Akumal Day 1 - Wednesday, October 7

Our travel day started early...I mean REALLY early. Like 3:00 am early so that I would be ready for the 4:00 am hotel shuttle to the airport. I anticipated being the only ones up at such an hour, but I was wrong. Several pilots and airline crew shared the ride with us. 

And we certainly weren't alone at the airport. The line to check in was insane..but at least it moved steadily. The airline gods must have been smiling on us, because BOTH of us were granted TSA precheck…which bestowed upon us the privilege of bypassing the second long line at security. 

The bagels I had packed helped fill the time (and our tummies) as we waited to board the plane. In an effort to clean out the fridge before we left, I threw in a couple of kiwis which Bob added to his breakfast menu.

A couple of weeks prior, I had gone online and chosen our seats for the flight. Bob suggested getting the window and center seat so we could see the ocean and the jungle as we approached Cancun airport. But when we got to our row, another couple were already sitting in our seats! A stewardess noticed my confusion and asked to see their tickets. Sure enough…they should have been sitting in the aisle seats. They made no effort to move or even say “sorry” so rather than make a scene, we sat in the aisle seats across from each other.

By the time we took off a little after 6:00 am there was a pink glow on the horizon which eventually gave way to a beautiful sunrise. The nice lady in the seat next to me was kind enough to use my iPhone to snap a photo. Since I can’t seem to take a decent picture with the phone I was most grateful!

As we approached Cancun, I had her taking multiple photos when I saw the beautiful ocean below.

From experience, we knew that the leftover food I had packed for our lunch on the flight needed to be dumped once we landed. The last time we flew into Mexico, a police canine zeroed in on Bob and he was held at gun point because he tried to smuggle in a lunch meat sandwich. I don’t think they would have actually shot him over some braunsweiger, but it was scary. (Although probably exciting for the dog who would much rather have a slab of meat than the drugs he was trained to sniff!)

This time everything went smoothly, but slowly, as we made our way through customs. Outside the airport, we found our shuttle right away and were delighted to find out that the six other people who were sharing the ride were all going to Akumal. That meant no extra stops on the way!

Our destination was the Akumal Bay Beach & Wellness Resort (ABBWR) which is actually a re-incarnation of the Akumal Beach Resort (ABR) that we had first visited in 2007 and then again in 2011. The former place was often referred to as a 2 star resort on a 5 star beach and that was a pretty accurate assessment. Most people came to the resort because of the beautiful beach and reef located right off shore where one could snorkel with the turtles. (The word "Akumal" means "place of the turtles".) 

After selling off part of their property to Secrets Resorts, ABR went about renovating the remaining property late last year to make it more upscale. Our visit was a bit of a last minute decision when I found what I considered an incredible deal through Apple Vacations. The Secrets resort next door is scheduled to open on November 1 and I figured this might be our last chance to enjoy the snorkeling before hundreds more people invade the beach.

Getting to the resort so early (around noon) was nice, but unfortunately our room wasn't going to be ready until 3:00. I questioned the girl who was checking us in about which room we had been assigned. I had emailed the resort and specifically asked for a room on the 2nd or 3rd floor in building three. She gave me a sly smile and said..."You have a room in Building 3 that is VERY high up." In other words...we had been upgraded to a penthouse room. 

Normally getting a free upgrade would be something that I would get excited about, but not this time. I knew from all of my research, that the sitting area on the roof of the penthouse rooms was not covered and was way too hot to use during the day. And...because of the rain forecasted I wanted the balcony to have some protection from inclement weather.

I pleaded my case to the manager but all he would tell me was "maybe." By arriving mid-week, there weren't many people checking out so the type of room I was requesting was in short supply.

With 3 hours to kill until we could get into our room, we had lunch at the buffet and then changed into our swimsuits for some beach time. We lucked out and found the one palapa on the beach that was unoccupied and plopped down into the two lounge chairs. By the time we got two (virgin) pina coladas, it felt like the vacation had begun!

Even though it had been four years since our last visit to Akumal, the first two people I encountered when I got in the water were fellow guests back in 2011! A VERY small world indeed! We had a nice chat and they filled me in on all of the changes to the resort.

At 3:00 we went back to the lobby and found out that my wish had been granted...a room on the third floor of building three. Yay! We have stayed on the third floor of this building for each of our visits and like that it is on the quieter end of the beach but yet still right next to the buffet. Here is what the buildings look like now...

And here is what they looked like on back in 2007...

And again in 2011...

A splash pool had been added in front of the buildings in the recent remodel.

Each room had a large jacuzzi tub on the balcony.

From the balcony, we had a beautiful view of the ocean...

For comparison, here is the same exact view in 2007:

From the other side of the room we looked out over the jungle.

After getting unpacked, we roamed around the south end of the resort, checking out the new spa area with a vortex whirlpool, saunas and even a cenote-fed shower. On the beach several people were gathered around a turtle nest watching as a baby was beginning to hatch. After watching for sometime, it was obvious that the process was not going to be quick so we gave up and went back to the room to shower and dress for dinner.

The buffet dining room is not air-conditioned so we chose to sit at a table outdoors where we could get some air. Towards the end of our meal, we noticed a crowd gathering around the turtle nest that we had seen earlier. By the time we got there, we just missed seeing the turtles hatch and scurry through the sand to begin their new life in the ocean. Although we had missed the turtles, we had the pleasure of seeing Marianne (on staff at the resort) who was there watching! We exchanged hugs and chatted briefly. 

After sitting on the beach watching the night sky, (Bob saw a shooting star!) we went back to the room. It had been a very long day. We were both exhausted and didn't waste anytime getting to bed.