Holbox Island - Day Four and Five (The Clouds) and Departure

Our last full day on Holbox Island was Monday and it was a bit of a letdown relative to the weekend as the clouds rolled in obscuring the sun. Still, even with a cloudy sky the weather was much preferable to the snow and freezing cold of Toronto! Monday was spent reading, wandering into town (window shopping; we ended up buying nothing on the trip). Dinner was at El Chapulim in Holbox (the same place we had dinner on Saturday night) and was excellent. Lisa had a surprisingly good seak and Christos had the seafood medley (Fish, Shrimp and Mussels); the fish was superb, the mussels and shrimp good. After a walk along the beach at night, we settled back into our bed and fell asleep watching "Suits" on Lisa's Ipad. Tuesday we awoke with to another cloudy day but with no power on the island! This was a bit problematic as we had no water for showers and were leaving in a few hours. So our day of return to Toronto was off to a bad, stinky start and got worse with a three hour delay once we reached the Cancun airport. Ah well, all told it was not so bad (we have had far worse travel experiences) and the trip to Isla Holbox was well worth it; hopefully we have recharged our sun batteries enough to make it through winter.

Holbox Island - Days Two and Three (The Sun!)

Our second day in Holbox started with a beautiful blue sky and warm weather. After a quick breakfast, we embarked on a three hour boat tour (shades of Gilligan's Island). The start of the your was funny as a guy showed up at the hotel in a golf cart and told us it was time to go ... So we started walking towards the golf cart thinking he would take us to the pier or some such but he just waived us towards a boat that was offshore from the hotel that we had to wade out to! The tour took us to a few different spots. First was Mosquito Point which seemed to be lacking in Mosquitos but was rich in birds of all sorts including flamingoes. Then it was off to Isla Pajaros for more bird watching before heading to Yalahao lagoon for a swim in a cenote. The visit to Isla Pajaros (Bird Island; which is a protected island for bird nesting) was great! Quite cool to see the Pelicans, Ospreys, Herons and other aquatic birds close up. A platform just off the island has been built where one can moor a small boat and then observe the birds from only a few metres away.

On the way to Yalahao we had the most amazing experience .... A pod of around six to ten dolphins came up to our boat and started swimming and arcing around the water's surface for us. After about ten minutes it was time for them to go so they treated us to two leaps in to the air before swimming off! Truly amazing!!!

The crazy thing was that we ran into the same pod of dolphins on the way back from Yalahao and they once again entertained us for about ten minutes, albeit without the leaping out of the water this time. We got back to our hotel in the mid afternoon and spent the rest of the day lazing around, walking on the beach and pestering the local iguanas (we kept ofefring them fruit which they were happy to eat but if we approached to closely they would scuttle off).

Speaking of iguanas, our hotel grounds were thick with them to the degree that we would often find one blocking the door to our room!

After the boat ride it was into town for dinner at an excellent little restaurant called El Chapulim where we both had fresh fish on a bed of mushrooms with a side of rice. The fish was excellent, tender and flavourful.

After dinner we walked back along the beach and stopped at a local bar on the beach to enjoy a cold beer.

Extra Long Weekend on Holbox Island! The arrival

We woke up in Toronto on Thursday morning and with the TV telling us it was minus 11 (minus 21 with the wind chill), we were happy to be heading south for four days (five nights) in Mexico! Air Canada flew us to Cancun where (after a transfer to the FBO airport) we boarded a tiny plane for the flight to Holbox island. We had to laugh when we noticed the instrument panel informing anyone who would notice that the pilot data needed an update, and had so since 2007! Clearly our pilot was not too concerned and seemed to know where he was flying. The twenty minute flight was fun as it was the first time Lisa and Christos had been in a tiny plane together. After a muddy taxi ride in a golf cart through town (cars are not common on Holbox but golf carts are), we finally arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon, had a few beers and a snack and just relaxed until dinner a few hours later. We were slightly apprehensive about the weather as it had been raining since we arrived in Mexico (hence the muddy ride) but it soon cleared up and we had no rain on our first night.

Friday was our first full day on Holbox and it was wonderful. Blue skies with a few clouds but no rain, nice and hot! The first half of the day was spent lounging hammocks by the beach and reading before we rented bikes for a ride into town. The ride was quite an adventure as the mud roads were still filled with small ponds from Thursday's rain so we had to swerve to avoid puddles or plot through them hoping we would not get too wet. After the tour through town, we returned to the hotel for a little rest and then went down to the beach to watch the sunset while having a beer. Finally  it was off to town at night for dinner at Rosa Mexicana where Christos had the octopus and Lisa had the steak. Both were quite yummy. After dinner, we strolled along the beach gazing at the stars and enjoying another beer. We tried to watch "Despicable Me Two" but only managed to get about fifteen minutes in before sleep took us.