Rando thoughts about last our last trip, etc ...
- June used to be our go-to month for Isla, but the sargassum is really putting a kink in that. None in May when we were there. Not too bad in June most days afaik, and seems ok now.
- Re: Isla not being all that cheap, yeah that ship has sailed. The bang for the buck used to be incredible, but prices steadily crept up and then after the covid restrictions lifted, the prices started skyrocketing & haven't really stopped. Hidalgo used to have lots of lower end places with incredible food for low prices, but now everyone is angling for the 'high end' customer. It also used to be a lot more chill than it is now, but oh well.
- Re: Punta Sur, I ccould stand there for hoursing just watch the waves crash on the rocks at the tip of the point. The power of the water is something to see. We also saw more turtles from up there this year than we've ever seen before. Side note: sucks that the turtle hatchery got closed down/bought. IIRC it's gonna be a hotel or some such.
- hire a boat captain to take you around the island. We always do it. Always worth it. We snorkel a bit, fish some, swim off Punta Sur with the turtles sometimes, etc. Even just riding alone is worth it to me. The last 2 times we've hired the same guy. We met him just walking on PN, trying to find some business. Good guy. I'll try to find his info if anyone needs a captain.
- Re: trusting the locals more than Murcans, absolutely this. 100%. We've been taking our boys to IM since they were babies, and we feel safer with them there than most places in the US, even in Austin. Of course you always wanna be careful, and I tend to be pretty wary with my cash & belongings, esp at the beach ... BUT, in at least 20+ stays of 4 to 10 nights on IM, we've never had a single thing stolen. We leave the hotel (sliding glass doors next to the pool) unlocked all day when we're on PN and really only lock it when we all leave at night. Never had a single thing go missing, even with maintenance, maids, etc coming and going while we're out, etc. We leave money, speakers, water bottles, backpacks etc on our beach chairs with no problems. Leave stuff in the cart when we're out, etc. All good. (yeah we've definitely gotten a lot more relaxed there over the years. )
- Re: the whalesharks. Yep. It's awesome, awesome, awesome. But we haven't been since 3 or 4 years ago when, for the first time for us, it was super crowded with boats. Too crowded imho, for the fish and for the people. I've heard rumblings that they may start trying to regulate it more to keep the crowds sizes down and the people and sharks safe. I can't really argue with that.
- @Wally Pryor, thanks for the rec on the Doc! I'll have to keep that in mind. Getting old sucks.
- Man, the 'indoor' soccer seems to be getting even better there, or maybe we were just lucky and went on the right nights this time. It was like what I would imagine 18U boys club soccer level would be. One of the teams also had a big, fast American kid who was pretty damned good. They were killin it. We missed baseball again, got dammit. Normally they play on Sundays, but this year we were there during the big fishing tournament, and pretty much nothing else happens that day (Sunday).
We always get a cart & go exploring, esp at night. We always find new stuff we've never seen before, which is crazy on an island that size that we've been to so many times. Re: Beach clubs, we always do at least one day at Kin Ha or Castillo de Garrafon. Usually Kin Ha, these days. There's a lot for the kids to do there. We always stay at Ixchel, and everything there is great, but the beach clubs just a offer a little bit different setting and vibe, with some different activities.