumal Beach Resort just to see what that was like. It looked decent and this is on the list as a potential stop for a couple nights (not much night life in Akumal, I hear). One last view back north along the beach:



Mamasita and I wandered into a small gift stand near the bathrooms behind the Lol Ha and they advertised hair braiding – cost $20.00 for a half braid. This was $10-$15.00 cheaper than in Playa so she got it done with beads to match all swimsuits. Took about a half hour and then we were back up the path towards the highway. About ½ way up the path, we saw the ADO bus waiting for people whop were in front of us and running to catch it. We raised our hands and the driver waited until we caught up. We paid him directly and claimed a seat. As mentioned earlier, this bus run stops at any bus stop where people flag it down. It was about 5 p.m., going home time from work and thus there were lots of people flagging down the busses and collectivos. By about half way back to Playa, our bus was full with people standing in the aisles.

We could’ve been dropped off at the ADO station but for whatever reason, got let off along the highway near the McDonald’s. We walked a block north to Juarez and walked it down to 5th. Here we briefly peeked in some of the shops and vowed to come finish shopping at a time when it was not getting dark. Once at 5th, we investigated a shop called Playa Mart directly across the street from the ADO station. Here we got a few gifts and finally grabbed a taxi to the Sandos.

It was suppertime so we headed to our room to clean up to eat. As we walked back, the Sandos had marketplace night, where select gift and souvenir vendors set up tables along the plaza and fountain area. Their prices were steep and so we just looked at a few things and headed to Festival buffet. Sorry, no food pics tonight…

After supper we decided to head to the theater for a show as we hadn’t seen one yet. The show schedule is posted outside the lobby near the jewelry store. Tonight it was Mexicanos – featuring traditional Mexican dances by brightly costumed dancers. It was good, and as we were tired from the day, we turned in about 10:45 after the show. Another day, and another major trip goal accomplished. Tomorrow we vowed to rest on the beach!

[raquelle261]

Originally Posted by 130taKen120

Awesome pic Ken.... they are gorgeous, turtles, aren't they? Its always been ambition of mine to swim with sea turtles and snorkelling at Akumal is high on my agenda in a couple of weeks!!!