3 days in Playa del Carmen had gone by so fast! I had originally intended to spent a day visiting Cancun and Cozumel just to see how it looks like, but never got the time to do it.
It was also very expensive to go to Cozumel just for a day trip, with a return ferry ticket costing USD70.
I also heard Cancun is more populated than Playa del Carmen, and unlike Playa del Carmen where the beach is easily accessible by walking from the town, one needs to take a Collectivo from Cancun town centre to the beach, and thus skipped the idea for Cancun too.
Playa del Carmen is filled with constantly new apartments coming up in the city centre, with the main touristy street called 5th Avenue, which is lined with numerous gift shops, restaurants and travel centres.
From 5th Avenue, one can easily access the beach. Soft white sand beach, with clear water. However, I personally felt that the main Playa del Carmen beach is too crowded and didn’t really like it.
I managed to visit Playa Car, west of the main Playa del Carmen beach, and it was way less crowded and much better to my liking.
There were also many highlights just in the 3 days I was here.
1. Hosted by Carlos
I was lucky to be hosted by Carlos, whom had recently rented a flat, which he was going to sublet via Air B&B to earn extra cash (illegal but very smart!). There wasn't any Air B&B guest who had booked the unit during the time I was there, so Carlos let me stay in it.
It was a cosy studio apartment located in the centre of the city, and just about 10 mins walk to the beach. Perfect spot! And free!
2. Seeing Super Moon
Apparently it was supposed to be the biggest moon in 60 years, as it was something like 12,000 miles closer to the earth than usual.
Of course, I didn't realized this until the day after I saw the moon, when friends in Singapore shared this fact with me.
I could see the red hues as the moon rose out from the water. It looked like the sunrise, but without the concern of staring directly into a ball of red.
Then the moon became a deep yellow colour as it became fully exposed from the sea, with clear definitions of grey, which I assume would be the craters of the moon.
Definitely better seeing it in person than on photos as the grey definitions weren’t caught by the camera.
3. Swimming with sea turtles in Akumel
The abundant sea grass at this beach is what attracts numerous sea turtles. At first Jake (an Aussie whom I met at Valladolid and later bumped into again at Playa del Carmen) and I were snorkelling for about half hour and saw no signs of sea turtles and was disappointed.
Taking a break on shore, we heard someone saying they had seen a sea turtle while pointing in one direction. We quickly headed in and very soon saw 1, surrounded by a crowd of tourists.
We continued going towards the direction of another crowd and spotted another. And then went snorkelling in another direction and soon found another, without any crowd surrounding it.
The sea turtles are such beautiful creatures in the water.... So graceful as they slowly swam up to surface to get some air before heading back down to the sea bed to continue feeding.
One of them swam quite close to me as it was surfacing and managed to catch a really good video. So happy I brought an action camera with me on this trip!
4. Sneaking into Secrets Hotel in Akumel, and using the Swimming Pool
Jake and I decided to try out luck and sneaked into the hotel property. We were almost caught by the security guard and quickly left the property before we were chased away. It was good while it lasted :P
5. Cooked Thai food (Pad Kad Prao) for a party of 7
It had been some time since I had taken Asian food, and decided to see what Asian ingredients I could find. It took a few trips to 3 different supermarkets, but I managed to find ingredients to cook Pad Kad Prao, and in all places Mexico, and for a party of 7!
Couldn't really get dark soya sauce here, so the colour was slightly off, but the taste was right.
Everyone enjoyed it tremendously, so that's the greatest satisfaction anyone who cooks can have :)
Was great company too! Most of the party of 7 included people I had met in Valladolid (Jake, Miriam, Roxana), and of course Carlos, Lisa and one of Carlos Air B&B guest (Kinka).
(Clockwise from far left : Carlos, Kinka, Jake, Roxana, Miriam, Lisa)
6. Retrieving my headphones, which I had accidentally left in Valladolid
As a traveller, once we leave a destination for a new one, chances of getting back left personal belongings is often close to never.
I was extremely lucky on this occasion – Sharing the same dorm in Valladolid was Miriam and Roxana (whom I had first met in the same hostel in Merida). The day before I left Valladolid, they had mentioned to me that they were going to make a trip to Playa del Carmen to stay for 1 night in the next couple of days.
When I realised I had misplaced my headphones, I quickly emailed the staff at La Candelaria, and asked for their help to coordinate with Miriam as I didn’t have her contacts at that time. We managed to get in touch and coordinated a place to collect the headphones.
Kudos to the awesome staff at La Candelaria!
7. Visiting Cenote Eden
Located between Playa del Carmen and Akumel, Carlos had recommended that we stop by for a swim. It didn't look like a cenote when I first saw it, as it was totally open, and looked more like a small enclosed lake.
It was still beautiful though, with its very clear water and rocks close to surface. I was surprised to see divers inside the cenote.
We were later told that there are actually 4 cenotes next to each other on the same path, and that the cenotes are connected by underwater caves. So the divers could actually dive through the caves and access the 4 cenotes.
Apparently one of the connection requires about a 30 mins underwater cave dive! So cool!
8. Getting stuck in a lift of Be Playa Hotel while trying to access the roof top pool.
Not quite a highlight, but it was an experience! We were a group of 6 (4 guys and 2 girls) and decided to check out the pool after visiting the beach. Squeezing into a very small lift, we pressed the lift for level 4, however when we got to the level, the door refused to open!
We could hear the loud club music playing outside the lift door. We tried pressing every button in the lift, and even ringing the lift alarm bell, but no avail.
Even tried googling the phone number of the hotel and called the mainline but no one picked up. Then we heard the music quietening down, as it moved into the next song, and the guys took the opportunity to bang the lift doors loudly in hope that someone would hear us.
Thankfully someone did as we heard someone shouting from the other side of the door.
After a couple minutes, our lift door opened and it was when we realised that we were in between floors, just about 60 cm before reaching the floor of the roof top bar.
When it was my turn to step out of the lift, I was so afraid that the lift may suddenly fall from where it was, and I may get chopped in half as I stepped out of the lift. Too much horror TV scenes!
We then realised that we had overloaded the lift, as the lift was meant for maximum of 4 people. We of course took the stairs down when we left the place :P
It was also very expensive to go to Cozumel just for a day trip, with a return ferry ticket costing USD70.
I also heard Cancun is more populated than Playa del Carmen, and unlike Playa del Carmen where the beach is easily accessible by walking from the town, one needs to take a Collectivo from Cancun town centre to the beach, and thus skipped the idea for Cancun too.
Playa del Carmen is filled with constantly new apartments coming up in the city centre, with the main touristy street called 5th Avenue, which is lined with numerous gift shops, restaurants and travel centres.
From 5th Avenue, one can easily access the beach. Soft white sand beach, with clear water. However, I personally felt that the main Playa del Carmen beach is too crowded and didn’t really like it.
I managed to visit Playa Car, west of the main Playa del Carmen beach, and it was way less crowded and much better to my liking. There were also many highlights just in the 3 days I was here.
1. Hosted by Carlos
I was lucky to be hosted by Carlos, whom had recently rented a flat, which he was going to sublet via Air B&B to earn extra cash (illegal but very smart!). There wasn't any Air B&B guest who had booked the unit during the time I was there, so Carlos let me stay in it.
It was a cosy studio apartment located in the centre of the city, and just about 10 mins walk to the beach. Perfect spot! And free!
2. Seeing Super Moon
Apparently it was supposed to be the biggest moon in 60 years, as it was something like 12,000 miles closer to the earth than usual.
Of course, I didn't realized this until the day after I saw the moon, when friends in Singapore shared this fact with me.
I could see the red hues as the moon rose out from the water. It looked like the sunrise, but without the concern of staring directly into a ball of red.
Then the moon became a deep yellow colour as it became fully exposed from the sea, with clear definitions of grey, which I assume would be the craters of the moon.
Definitely better seeing it in person than on photos as the grey definitions weren’t caught by the camera.
3. Swimming with sea turtles in Akumel
The abundant sea grass at this beach is what attracts numerous sea turtles. At first Jake (an Aussie whom I met at Valladolid and later bumped into again at Playa del Carmen) and I were snorkelling for about half hour and saw no signs of sea turtles and was disappointed.
Taking a break on shore, we heard someone saying they had seen a sea turtle while pointing in one direction. We quickly headed in and very soon saw 1, surrounded by a crowd of tourists.
We continued going towards the direction of another crowd and spotted another. And then went snorkelling in another direction and soon found another, without any crowd surrounding it.
The sea turtles are such beautiful creatures in the water.... So graceful as they slowly swam up to surface to get some air before heading back down to the sea bed to continue feeding.
One of them swam quite close to me as it was surfacing and managed to catch a really good video. So happy I brought an action camera with me on this trip!
4. Sneaking into Secrets Hotel in Akumel, and using the Swimming Pool
Jake and I decided to try out luck and sneaked into the hotel property. We were almost caught by the security guard and quickly left the property before we were chased away. It was good while it lasted :P
5. Cooked Thai food (Pad Kad Prao) for a party of 7
It had been some time since I had taken Asian food, and decided to see what Asian ingredients I could find. It took a few trips to 3 different supermarkets, but I managed to find ingredients to cook Pad Kad Prao, and in all places Mexico, and for a party of 7! Couldn't really get dark soya sauce here, so the colour was slightly off, but the taste was right.
Everyone enjoyed it tremendously, so that's the greatest satisfaction anyone who cooks can have :)
Was great company too! Most of the party of 7 included people I had met in Valladolid (Jake, Miriam, Roxana), and of course Carlos, Lisa and one of Carlos Air B&B guest (Kinka).
(Clockwise from far left : Carlos, Kinka, Jake, Roxana, Miriam, Lisa)
6. Retrieving my headphones, which I had accidentally left in Valladolid
As a traveller, once we leave a destination for a new one, chances of getting back left personal belongings is often close to never.
I was extremely lucky on this occasion – Sharing the same dorm in Valladolid was Miriam and Roxana (whom I had first met in the same hostel in Merida). The day before I left Valladolid, they had mentioned to me that they were going to make a trip to Playa del Carmen to stay for 1 night in the next couple of days.
When I realised I had misplaced my headphones, I quickly emailed the staff at La Candelaria, and asked for their help to coordinate with Miriam as I didn’t have her contacts at that time. We managed to get in touch and coordinated a place to collect the headphones.
Kudos to the awesome staff at La Candelaria!
7. Visiting Cenote Eden
Located between Playa del Carmen and Akumel, Carlos had recommended that we stop by for a swim. It didn't look like a cenote when I first saw it, as it was totally open, and looked more like a small enclosed lake.
It was still beautiful though, with its very clear water and rocks close to surface. I was surprised to see divers inside the cenote. We were later told that there are actually 4 cenotes next to each other on the same path, and that the cenotes are connected by underwater caves. So the divers could actually dive through the caves and access the 4 cenotes.
Apparently one of the connection requires about a 30 mins underwater cave dive! So cool!
8. Getting stuck in a lift of Be Playa Hotel while trying to access the roof top pool.
Not quite a highlight, but it was an experience! We were a group of 6 (4 guys and 2 girls) and decided to check out the pool after visiting the beach. Squeezing into a very small lift, we pressed the lift for level 4, however when we got to the level, the door refused to open! We could hear the loud club music playing outside the lift door. We tried pressing every button in the lift, and even ringing the lift alarm bell, but no avail.
Even tried googling the phone number of the hotel and called the mainline but no one picked up. Then we heard the music quietening down, as it moved into the next song, and the guys took the opportunity to bang the lift doors loudly in hope that someone would hear us.
Thankfully someone did as we heard someone shouting from the other side of the door.
After a couple minutes, our lift door opened and it was when we realised that we were in between floors, just about 60 cm before reaching the floor of the roof top bar.
When it was my turn to step out of the lift, I was so afraid that the lift may suddenly fall from where it was, and I may get chopped in half as I stepped out of the lift. Too much horror TV scenes!
We then realised that we had overloaded the lift, as the lift was meant for maximum of 4 people. We of course took the stairs down when we left the place :P
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