Tulum 0.2
On our second full day, we went to Akumal beach and it was just steps from our house. Akumal means sea turtle and the beach is appropriately named because that bay is a sea turtle sanctuary. I spent very little time on the actual beach and all of the time snorkeling around looking for sea creatures. We got very lucky and found two sea turtles and a species of ray in addition to a lot of cool fish. We were really happy we brought our own snorkels so we didn't have to deal with renting them from a stand. I would recommend this beach if you like snorkeling but do not want to go out on a snorkel tour. You can easily go out on your own for as long as you want a see a lot of cool things. Most of the beach was dominated by hotels but as long as you keep your things in front of the yellow flags it is okay. Snorkeling with sea turtles was a highlight of the trip definitely, make sure you do this!
The sun is extremely strong, it did not seem to matter how much sunscreen or what SPF you put on, you got fried either way. I did not get the tan I was hoping for because I got such a weird sunburn on the first day at Playa Paraiso that I had to wear a shirt the rest of the trip. Floating on the water looking for sea creatures is an easy way to get very burned. My advice is to wear the highest SPF, reapply and limit the amount of time you spend in the direct sun to avoid my awful sunburn.
After snorkeling, we went to Tulum for a happy hour lunch/dinner combo at Mateo's. One of the best parts about Mateo's is they have free parking and a hilarious iguana that the staff feed peppers. They also have a 2 x 1 happy hour. We had delicious cucumber margaritas and fajitas, fish tacos, and guac. Mateo's is one of the only places in Tulum that has draft beer. We liked Mateo's so much we went twice!
The next day we drove to Tulum to snorkel at the Gran Cenote! My plan for visiting the Gran Cenote was to get there right when it opened at 8:10 because they start busing in large tour groups later in the morning. We probably got there a little after 9:00 and luckily had a good chunk of time to spend exploring before it got way too crowded. The cenote was really cool. The water was not salty which I loved! There were bats flying all over the caves which I was really excited about, I had never seen them up close before! I had read since Gran Cenote is the biggest and most popular cenote, meaning you won't see many animals but we did see a few fish and some turtles swimming around. Being underwater made us wish we knew how to scuba dive. It would have been really cool to be able to go down and explore the caves more.
Important things to note about visiting: the entrance fee was around 150 pesos, it is cash only and they do not give change! When you rent a locker to store your things or snorkels you need to give them your license to hold on to. We rented a locker for 30 pesos, cash only, no change given.
After the Gran Cenote, we went back to Playa Paraiso to lay out near the Mezzanine Hotel until it was time for margarita happy hour and pad thai! I recommend the refreshing cucumber margaritas and the veggie pad thai with tofu. I also tried the drunken noodles which are usually my favorite but the pad thai was much better here.
For dinner, we ventured into the pueblo or downtown Tulum. We picked out a pizza place we wanted to go to through Trip Advisor. We entered the address in our GPS and drove through a vibrant and lively downtown and then all of a sudden it got dark and sketchy really fast. We missed the turn we were supposed to take and the GPS wanted us to drive down an unpaved dark road which did not look very safe. We decided to ditch this pizza place and drive back into the populated part of the downtown. Once we got back to what seemed the main drag it was brighter and felt much safer. I wish we would have gone during the day because this area seemed to be a better representation of how Mexico really looks and feels. We ended up eating at another pizza place because it looked nice and afterward we poked around some of the little shops.
The sun is extremely strong, it did not seem to matter how much sunscreen or what SPF you put on, you got fried either way. I did not get the tan I was hoping for because I got such a weird sunburn on the first day at Playa Paraiso that I had to wear a shirt the rest of the trip. Floating on the water looking for sea creatures is an easy way to get very burned. My advice is to wear the highest SPF, reapply and limit the amount of time you spend in the direct sun to avoid my awful sunburn.
Important things to note about visiting: the entrance fee was around 150 pesos, it is cash only and they do not give change! When you rent a locker to store your things or snorkels you need to give them your license to hold on to. We rented a locker for 30 pesos, cash only, no change given.
After the Gran Cenote, we went back to Playa Paraiso to lay out near the Mezzanine Hotel until it was time for margarita happy hour and pad thai! I recommend the refreshing cucumber margaritas and the veggie pad thai with tofu. I also tried the drunken noodles which are usually my favorite but the pad thai was much better here.
For dinner, we ventured into the pueblo or downtown Tulum. We picked out a pizza place we wanted to go to through Trip Advisor. We entered the address in our GPS and drove through a vibrant and lively downtown and then all of a sudden it got dark and sketchy really fast. We missed the turn we were supposed to take and the GPS wanted us to drive down an unpaved dark road which did not look very safe. We decided to ditch this pizza place and drive back into the populated part of the downtown. Once we got back to what seemed the main drag it was brighter and felt much safer. I wish we would have gone during the day because this area seemed to be a better representation of how Mexico really looks and feels. We ended up eating at another pizza place because it looked nice and afterward we poked around some of the little shops.
Tulum 0.3 coming soon!
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