17th Oct 2016
We wander through the streets of Playa trying to remember places we visited four years ago. Some things are the same, but there are a lot of new buildings and shops. Essentials done – laundry dropped off, Starbucks visited and bus tickets for tomorrow bought. Time to head off to Akumal remembering how, last time our hotel owner had told us to go there and not to come back unless we had been swimming with the turtles.
The collectivos leave regularly once they are full and within five minutes we were on our way speeding down the main Cancun to Tulum Road. Our stop is under a walkway over the main road seemingly in the middle of nowhere, except for the stream of people heading off towards the coast. Just as we remembered but a lot busier as there must be nearly a thousand others spread around the picturesque sandy bay. Apparently in high season they have around 4,000 visitors a day!
We decide to walk around the headland and soon were the only people with two lizards and an abandoned boat for company. Bliss. However we have come here to swim with turtles so back to the throng and find snorkelling gear which does not come with a local guide. We haggle a price as we only want an hour’s hire and not all day. My fear is that with the increase tourists we may not see any turtles but we head out to see what we can find. Dave with his fancy waterproof housing for his compact camera and me with a phone also in a waterproof pouch so nothing of value was left unattended on the beach.
By heading towards groups of snorkelers, we spot our first turtle which is so majestic grazing on the seabed and slowly swimming to the surface every few minutes for a second before returning to the sea bed. Being frustrated by a selfie stick with a waterproof camera being stuck in front of our shot we moved on to find our own turtle. We were surprised at how easy they were to spot, we are a month later than our previous visit so heading more into peak season.
An extra spot was a sole stingray swimming on the sea bed which was unexpected. After an hour of mooching around the shallow waters of the bay we decided to head back in before we got sunburnt. On the swim back I spotted six “bonus” turtles without even trying. Even better than our previous visit, so buzzing we had to have a celebratory beer.
The only dampener on the day was just how commercialised it was becoming, as was also voiced by a tipsy American lady on a table close by. On the collectivo back to town a chap in front of us was studying the video he had of himself diving down and touching a turtle, a forbidden act. So selfish and soon everyone will suffer just because people cannot be trusted to obey a few simple rules. Soon either the beach will be closed or people will only be allowed to swim out into the bay with a guide.
We have been looking forward to a rodizio for a while but struggle to find the place we had enjoyed on our last trip to Playa (a name or address would have helped rather than a vague memory of the place!). A rodizio is a Brazillian style of restaurant where meat is the speciality. You have a table with a peg that is half red and half green. With the green side up, they keep bringing out barbecued meat until finally you admit defeat and turn the peg red side up. We did finally find the place after one false start where we left another restaurant after refusing to be hoodwinked into purchasing a bottle of merlot at Mx900 or Mx3,500, as they had sold out of the one we wanted at Mx650. No thank you!