I was honestly not trying to be misleading with my post and I'm truly sorry if it felt that way. I was just sharing what we experienced and what we were told when visiting last week (Mar 15, 2024). The taxi driver handed us off to a gentleman who said he was taking us to the Krazy Lobster where we could have lunch and spend the day at the beach. He sat us at a table on the beach directly in front of the Krazy Lobster and told us it was $15 pp for a day pass to use the loungers/wifi/showers at the beach OR complimentary if we ate at the restaurant. He then called the waiter over to us who gave us menus. After assessing the amenities and large crowds, we decided to try to find someplace with a nicer beachfront.
After reading your replies @c-leg5 and @injacat123,
1.I looked at the place marker I added to my map at dropoff and it looks like we were a little closer to the middle when considering the full beach to the lighthouse. Sorry about that.
2. It's entirely possible we were misled by the person who took us to the table as we didn't verify any of this with the waiter as we decided to leave before he came back to take our order. Perhaps you could alert the Krazy Lobster to look into this as the person who sat us definitely made it sound like he was representing the restaurant!!
3. To answer your questions about Pez Quadro - they were "asking" $20 pp for the day which included the use of their loungers, WiFi, paddleboards/kayaks (they had 2 of each), bathrooms, and showers. (We asked if they would take $15 pp and they said yes.) Food & bev was optional but was significantly discounted for beach pass users. Quesadilla con Pollo: Restaruant = $12 US. On the Beach = $6.50 US.
I can verify the crowds were significantly less the further we walked down the Malecon. The same goes for the # and aggressiveness of the vendors who approached us on the beach.
We were only there for one day so it's entirely possible we "got lucky" at Pez Quadro, but for us, it was completely worth $15/$20 pp to get away from the bigger crowds and be only 10 min from the cruise port. Costa Maya was my favorite port and I'm hoping to go back and spend some real time in this area.