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A brief review of Majahual Beach

bythehex

By bythehex,
in Costa Maya

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bythehex

bythehex

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We were on Explorer of the Seas last week, and visited Majahual Beach. Having read many posting here regarding Majahual Beach, and not being into scuba or snorkel, I thought it would be a nice place to spend a few hours.

When you get off the ship at the pier, the pier is so long that there's actually a tram to take you from the ship to the end of the pier!! There you exit to a nice, new, modern shopping area. There are many of your typical Mexican tourist shops there, but you can get some bargains if you're willing to negotiate a little. It's a really pretty area, with Mexicans dressed in Mayan costumes blowing conch shells and posing for pictures (yes, for free, suprisingly enough). There's a huge pool there with a swim up bar, near Senor Frog's, and there's music playing. There's also a big trampoline/bungee jumping thing that kids were lined up for.

We went to where the taxi stand is. There you have to buy tickets for the taxis. We said we wanted to go to Majahual Beach, paid our $3 per person, and they loaded us onto a nice, new, modern air conditioned bus. The bus ride was only about 5 minutes.

When we got off the bus, I had wondered if we'd made a mistake. In front of us was a dirt road with the beach to our left and some shack-looking structures to the right with tourist shops and bars. We walked down the road a little bit, and decided to sit at one of the tables on the beach. There were many plastic tables and chairs, with umbrellas. My husband said if he needed to get a beer in order for us to stay there, so be it. We put our stuff down, and got into the most incredible water. It was like walking into an aquarium, there were many small fish that quickly swam away when you got too near them. The sand was soft and white, and there were no rocks to speak of. We spent some wonderful time in the water, then went back to the table.

We were sitting under the umbrella, surrounded by palm trees, enjoying the view. My husband and son decided to order beers. He was surprised to find that it was only $2! As were were sitting there, a strolling guitarist came by singing "Guantanamera", "LaBamba", & taking requests from others. This was absolutely paradise - sitting under an umbrella on the beach, sipping beer, watching the palm trees sway and this beautiful ocean. Aaaahhh!!! Heavenly!!!:)

When it was time to leave, we had no trouble getting a taxi back to the pier. We were walking through the shops when my husband suddenly realized he no longer had his video camera - he'd left it in the cab!! We went back to the taxi stand and explained our dillemma to one of the coordinators. Luckily my son and I remembered the name of the driver, Benjamin Campos. Another taxi driver volunteered to go to the beach to look for him. No sooner had he driven 25 feet away, when Benjamin Campos came driving back in. When he saw my husband he leaned out his window and called out, "Wait, you forgot your camera!" He had come back as soon as he noticed, and we got the camera safe and sound. I tried to give him money as a reward, which at first he refused, but I was insistent so he finally took some, but would only accept $10. In my opinion, that's more proof of his honesty - he could have snatched the money and ran, or taken the full amount I offered, but he didn't. There are still some good people in this world after all.

Bottom line is that if you're looking for a god beach day, I would recommend Majahual beach. As you can see, it was a positive experience all around.

Sharon H.

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bythehex

bythehex

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Bruce, great pictures! I haven't yet mastered the art of scanning/posting pictures. One of these days! Anyway, your pictures bring back fond memories of a great day spent at a lovely beach!

 

Sharon H

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bruce-r

bruce-r

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Bruce, great pictures! I haven't yet mastered the art of scanning/posting pictures. One of these days! Anyway, your pictures bring back fond memories of a great day spent at a lovely beach!

 

Sharon, Thanks.

 

If you are still shooting film, you could do what I used to do before I went digital, when you have the film developed, have them also put the photos on a CD.

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  • 2 weeks later...
isabellmybell

isabellmybell

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Liked your trip report. I would have been even better with some photos. We had the almost the same great time in Mahahual as you did, except for the video camera part.

 

Click Costa Maya - Mahahual photo gallery

:D Great Pics Bruce! We'll be there in Dec on the Grand Princess. Any secrets we should know??;) Can't wait on our 14 week count down!

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bruce-r

bruce-r

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Sorry, I can't think of any secrets. We pretty much did the same thing as Bythehex did in her trip report, except for the video camera part :) Right at the end of the day, on our way back to the ship, we stopped in the port buildings and climbed the tower to take some photos. There is a good view from up there.

11taxis.jpg07portshops.jpg

Well, we were up there enjoying the view when it started to rain and I mean HARD. The drops were really big and came down so hard the stung. By the time we walked back to the ship, we were almost as wet as if we had jumped in the ocean. I wish I had a small umbrella. Hey, is that a secret ;)

 

With the proper attitude, you'll have a great time in Mahahual.

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  • 2 weeks later...
MERED1TH

MERED1TH

Posted
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and got into the most incredible water. It was like walking into an aquarium, there were many small fish that quickly swam away when you got too near them. The sand was soft and white, and there were no rocks to speak of. We spent some wonderful time in the water, then went back to the table..

Sharon H.

 

I find it amazing that two people can go to the same place and see it so differently. I was on the EOS last week and went to Majahual Beach. This place was about as filthy as it gets, if your idea of a nice beach is swimming with garbage and other peoples dirty underwear than Majahual Beach is a must do. Our children were covered with black tar or oil, it was just plain gross!

The port was nice, but very commercial sort of like a Mexican Disney. Everything was very expensive, of course if you think paying $22.00 for a pair of shorts made in China a good deal go for it.

 

*************************************************.

 

In general I found this port very disappointing.

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kellyccz

kellyccz

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Mered1th - Are you sure you guys were at the SAME beach? I ask because I just looked at ParrotHead's pictures - and I see no tar, dirty underwear or otherwise and the water does look incredible. Maybe you were at a different beach - there is more than one.

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bythehex

bythehex

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I never saw so much a a gum wrapper on the beach, and the water was crystal clear and clean. I don't know where you saw dirty underwear or garbage in the water, but it certainly wasn't like that when I was there the first week of August.:confused:

 

My friend was on EOS last week too, and she thought Majahual Beach was wonderful.

 

Sharon H.

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nyny

nyny

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I was there last week too. Instead of going by cab, we rented a golf cart (cost was $15/hour) and had a hilarious time driving on the "highway" to the town. By renting the cart we felt we had more freedom to come and go.

 

 

While there, my daughter signed up for parasailing ($50). She is 10. The parasailing boat itself was at Tequila Beach (a few "blocks" down the road on the same strip). She had an amazing time. I was in the boat taking pictures and the Mexicans driving the boat and harnessing the people were wonderful. After, we hung out a Tequila Beach which was clear, calm and fine. No tar.

 

My daughter also got a hair wrap for $10 near the port, A LOT cheaper than it would have been in Cozumel.

 

Costa Maya is a very undeveloped place, much like Cozumel must have been 30 years ago. You will see there is a lot of construction near the port. But at mahahual, it is still quite poor.

 

We had a lovely day and a lot of fun.

 

Susan

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nyny

nyny

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A hair wrap is when a small strand of hair is wrapped with different colored cotton (sort of like embroidery thread) with a bead on the end. Very girly. The other alternative was cornrow braids which i don't think looks so great and costs a fortune.

 

 

Susan

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mbw1024

mbw1024

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Thank you so much for the photo's We might be going here since Ivan has been to the Grand Caymans , and Montego Bay. I needed to find out about where we might be going.

 

I am thinking the same. I will be on Coral Princess on 10/21 sailing and I am guessing, sadly, that GC is out. Was on this board to see what my other options might be :)

 

Golf cart sounds like a hoot!

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  • 2 weeks later...
jean-lynd

jean-lynd

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There is a path you can take to walk to Mahahual. It is at the left end of the pier area just past where they do the massages. We did this and really enjoyed it. This path takes you almost all the way to the beach. You do have to walk on the road for a little while. I have pictures that I took on the walk at http://community.webshots.com/user/jean_lynd. They are in the Voyager albums. I hope this helps!

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