Bahia Principe is one of the best resort chains for tourism..good pick!

 

Miami > Belize City, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Cayman

 

Sounds like a great cruise Deane..

 

Thanks. Royal Carib, should be a great time.

 

Welcome back Ian, thanks for sharing the pics. Looks like you had great weather there.

 

Wow.. beautiful pics

 

Welcome back Ian!

The pictures look great, thanks for sharing!

 

I was there also a few years ago; Tulum, Xel-ha, etc.. My wife and I had a lot of fun. Going on a 2-week cruise in the southern Carribean in 3 weeks, we can hardly wait...

Nice pics...

 

Absolutely great pics Ian, you definitely have the touch with your camera. Great fun hanging out with the two of you down there.

I also agree that the Mayan Riviera is a great place to go and the Bahia Principe makes a great home base to tour from. There is so much to see and do in the area.
Lots of fun just relaxing at the resort, or touring any of the three Mayan Ruins in the area. Besides the Tulum and Chichen Itza Ruins there is the Coba Ruins also.
Balzz at the Coba Ruins you can still climb the Pyramids which happen to be the tallest of the three.

We discovered another great snorkelling site after Ian and Pat left. It is at Akumal Bay, this bay is a short Collectivo ride from our resort and is totally open to the public, except when the Sea turtles are depositing their eggs in the Spring. It is protected from the strong winds and the entrance to the bay is surrounded by the beautifal coral reefs. Karen and I spent a couple of days snorkelling there. This place is noted for the large sea turtles that call this place home, and besides swimming with these neat creatures there are lots of beautiful fish, coral, squid and of course huge Barracudas. I knew whenever Karen would come across a huge Cuda by the screams coming from her direction .
Not far from this Bay is a another beautiful spot for snorkelling that is called Yal-ku Lagoon, it is a huge Lagoon that is full of water creatures and is still somewhat unknown to a lot of people, so it is not as commercial as some spots.

We booked a charter and did some fishing aboard a 35' Luhrs Sports fishing boat with another couple that came down to the MR to join us for the second week. It was a lot of fun although we went out in fairly rough seas. We were hoping to get into marlin or sails but only managed a Barracuda a few real good hits and then we stopped to bottom fish where we filled the box with Yellowtail Tuna. So no biggies but a great day.

We have never encountered any problems with the locals of the Mayan Riviera, they are extremely friendly. We always felt safe while touring the area. We did find it best to ask around and travel by Colectivos to different areas rather than organized tours.

We are considering three weeks vacation next year in the area.
Lots more to see and do. The interesting thing about the resort we stayed at is the majority of people there were Canadians.
Oh, and by the way there is lots of eye-candy to distract you, no matter where you go down there Soooo sweet . For people that like their Nightlife there is a Disco on the site and lots of Clubs at Playa Del Carmen which is not too far away.

I will post a few pictures once I get them downloaded later in the week. I don't have to post too many though, since Ian did such a fantastic job with his slide show.

Wayne

 

I was rockin out to Bon Jovi and Whitesnake at that discotheque couple weeks before you got there.

Mmmmmm...yellowtail tuna...

 

Wow, that's weird that they still allow that at Coba - I thought that pyramid was far more trecherous with the uneven steps. Didn't stop me though.

 

I was surprised also that it is still allowed. Our friends that came for the second week climbed to the top at Coba Ruins. I guess they will continue allowing it until people die from the falls as they did at Chichen Itza.
I just looked at the crumbling steps of these pyramids and there is no way I would climb them .

 

Great pics - looked very familiar as we were in the same area from Jan 27-Feb 10. I kept expecting to see us in the background of one of your Xel-ha or Chichen-Itza shots. We stayed at the new Grand Gala Esmeralda just north of Playa del Carmen.

We did Xel-ha one day too, but went to Excaret the second week and actually enjoyed it more. The underground river was very cool and there was more to do other than just snorkelling.

Chichen-Itza was fantastic. We also went to Coba - it's very different (about 500 years older, pure Mayan) and they still let you climb the large pyramid. Between the two sites we probably preferred Chichen-Itza.

I do plan on throwing up a couple of pics at some point - I promised Shane and Deane that I would. I just have to find the time to pick out a few and resize them - we took about 1,100 pics between two cameras.

 

Nice! Costa Maya and Chichen Itza pics brought back a lot of good memories, I cant wait to go back. Thanks for the pics!


*edit* I just read above that they dont let you climb El Castillo at Chichen Itza anymore?!?!?! WTF is that about? I was there in 97, the entire site is amazing and the climb was the best part. Very steep, we made it up without using the safety chain and I figured several people werent as lucky, but I cant believe they stopped allowing it. Should be one of those "climb at your own risk" agreements.