Playa del Carmen, Cozumel Island and Akumal
Taking a walk down 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen was an amazing feeling. There was music, people were sitting together, laughing and there were even some people dancing. After all the lockdowns and separation that 2020 brought, it was an amazing feeling to see people smiling and back together again.
On that first night in Playa del Carmen, we had planned to head straight back to our hostel after arriving at the bus station. We were, however, both quite hungry, so we nervously went into town when it was dark. We were so pleased that we did because it was so nice to see everyone around us. It really put our minds at ease after some of the news stories we had seen about the region. The whole of 5th avenue was buzzing with the incredible atmosphere you only experience on holiday. Nevertheless, we were so exhausted after our trip that we both fell asleep the second we got into our hostel.
The next day we woke up and the sun was shining through the side of our curtains. It was quite a bizarre feeling; we had left Germany when it was freezing cold in our big puffer coats and now it was 28 degrees with glorious sunshine. That is an amazing thing about Mexico! We headed out for some breakfast and on the way threw the quickest glance at a seemingly empty stand offering snorkelling tours. Two guides suddenly appeared out of nowhere fully equipped with leaflets and tickets. Where did they come from? Did they read our minds?
At that point, we just wanted to get some ideas together of what we could do for the next few days in Playa del Carmen; we do a lot of planning online before we go to places but sometimes the better deals and the coolest ideas come from the people who run tourist stands. We asked them about diving as this is something we had read a lot about online but unfortunately, they only had snorkelling tours on offer around Playa del Carmen, so he gave us both a fist pump (This seems to be the cool way to great people in a post-pandemic world, right?) and let us go on our way.
We headed out for breakfast and ordered some Chilaquiles an omelet, and a banana milkshake. It was a large order, but what are you gonna do? This was the first day of our trip and, for that, we needed a good breakfast. We’d never had Chilaquiles before and we were quite lost about what to do with the Tortillas we got alongside our food. We weren’t sure if it was a filling or a dipping situation… so we had a look around and luckily there were some local people filling them, not dipping them, so we took their lead. The food there was so amazing, we got the mixed Chilaquiles which was a mix of different meats in a herby and spicy red sauce. Usually, we don’t eat meat, but when we are travelling, we do allow ourselves to try local food, we are both big foodies and food makes up a lot (maybe most) of what we talk about, and these Chilaquiles were delicious!
After that, we wanted to explore Playa del Carmen a little more and go to the beach, so we headed back to our hostel to grab our swimming stuff. Whilst we were there, we headed up to the diving school where we were staying to get some prices and the school offered us a free basic diving lesson in the 3m deep pool at our hostel. Emily had never been diving before, so this sounded like a great way to learn some skills before we booked ourselves onto a proper diving tour. We relaxed on the beach for a while, swam in the glistening blue, Caribbean Sea, before taking the diving lesson in the afternoon. Everything felt so surreal. It was so easy to do these amazing things that we had both dreamt about for years! Naturally, after the lesson, we booked the next available diving tour to Cozumel Island. Cozumel is just off the coast of Playa del Carmen and is world-renowned for having amazing coral reefs.
The 6 am start for the diving tour came far too quickly. We were both so sleepy but nonetheless incredibly excited to experience diving on some amazing coral reefs. We also felt confident with what we had learned in the pool the day before. The diving school was amazing and taught us what to do in certain scenarios like if your oxygen tank fails and how you can take oxygen from your ‘buddy’ in the water. There was also some more simple stuff like what happens if your regulator (the mouthpiece that you breathe through) gets filled with water. Learning that made Emily feel a lot better because the WORST thing about snorkelling is when you get water in your snorkel when the waves are choppy! The tour itself was an incredible day with two really cool dives, we both saw a shark, a pufferfish, and loads of other amazing things. Definitely check out Diving in Cozumel if you have time in Playa del Carmen. After the diving tour ended, we got dropped back at Cozumel and we decided not to take the ferry back with the diving school but to stay on Cozumel for a while and explore the island itself.
The island is a beautiful place, there is tourism on the island, but as seems to be common in this region of Mexico, the tourism somehow compliments the local area without overpowering it. There is a pretty little square close to the beach at Cozumel where we sat and ate some pastries we bought at a local bakery. Cards on the table though, you have to watch out for the birds, they are so small and cute but if you feed one you have to feed their 10,000 little chirping friends too. Luckily the lunch on the diving trip was pretty good so we didn’t mind sharing too much. We also explored the markets on Cozumel, watched the most beautiful sunset and ended the evening with a large Margarita.
The way home from Cozumel was maybe the most exciting bit though. The ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen leaves every hour, but two different companies run the service. On the way back we booked onto the last ferry which was the Ultramar ferry. It was slightly more expensive, and we initially found that a little annoying before we got on the boat. Then once we sat down, we noticed two men picked up some instruments and headed over to the stage. They started playing guitar and singing and they were so amazing! The music was perfect for an international audience, with songs that everybody had heard before like Danza Kuduro. We absolutely loved it, we were singing along and dancing, and that was just on the ferry?! Admittedly, it is possible that the Margaritas lifted the mood, but the atmosphere was so carefree and happy anyway!
The following morning was another early start to head over to somewhere extra special. We had both read a lot about the next spot and we were unbelievably excited to go there. The destination was Akumal, which is a Maya word and literally translates to Turtle Nest. That’s right, finally time to see some turtles!!!
Learn More: Check our Guide to Akumal Beach
After a quick “cost analysis” (basically just seeing how much our little travel budget can stretch too), we decided to take a colectivo instead of a taxi to Akumal. The colectivo will cost you 40 pesos (less than €2) per person from Playa del Carmen to Akumal. The taxi is around €20 (450 Pesos), which is still a fair price considering the distance. The colectivos are a great way to get around and can be seen as a kind of public taxi. You tell the driver where you want to be dropped off along the way and they will drop you there. You can also flag them down when you see them on the road, just like you would a taxi.
We set out in search for the Colectivo in Playa del Carmen with a fair amount of confidence. We had read the same pick-up point in three different travel blogs so when we headed over there and saw a grand total of 0 Colectivos for 15 minutes we were quite confused. Luckily Emily’s tiny bit of Español meant that she could go and ask a few local people (who, for the most part also seemed quite confused) where to find the Colectivos. Eventually we found the stand. The Colectivos depart from Playa del Carmen so there is a station where all the Colectivos come into and leave from. This makes it much easier to find. (We will mark the ACTUAL spot on the one below) The colectivo that goes to Akumal also goes past some great cenotes and goes all the way to Tulum so is a great budget way to travel around.
The extra detour did give us a better idea of Playa del Carmen though which is always helpful. One thing that we have both noticed about Mexico is how easy it is to navigate around, the streets are clearly numbered in a logical way, people from Mexico must feel so confused when they come to Europe with our completely random approach to street naming.
The colectivo was very small and very warm. It was possibly not the most covid safe way to travel. That being said, everybody does wear face masks and you get a squirt of hand gel if you get on at the colectivo station. After a few minutes in the rather sweaty colectivo, the driver called out Akumal and we hopped off. Something quite normal for the colectivos is that you will get dropped off right on the side of the highway. In our case, the other side of the highway from where we wanted to be. At some points, the road is much quieter than others. You quite often see locals and some brave tourists crossing over the highway, but, usually there is some kind of footbridge to get you over safely. Always look out for that if you find yourself on the side of a Mexican highway!
We walked over the bridge and as we came to the other side, the landscape changed dramatically. We felt as if we had stumbled across paradise. You walk down a small path towards the beach, sheltered by beautifully maintained green trees. Eventually, you reach the little office where you have to pay an entrance fee to enter the beach. This is because Akumal beach is a nature reserve. In this way, there are a few things that you can’t do as a tourist: You can’t wear normal sunscreen in the water, you can only go into the reserve if you are one of the first few there as a visitor and you can’t swim or snorkel in certain areas without a guide.
Initially, we thought this was a sneaky way to get people to book more snorkelling tours. We reluctantly booked on a snorkelling tour anyway though, because we desperately wanted to see the turtles, but these guides are doing fantastic work! They heavily stress the importance of swimming in the water lying horizontally and not vertically so you do not accidentally kick the seagrass beneath you. This seagrass is what the turtles eat, and therefore, it would be catastrophic for the ecosystem if it got destroyed. They also insist that everybody wear a lifejacket on a snorkelling tour. This is another measure that stops you from being tempted to step down onto the wildlife below. The other reason to take a guide is that the guides know the area so much better. Our guide found the turtles very quickly and pointed out dangers in the water like sea urchins and even stingrays. Quite glad we didn’t accidentally stumble across or on a stingray…
Swimming alongside the turtles was an incredibly magical feeling. Watching them munch on the seagrass below was possibly the sweetest thing in the world. We noticed a Stingray in the water because of a cloud of sand that it produced. We got just close enough to take a good look! After an hour of snorkelling, we headed back to the beach and enjoyed the sunshine, white sand, beautiful blue Caribbean Sea, and had some food near the beach.
Our day in Akumal was truly stunning. The main takeaway for us was how brilliant it is that local people are taking such a passionate position in protecting their wildlife. Akumal and other regions across the coastline are very financially dependent on tourism. It is genuinely incredible that they choose to protect their wildlife instead of exploiting it for more profit. The protective measures like limits on snorkelling in certain areas without guide supervision help to keep tourism in this area sustainable, and make it a better experience for tourists at the same time.
