Yep, like rage said, it's not hard to drive there. Both Mrs. Wood (no pics) and I drive every time we go to Akumal/PA/Tulum/cenotes. No incidents at all to date, and it's easier than ever to get around now with google maps. Last summer, we had guests, so we had two packed SUVs with me driving one and my crazy wife (no pics) driving the other. She did let hers run out of gas right on the north side of Tulum though, but that was her fault. Don't tell her I said that. Had to drive all over Tulum to find a gas can and bring her gas. Man, Tulum has really blown up, but it's crazy how hard it was to find a gas can.
I dunno about y'all, but traveling with kids, we've found that one of our first stops needs to be at a grocery store to load up on stuff we can cook/snack on at the condo, sunscreen, pharmaueticals, swim stuff, and other random stuff we forgot to pack. We don't want to have to go out for every single thing, so we go to Chedraui (big HEB/walmart-ish store, when it's open) right after we get settled into the condo. On Isla, the Chedraui is right across from the baseball field. There's also a small, fully-stocked grocer on the square in town, walking distance from Ixchel. There are also Chedrauis in Cancun, PdC, Tulum, among others. You'll have one right across the highway from you in PA. The Chedrauis are also a good place to stock up on pesos. They usually have ATMs for at least 2 or 3 different banks. Oh, and their bakery is awesome.