Abi's Deep Dive

Holbox in Mayan translates to “black hole” and the island sits at the convergence of the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. It is part of the Yum Balam Nature Reserve (who couldn’t love that name?!) separated from the mainland by the Yalahou Lagoon. It has the reputation of being a laid back party island with great views. Photos of the island taken by people I have met here in Mexico look incredible, and after loving visiting Isla Mujeres I was keen to see another island. When I heard that sometimes on Isla Holbox you can also see bioluminescence, I was convinced! So, when my favorite travel buddy was in Mexico it seemed like the perfect time for a visit!

From Puerto Morelos you can take a bus to Cancun and there from the ADO station you can go to Chiquila which is about 140 km away, it takes a couple of hours to get there, but the bus is comfortable and Ben and I had downloaded a film to watch for the times when there was nothing interesting out of the windows. once in Chiquila there are regular ferries across to Isla Holbox which take about 30 minutes. The lagoon is beautiful and I love being on the water. The sun was shining, Christmas was a couple of days away and I was with Ben: I felt exhilarated!

Despite having read about the island, I wasn’t expecting sand tracks for roads and a hundred golf carts careering around instead of cars. After leaving the ferry port there was a main road that siphoned tourists away from the ferry. We followed that, looking at all of the brightly colored buildings and street art and stopped for a drink to get our bearings and work out where the apartment we would be staying in was. Confident that the inhabited part of the island isn’t too big we stayed in the bar for a bit longer chatting to one of the guys who worked there. They served a Mexican beer that Ben had only had at home and he was excited to have it in Mexico.

We left , Ben weighed down more with Christmas presents and wine than with three days clothes, and took the road we needed to follow to get to the apartment. It was flooded. We jumped over the worst of it until we got to a point that was impassable without wellies and so we side tracked to get onto the beach. I won’t accurately be able to describe Bens growing annoyance as we met more and more flooded roads, but as dusk fell and the mosquitos came out I think he would have rather been anywhere else. After a few false starts we found a way to the apartment that we had apparently been circling due to the moat that had settled around it! We quickly unpacked layered up in the hope of avoiding any more mosquito bites and headed out again to get insect repellant and food. There was a little pizza restaurant around the corner, not too far to paddle, so we stopped there and had delicious thin based stone cooked pizza. Talking to the waiter we realized that the roads flooding was not unusual on the island and in the morning we saw that the most popular footwear was a welly boot!

After a good nights sleep I was up excited for Christmas Eve and some exploration. We then saw the extent of the flooding but had some time to work out how best to navigate to get to the beach. The beaches are beautiful if a little full of influencers. We watched a young woman pose for a solid 20 minutes directing the guy who was with her on where to take photos of her. She would look at the phone pose in a different position and he would take more. There were a lot of very small bikinis, fake boobs and facial enhancements on women of all ages, and some men too. The beach was quieter near our hotel as we were slightly out of town so we walked for an hour just looking around before we turned into town and got some shopping. The town is small with some really lovely art shops as well as the normal touristy ones. We also found a little shop that just sold frozen meat. We picked up a couple of rib eyes some salad and a few other bits for tea. We chatted to locals and Ben got a lesson in making tortillas from some locals. It was a lovely day and we met lots of friendly people who pointed us towards the next thing to eat, drink and look at.

Three nights on the island meant that we had time to explore and relax. the weather was fabulous and in fact the skies were too clear to seethe bioluminescence although we did walk down to Punta cocos beach to try anyway. That night we really paddled up to our knees at points to make our way to the beach that was supposed to be the best place to see it. I had ribbed running tights and a long sleeved top on. On the walk I felt like I had pins stabbing me all over. Mosquitoes were not put off by the layers and in the morning my legs particularly were absolutely covered in bites. We were on our own on the beach and it was gorgeous but the walk there and back put me off trying again, I did feel justified when a local tour guide said that the sky was too clear to see the bioluminescence though!

Christmas day dawned and as is our tradition we drank Prosecco, for breakfast and went for a walk on the beach. It was a lovely day! We still had some steak and a good bottle of red back at the apartment so we just picked up some snacks and tequila and enjoyed a day wandering, and sunbathing. it was bliss!

We had a lovely few days on Holbox and all too soon it was time to pack up again and do the return journey. We took lots of photos and these are some highlights….

Watching the sun set on that last night after a few days with Ben I felt very grateful to be spending Christmas in such a beautiful place with my favorite human. We explored an island together, talked, laughed, drank tequila and shared stories about life now and where its going next. Aren’t we all lucky to have these opportunities? The world is a beautiful place and there is so much to see. I am glad I saw Holbox, but If I go back it will be with wellington boots!