Isla Update:
We took the whole family to Isla the first week of June for a little graduation trip. Used USA Charters from the airport to the ferry. Ciro's delivered the six person golf cart to the house. Loaded up at the grocery store.
The exchange rate at the place at the Ferry was $18.40. Most of the restaurants in town were doing $18.00.
Stayed at a house down south, behind the Borracho Burro Cantina, which is just north of The Joint. Great house. Plenty of AC. Great view. Pool.
Activities:
The kids did the Dolphin Discovery thing. The cost of the picture package was criminal but my wife can't resist pictures.
We did a snorkel tour the next day. Everyone enjoyed it despite the high winds. It included a trip to the underwater museum which I thought was overrated. Everything is covered with algae and moss at this point. I don't believe it was worth the long drive out there and I would pass on doing underwater museum in the future. Afterwards, the Captain stops at "Tiburon Beach" were you hangout while they cook you a lunch on the grill and you can get in the holding pen with a Nurse Shark and take a picture with it. Food wasn't great but it was something. We ended up just catching a taxi back to the house instead of riding in the boat all the way to the marina.
One day we did "Underwater Wing Diving" which ended up being really cool. If you are not familiar, google Underwater Wing Diving Isla Mujeres and check out the videos. You have to have good arm strength to do it. The older kids really liked it. The 12 year old girl didn't because she couldn't get enough down angle on the wings. Really cool experience and they had a Go Pro video to film you. They took us to Playa Norte afterwards and we drank while they made ceviche and guacamole.
Last day we grabbed a day bed at Playa Norte for $25 and relaxed. (Park by North Garden and walk towards the beach). A little less crowded than down there by Ixchel.
Food & Drink:
Javi's Cantina - always solid. Just so hot in that courtyard.
Bastos - food is good as usual but man their neighborhood is even worse than I remember. Nasty standing water in the street (it hadn't rained) and a guy was cleaning some smelly fish about three houses down. It reeked.
Cafe Mogagua - really good breakfast and coffee spot by Javi's. Hadn't been here before. Would go back.
Mango Cafe - we went twice for Coconut french toast.
Oscar's - we stopped there on our first day as we waited to check into the house. It was average.
Coco - got stuck here because it was open before one of our excursions and a lot of places weren't open yet. It wasn't good.
Pizza Mikes - kids wanted take home pizza after the wing diving and we grabbed Pizza Mikes. Was decent enough. Good flavor and wasn't overly greasy.
De Nucci's - very fancy Italian restaurant that opened up 3 yrs ago. I wasn't planning on going there but since it was close to our house and we didn't want to drive all the way into town, we ended up making reservations one night. I gotta say I was pretty damn good food. Definitely not Isla prices. They had a wine list with stuff other than Mexican wine. Really nice bathrooms. Owner came by and chatted. Probably the most complete service we have had from a waiter while on the island.
Samura - we had picked this place out for our last night out. Beautiful restaurant with this huge tree in the middle with a bunch of lanterns. Check out the pictures online. DJ playing music. Asian menu. Again, American prices. The food we ordered was pretty good. Nothing earth shattering on the sushi menu but it was fine. Had a decent cocktail menu.
La Bella - still the best Pina Colada on the island.
The Joint - grabbed some frozen mojitos to go.
Borracho Burro - I was not familiar with this place previously but we had a few drinks there since we could walk there. Outdoor cantina with a stage and a live band playing. Frozen drinks were good. They used real fruit and not a bunch of mix. Worth the stop if you are driving around.