Costa Maya Beaches

[mrg0433]

Any suggestions for  retired couple wanting to swim near port ?  

[Host Kat]

On 2/27/2022 at 10:51 PM, mrg0433 said:

Any suggestions for  retired couple wanting to swim near port ?  

 

Howdy @mrg0433 

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Ask a Cruise Question forum.  However, it is the forum for general questions regarding cruising. Your question is in regard to a specific port and off topic on that forum. 

 

To help you out, I have moved your thread to the Ports of Call - Caribbean - Costa Maya forum where it will be on topic. Your fellow Cruise Critic members that have sailed or will be sailing to Costa Maya frequent this forum and provide feedback here. Please feel free to browse through the thread titles here. L👀k for titles of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers about Costa Maya that may be of interest to you. For other ports see all the Ports of Call forums.

 

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Happy sails,

Host Kat 

[dolittle]

We had been to Costa Maya (a nice fake town) before so we went to a beach someone on this site told us about .Sorry I can not remember the name we to the cab stand outside the gates and asked the driver to take us to the Tropical and ask for Steve . He took us right to the place , nice beach cheap drinks good food and nice people. It was very close to Costa  Maya had a nice walk along the beach. 

[crewsweeper]

49 minutes ago, dolittle said:

We had been to Costa Maya (a nice fake town) before so we went to a beach someone on this site told us about .Sorry I can not remember the name we to the cab stand outside the gates and asked the driver to take us to the Tropical and ask for Steve . He took us right to the place , nice beach cheap drinks good food and nice people. It was very close to Costa  Maya had a nice walk along the beach. 

You can now take taxis to Mahahual and the malecon from inside the cruise port parking lot.  While Tropicante is still open, Steve, unfortunately, sold his business to his long time manager, Carolina.  And their property is getting squeezed by Krazy Lobster and El Faro.  But they still provide excellent service.

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, dolittle said:

We had been to Costa Maya (a nice fake town) before so we went to a beach someone on this site told us about .Sorry I can not remember the name we to the cab stand outside the gates and asked the driver to take us to the Tropical and ask for Steve . He took us right to the place , nice beach cheap drinks good food and nice people. It was very close to Costa  Maya had a nice walk along the beach. 

Tropicante was on open in the week but not on Sundays on our last visit. We didn’t stop in this time but it didn’t seem to have the same vibe as before.

[dolittle]

23 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

You can now take taxis to Mahahual and the malecon from inside the cruise port parking lot.  While Tropicante is still open, Steve, unfortunately, sold his business to his long time manager, Carolina.  And their property is getting squeezed by Krazy Lobster and El Faro.  But they still provide excellent service.

Mahahual that's it.

[finoky]

Sargassum was terrible there last week.

[SelectSys]

7 hours ago, finoky said:

Sargassum was terrible there last week.

I think it is the seaweed capital of the world!  That is one of the reasons that Mahahual is my least favorite port.  If I ever go back, I would try and see if it is possible to visit the Bacalar Lagoon as it is only an hour or so away from the port by car/bus.

[c-leg5]

1 hour ago, SelectSys said:

I think it is the seaweed capital of the world!  That is one of the reasons that Mahahual is my least favorite port.  If I ever go back, I would try and see if it is possible to visit the Bacalar Lagoon as it is only an hour or so away from the port by car/bus.

Whilst sargassum is bad in Costa Maya when it is bad - it is seasonal and not all year. We have visited when it has been completed clear!

 

Costa Maya is certainly not alone in this natural dilemma- look at everywhere on the mainland from Cancun south in the last week. East coast of Cozumel is just as bad as are many east facing coastlines throughout the Caribbean. 
 

I haven’t made it to Bacalar either but it sounds interesting!

[SelectSys]

15 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

I haven’t made it to Bacalar either but it sounds interesting!

Bacalar is very popular in Mexico itself as a tourist destination while Mahahual isn't even on the map.   Look it up and go!

 

15 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

it is seasonal and not all year. We have visited when it has been completed clear

I only went once and it was horrible.  Good to know the beach is usable at times.  

[c-leg5]

8 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

Mahahual isn't even on the map.   Look it up and go!

Strange how a lot of European back packers manage to find it. There are several new (small) hotels being built - I was surprised given the economy.

 

Not sure what maps you are looking at - you can do a virtual walk around the area on Google.

Edited March 30, 2022 by c-leg5

[SelectSys]

9 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Strange how a lot of European back packers manage to find it. There are several new (small) hotels being built - I was surprised given the economy.

 

Not sure what maps you are looking at - you can do a virtual walk around the area on Google.

The point I was trying to make is that Mahahual doesn’t register in most Mexican minds as an attractive tourist destination while Bacalar is well known.   

 

[lifes-a-beach]

On 3/30/2022 at 12:04 PM, c-leg5 said:

Strange how a lot of European back packers manage to find it. There are several new (small) hotels being built - I was surprised given the economy.

 

Not sure what maps you are looking at - you can do a virtual walk around the area on Google.

I too find this European presence interesting.  A few years ago we were at Blue Kay and I was having trouble conversing with the waiter in Spanish.  My Spanish is not awful but not very good either.  A tall, blond headed guy came over and asked if he could help.  He spoke quite fluent Spanish and I also noticed his accent was German.  I speak much better German than Spanish so we had a brief exchange in German.  After lunch we were walking back to the beach and I commented to my wife that we were in the middle of nowhere-Mexico and I had just conversed in 3 languages. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by lifes-a-beach

[SelectSys]

56 minutes ago, lifes-a-beach said:

My Spanish is not awful but not very good either.  A tall, blond headed guy came over and asked if he could help.  He spoke quite fluent Spanish and I also noticed his accent was German.

I would assume that lots of Germans spend time in either Spain proper or the Canary Islands during winter.

 

57 minutes ago, lifes-a-beach said:

I too find this European presence interesting

You will also find a fair amount of Europeans on the beaches of Oaxaca and in Chiapas.  Other places too.  You'll certainly see more Europeans than Americans that's for sure.  It's kind of sad that for many Americans it seems as if Mexico is defined by the Pacific resort cities and the Cancun corridor and not much else. 

[c-leg5]

1 hour ago, lifes-a-beach said:

I too find this European presence interesting.  A few years ago we were at Blue Kay and I was having trouble conversing with the waiter in Spanish.  My Spanish is not awful but not very good either.  A tall, blond headed guy came over and asked if he could help.  He spoke quite fluent Spanish and I also noticed his accent was German.  I speak much better German than Spanish so we had a brief exchange in German.  After lunch we were walking back to the beach and I commented to my wife that we were in the middle of nowhere-Mexico and I had just conversed in 3 languages. 

Yes the German guy was working there temporarily while he was supposedly redoing a bar out down the dirt road passed Luna de Plata. It looked nice but unfortunately I don’t think it reopened. I emailed him about it once to see if it had opened but he had decided to move inland because of the sargassum problems. Last I heard he was trying to develop a place La Casona on the road towards the lighthouse for camping and restaurant  but it never looks very open when we have passed.

Edited March 31, 2022 by c-leg5