[kylake]

I believe it was Sophie and I that spoke of this island. It is about 3 to 4 hours from Cancun airport and very rustic with mostly Italians and Mexicans inhabiting. This is a promotional video but thought you might like it.
http://www.grantbaldwinvideography.com/2013/05/06/130-seconds-of-isla-holbox/

 

[MoFromMonroe]

My husband and I went there about 4 years ago.  We both agree it was the worst vacation we ever had.  We went with 2 other couples and we all decided to leave after 4 nights and go back to Cancun.  We were there in early Dec. and got eaten alive by mosquitoes morning noon and night.  This was the hotel I mentioned in another post.  We had a cute little dog that was with us the whole time.  As we were leaving the Italian owner of the hotel kicked to poor little dog up in the air to get him off the property. Will tell you all some more stories and try to post a few pictures later.  
 

[rootswoman]

Well I dont think this place will be on my bucket list - if you left there for Cancun...
but Id go back to Isla Mujeres in a heartbeat!  



 

[MoFromMonroe]

So a little background before the report…
Went to Couples Negril for the first time in Dec 2006.  Repeated the trip twice in 2008 and once in 2009.  I lived on the Couples message board and someone talked about Isla Holbox being so much like  Negril but cheaper.  I started researching and although Bob was a hard sell I got two other couples on board. There were no bad reviews on TA. We booked Casa Las Tortuga which was a small hotel on the beach.  We flew into Cancun, took a van about 1-1/2 hrs to the ferry, about ½ hr on the ferry and someone on a golf cart picked us up from the ferry and took us to the hotel. Roads are unpaved and no cars at all. Our room was the best the hotel had to offer.  It had a grass roof, two story with kitchen downstairs and bed room and bathroom upstairs. It was very dark but looked nice.  Beach looked lovely.  Calm waters like Negril.  It was a small fishing village/island.  You could walk anywhere day or night. It was very safe.  We found that the people did not seem happy to have us there.  They appeared to be doing us a favor to wait on us in the restaurants.  If you went in a store they totally ignored you.
 
Because our room had the grass roof the mosquitoes came in all night long.  Our feet hung about 2 feet off the end of the bed and we were kept awake all night getting eaten alive.  We were glad when morning came.  Up early and out to the small restaurant for breakfast.  The mosquitoes continued to bite.  Once the sun came up it got better so we went to the beautiful beach right in front of us.  Water looked lovely but the fishermen came in around 9-10AM and cleaned their fish right in front of the hotel in the shallow water.  Fish carcasses came floating past us as we were in the water. The water smelled so bad we couldn’t go in it and there was no pool (there is now).
 
We all went for a walk in town to get lunch and after were walking the beach back to our hotel.  About 3 PM we were dive bombed by mosquitoes again and forced us to run for our rooms.  Dinner time was ok and would not get bad until later evening.  At this point we were so bit up and nothing was working to keep them from biting.
 
We took a day trip by fishing boat to a few different islands.  This was very interesting.  One island had nesting pelicans, frigate birds, etc.  The next one was pelican island which was really nice until we stepped on the wood of the lookout tower and again got attacked by millions of mosquitoes.  We all ran for the boat. Are you getting the theme of this trip!
 
After 4 nights of no sleep, getting eaten alive we decided to give it up and went to Cancun to a cheap all inclusive where we were thrilled to have a nice shower, pool, get the bug spray off us and eat and drink bad AI food and alcohol for our last 3 nights. Oh and be able to flush the toilet paper instead of putting it in the trash can!
 
This island is known for swimming with the whale sharks.  So people come for a night or two to do this and then get the hell out.  We were not there at that time of the year so it was quiet.  Not many tourists. 
 
If I have anything good to say it would be that we ate really fresh fish but it was not served with any sides no matter where you went.  It got rather boring.  The islanders were not friendly.  The owners of our hotel never once acknowledged any of us and the worst was when he kicked “our” dog up in the air as we left. 
 
We swore we would never go to Mexico again.  However after the reports by RW and Booger  I have a bit of an interest in Isla Mujeres.  Sounds similar but better. Not sure I will ever get Bob to give it a try.  We continue to go to Negril twice a year although we have long since graduated from the all inclusive.

Sorry no pics.  I can't upload them.  Says they are too big and I don't know what to do with them.

 

 

[Sophie]

I wanna see, I wanna see!!  Mo--- download this......you are running Windows?   
http://download.cnet.com/Image-Resizer-Powertoy-for-Windows-XP/3000-18487_4-10905400.html
Then all you do is right click on the pics on your hard drive and I select medium. The resized pic pops up right next to the other. You can resize blocks of photos using shift and use control to resize random not in a row. It is super easy! GO GO GO! LOLOL

 

[booger]

I'll be back in Isla Mujeres later in the year. If you are a foodie it is a great spot. So many international options and fairly affordable. In fact, I can rent a house in Isla Mujeres, nice house, for the equivalent of a nice room on the West End. Think Catcha or Tensing Pen nice and you have a nice house. From the West Coast I can do nonstop, and that is important as it cuts my travel time nearly in half.

The people are great and my only serious hang up is the water. Keep your mouth shut when showering and brush your teeth with bottled water and all should be good.

The beach is nice, more crowded and not nearly as long as Long Bay. They have numerous spots that have lounge chairs and several places offer them free with a minimum food/drink purchase.

Get a golf cart for at least a day to check the island out. I'll have one all trip as I do not stay in Centro and also enjoy the convenience.

Check it out....
 

 

[suzengrace]

and you head down to tulum..the beach more spectacular than negrils...IMO..will check out isla next time ...i've only hung in tulum...which is a great town..starting to get built up too and lots of new agers/yoga, etc places allover...still the beach is divine, the tulum ruins are fantastic..go right when it opens morning to avoid crowds.. outstanding food and tequila at reasonable rates..

 

[booger]

Is that Suzenbonics? Lol 

[jitterbug]

as often as i went to mexico, i always went home disappointed!!!

[kylake]

Suzengrace is correct. The beaches in Tulum are really, really nice and run as far as the eye can see in either direction (at least they did were I was at). Tulum is building up as Suzen said and there are rumors of another Intl Airport. When that happens it will start getting AI's, currently to be best of my knowledge there are no commercial type AI's in Tulum.
As Booger pointed out if you go to Isla get a golf cart for at least one day. There are several places to rent from Ciro's and Sol are about the biggest ones but I always rented from PePe's as he always, on the down low, gave me a better price.