February 1 - 13, 2016
Sail to Xcalac was easy and we stayed there only overnight. Not much around here...Could not check in Mexico because there are no any authorities except of capitania, we just got a letter from the port authority that we were passing by.
Bahia del Espiritu Santo - came in very late, in panic were looking for the cut in the reefs, but luckily figured out. Seas were kind of high, so we could not go fast, but we made it right before nightfall and anchored in the darkness at the Owen Island. Next day was very long, and rolly sail to Punta Allen.
Bahia de la Ascencuion, Punta Allen - stayed here for 12 days, waiting for the northerlies calm down. We were very glad to discover this hidden gem not fully populated by the tourists. This settlement is based on the "farming" lobsters, and known for the natural preservation park of mangroves. Seems that this settlement was before a mayan's fishing village, but since it became a nacional preserve, almost every day a lot of tourists come here by lanchas or jeeps (very bad road!) to explore nature. However, at night it gets very quiet when all tourists leave. There are couple hotels for tourists fishermen (the best is Fisherman's lodge - very good wifi) and a campground for the backpackers, couple mini grocery stores and a veggie/fruits. One can buy fresh chicken and other meets on Saturdays! And, there is a bakery in town in the blue building without a sign. We met interesting people here, like Piter (French Canadian) with his wife working at Serena's hotel - he makes very good coffee. Surprisingly enough (for such a tiny settlement), there is another coffee place which is open from 1pm - 2pm? at the days when tourists show up. We met the owner Alina from Mexico City, very young girl who exchanged busy and energetic life of the huge city on the sleepy passing time in Punta Allen, which most of the people even don't know this place exists.
Food was kind of cheap there, especially at Lucy's Economical Comida - for $0.65 (there is no any ATM in the place, so we had some change from previous Mexico trips) we got two lobster soups, rice, tortiallas and juces!
While staying in Punta Allen, we took a day trip to Tulum - to get money at ATM, visit Mayan ruins and be in civilized world for a day. We took a public lancha (just 1 hour) via lagoon from Punta Allen to Tulum, then hitchhiked, taxi, etc. to town. The ruins were not so much impressive to us, since we have been already to Tical. On the way back we had to wait for the lancha to pick us up for about 2 hours, this time we spent sitting in the mangroves, drinking and talking with other passengers.
We saw a crocodile on the way back to Punta Allen!
February 14th - Punta Allen to Cozumel, Mexico
Finally we made it out from Punta Allen and successfully arrived in Cozumel. The sail was uncomfortable due to the big broken waves, but we made it in a good time and finally, we are back to civilization.
Stayed 2 nights on the anchor, near the ferry dock - very uncomfortable, rolly. There are no any suitable places to park your dinghy - while parking on the beach need to walk through the corrals. But it's nice to be right in the heart of the island. For better protection we moved to the newly built marina - Marina Afunatur, near the Marina Colleta. The entrance to the marina is kind of scary, but a local boat helped us in. We were only the third boat at the big marina, and there are no running water in restrooms and showers. To get to downtown need a car or the taxi (which is kind of expensive - $10 both ways).
Cozumel is not the same as we remember it from 15 years ago! Now it's a tourist attraction with huge all-inclusive resorts and very expensive chain restaurants. The ferry running every 30 min from/to Playa del Karmen and taxis are waiting for arrivals to take them snorkling, diving and drinking tours.
The first day in Cozumel we spent just on checking in: started in Capitania, who sent us to Immigration (too guys from there picked us up on their truck), then a short ride to Airport to put a stamp in customs. The next step, still in Airport, was checkup at the agriculture window. These guys were very serious and followed protocol: we had to take an official to our boat to check all our provision (especially, that we came from Guatemala). Poor girl got wet while helping us to drag a dinghy to the water, then couple waves splashed, then, we don't have a stair to get on our boat (it requires some physical strength). All our "fresh" stuff was ok, because we shopped for it already in Mexico, in Punta Allen, and the girl had a story to tell her friends after the trip to the anchored boat!
The next step was a visit to the hospital and sign off from the doctor that we are ok and not having weird symptoms. We did that too... then back to Capitania, where we got a copy of the document with all the signs and stamps. Uhhh, what a day we had! But, we visit almost all the parts of Cozumel, that was very helpful.
I enjoyed a great grocery shopping in Mega and Chedraui: such abundance of yogurts, breads, poltry, and all! One of the days we rented a jeep, for free, - that was a deal for attending the sail pitch of the "vacation ownership" in one of the grand resorts. How much our free time of 4 hours costs? Not much, just renting a jeep for 24 hours. It was kind of fun to listen and talk with the salespeople, Kevin made everybody laugh... Next day we went to the movie, that was fun.
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