Isla Mujeres — From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

First Impressions

When arriving in Isla Mujeres you may be forgiven for thinking that you have left Mexico and entered some sort of Mexican-themed island in the USA. A place that exists solely for middle-aged tourists to suddenly lose all use of their limbs and suddenly have to resort to using a golf buggy every time they want to travel more than two feet. We considered forgiving Isla Mujeres for this barrage of bum bags and socks and sandals because the island itself was lovely.

(But, all jokes aside, you can’t really complain about there being too many tourists when you yourself are also a tourist and therefore, part of the problem. )

The Sublime

The first morning I got up extra early, to creep out of our adorable, crumbly Airbnb. The place was surrounded by what felt like every stray cat on the island, I left before they could break into a rendition of “Magical Mr. Mistofelees”.

I headed down to do a morning yoga class on the rooftop of the beach bar. The class had a perfect palm tree-framed view of the beach and although it was already far too hot, it was heavenly.

Joe joined me to enjoy the beach briefly before the rain clouds set in and we had to retreat back to the beach bar for an afternoon of sitting on bar side swings, drinking cocktails, and playing cards.

That evening we enjoyed coconut-crusted prawns with mango salsa in a kitsch hole in the wall. After this, we wandered the streets holding marquesitas for dessert (like a crepe with the texture of an ice cream cone, rolled up with sweet fillings) that we bought from a street seller. We washed it all down with more cocktails with a little bar hopping.

It was all sublime, you can always get to me through my stomach, and this place was starting to grow on me.

The Ridiculous

What we were most excited about was the snorkel trip we had booked for the second day. In particular, we were excited to see the underwater museum whereby thousands of sculptures had been placed on the sea floor for coral and wildlife to claim and become a part of the exhibit. I’d seen pictures and thought that it looked really cool. But, our trip ended up being one of the most ridiculous snorkelling trips I’ve ever been on!

That is except for Isla Cozumel, which you can read about here👇 We think Mexican snorkel trips may be cursed!

The weather forecast was not good, it said there might be storms and we thought the trip would be cancelled. But, of course, the company would never let something like that get in the way of making money. They reassured us that all would be fine and that the trip would be going ahead.

Things all started off well enough, the first spot was nice, we saw a decent amount of fish although it was grey skied and a little choppy. But then as we got back on the boat, the storm came in, and the boat rose and fell with the crashing waves. Those who were happily downing tequila shots and dancing to Shakira not long before now looked grey and solemn.

Back in the water, it was so choppy it made snorkelling impossible. It was a bizarre sensation being hoisted up, floating face down, and then crashing back down like you’re in the front seat of a rollercoaster. Avoiding other people was also impossible and we played a violent and unintentional game of bumper cars. One poor girl threw up in the water and Joe was trying his best to swim away from the pile of floating vomit. Back on the boat, each corner was occupied by someone being sick overboard.

What fun!

The Piece de Resistance, the underwater museum, I imagine is fantastic to see up close as a diver but all the way up here far above it as a snorkeler, it was underwhelming and kind of pointless.

Disappointed we headed to the lunch spot (not that anyone had much of an appetite at this point).

The lunch spot was a little odd in itself, in the jetty, we saw that they had captured a small shark and put it in this tiny, water pen. Lined up were families waiting to get into the pen, whereby this guy chased the shark, picked it up, and placed it in their arms for a photo. Rinse and repeat. Now we had even less of an appetite.

After lunch, we were all just waiting around for a long time for what seemed like no reason. We wondered what the hold-up was and why we weren’t back on the boat yet. We all wandered back to the boat only to catch our snorkel guide with a woman he had picked up at the bar. She hastily threw a towel over her half-naked body and ran off sheepishly as he zipped up his pants with pride!

You couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all! It didn’t make for the best day trip but it sure made a good story over a second round of cocktails and marquesitas that night!

Thank you for reading! Hearts and tips are always welcome and your support is very much appreciated.

This story was originally published on Medium

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