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ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 11:14:31 AM
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jabostick
Posts: 45
Joined: 10/24/2012
From: Airdrie, Alberta
Status: offline
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Here goes my first trip report. I'll seperate it into a few posts and hopefully I've got the image embedding down pat. Enjoy!
Wednesday, Feb 13
Today is the day! Our 6am alarm seemed to come extra early as we were up late with last minute packing and I didn’t sleep very well with excitement. We flew with Sunwing and check-in, flight time, etc was all great. I will say, hot meals sound like such a good selling point when you are booking but the warmed-over omelette was a bit nasty. I would’ve been totally fine with a muffin and yogurt or something. Whatev’s.
Flight sidebar note: we brought a documentary called ‘Undefeated’ on the iPad. It’s a football movie but football is really the setting not the subject. It was fantastic and I’d highly recommend it. It is a tear jerker at times - my wife and I were trying our best to not to look completely unstable emotionally.
Our transfer (booked via Sunwing) was faster than expected – barely over an hour, I believe. Check-in was smooth and went quickly. We had emailed ahead of time and requested either building 5 or 6, preferably the 3rd floor, and a mattress topper, but ended up with building 7, 2nd floor, and no mattress topper. The resort was full though and the view from our room was still great so it wasn't a big deal.
We have a habit of always forgetting something so the trek back and forth was a bit annoying sometime but it's not like we can't use the exercise and it isn’t that far anyway.
It was already dark by the time we had a bite to eat so when we tried to tour the resort we couldn't really tell what/where anything was. Ended up having a couple of drinks and playing cards and headed in pretty early.
Thursday, Feb 14
Today was mostly hanging out at the resort and getting a lay of the land and took a spin on the palapas and hammocks.
We went snorkelling and, like all the times we went, we loved it. Lots to see and, even when there were a bunch of tour groups, it was still fantastic.
In the afternoon, we ran into a couple at the pool from Kansas City - Brian and Stacey - who were really nice. We ended up meeting again later after supper and hung out while we watched a corny but entertaining Valentine's Day show at the main bar. Turns out Brian and Stacey are LGers, ABR regulars, and Stacey knows roughly 40% of Mexico. So they were a great way for us to get introduced to Akumal and we had a ton of fun with them throughout the week.
Later that evening their friend Kenny (also from KC) and his daughter Maddy (sp??) joined us and really enjoyed hanging out with them too. Between a late night at the bar and our request for a mattress topper being granted, we had a great sleep that night.
< Message edited by jabostick -- 2/25/2013 1:30:32 PM >
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 11:15:22 AM
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jabostick
Posts: 45
Joined: 10/24/2012
From: Airdrie, Alberta
Status: offline
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Friday, Feb 15
We had booked an excursion to Hidden Worlds for today. HW is an adventure park, sort of like Xplor but smaller and much closer to the resort. It was a 5-10 minute ride from ABR and after some waiver signing and instructions, we went out on this ridiculous looking buggy that was a blast to ride in. If we were allowed to have a camera, I'd have inserted pictures here but we weren’t and the ones they had for purchase were kind of lame.
Our tour guide was a really nice guy named Julio who seemed to LOVE his job and had lots of interesting little tidbits on plants we walked by, Mayan culture, etc. After our buggy ride, we did the activities: a Sky Cycle (a bike on a zip line) that was actually a bit of a workout, a splash zip line (once forwards, and once backwards), a rappel, and then the Avatar - a 'rollercoaster' zip line that had dips and turns and a mini tunnel, and ended in the water. REALLY fun! We finished with a cenote snorkel which was really cool as well. The two couples with us were very friendly and Julio was such a nice guy, he helped make this really enjoyable (a fellow traveler with a different tour guide was lukewarm on her experience so glad we got the ‘good one’). Fun half-day excursion.
Came back to the hotel for lunch, some beach time, and then went with Brian and Stacey for sunset walk and a 'mind eraser' margarita at Cueva.
My wife is a bit of a lightweight and would later comment "I can't see with my eyes" or something to that effect. A late buffet dinner (with some really good soup – I believe it was tortilla soup) and a drink afterwards and we called it a night.
Saturday, Feb 16
Had an early'ish morning snorkel that was awesome! Turtles were everywhere (I'm sure we saw 8 or 10) and saw our first couple of stingrays. We mostly saw the Green Sea Turtles but saw a couple of Hawksbill as well. Got a really nice picture of a Stoplight Parrotfish - I was fascinated by those guys - so that was a lot of fun.
After breakfast, we set up shop on the beach and then decided to take a walk south for a while to check things out.
Came back for more beach time and got our fill of guacamole / pico de gallo at the snack bar. We walked to Akumal to do some souvenir shopping for the kids and my folks (who are babysitting our little girls) but the highlight of the shopping was finding a ridiculous/hilarious wrestling mask of my favourite team. Soon I'll be alienating my wife and children with my over-the-top tailgating gear. It's going to be great. Walked around Akumal a bit more, showed off my maturity at the cannons, etc
The Brian/Stacey/Kenny palapa set up about as North as they could and get had music going to function as the poor man's Moonrise for the day. Stacey and my wife had a short dance party on the beach. Next to us we met another LG member - Mark and Janet from Charlotte - another very nice couple, who were there for the first time as well.
We were traveling for our 5th anniversary and went without our kids (a 1.5 yr old and a 4 yr old) and wanted to write a message for them on the webcam. It always seemed to have something there that we didn't want to erase so we just wrote our own message and took a picture. (insert pic). This snowman/sandman was entertaining as well. Other accessories continued to be added to him.
The bay looked incredible that afternoon as the sun went down and we took a couple of goofy/fake romantic shots.
Also met some Wisconsinites: Joe, his son Travis and Travis's wife Mandy - LG folks as well. They were also very friendly (seems to be the theme with LG people we met) and Joe is quite the character.
The staff and bartenders are always mentioned as one of the highlights of ABR, no different this time around. We had our camera set on the wrong setting so this picture didn't turn out. But then again, part of the time things looked a bit fuzzy because of those guys so probably an accurate picture.
The entertainment was Kahlua (a cover band). Talented musicians but the mis-quoted lyrics were my favourite part and we got a kick out of it. My lack of interest in dancing continues to disappoint my wife to no end.
All in all a very fun and very packed day.
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 11:16:15 AM
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jabostick
Posts: 45
Joined: 10/24/2012
From: Airdrie, Alberta
Status: offline
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Sunday, Feb 17th
Started out a tad bit chilly so we thought it'd be a good day to walk to the pueblo (it's quite a bit warmer inland than on the beach - stating the obvious I guess). A lot of the places were closed down but it was interesting to tour the area. Found out where Naty's was and made a promise to myself to be back for the flattened chicken that I've read so much about.
My wife went with Kenny and his daughter to do some shopping at the Gran Bahia hacienda (they were unimpressed - expensive and more 'commercial' - and ended up coming back to Akumal to finish their shopping) while I went and snorkelled. I saw my first squid but Kerry had the camera. I thought those were really interesting, I hadn't ever seen what a live one looked like before that.
Hung out on the beach otherwise. It was really windy and when the sun went behind the clouds it was chilly. Did a second snorkel with Kerry when she got back and then went and showered to warm up before dinner.
Less eventful night. We played cards with Kenny and Maddy and then the four of us met Brian and Stacey for dinner. A drink at the bar after and we went to bed early.
Monday, Feb 18th
Having gone to bed early, my plan was to wake up first thing and get some sunrise pictures but we woke up to REALLY strong winds and a fair amount of clouds so it was too cold to bother and the view wasn't great anyway.
The idea was to do the Tulum beach crawl but with the wind, we decided to change the game plan. We walked towards La Buena Vida for a drink and photo shoot. Really cool place! Then we just kept walking towards Yal Ku Lagoon checking out housing on the way. Ended up going all the way to Yal Ku, which was good because it was such a gorgeous place that it convinced us to go there for snorkelling the next day.
After that we headed back and the two of us and Kenny went to Naty's. Oh man, what an awesome lunch. I sometimes measure food quality by how much it makes me want to swear (i.e. “Holy Sh*t, this is f***ing delicious!” etc… you all know how swearing works.). This was a very swear-worthy meal. We split one chicken between the three of us; it came with tortillas, rice, beans, and coleslaw. We each had a pop and it all came out to 130 pesos! I was stuffed afterwards. Great deal.
Made it back to the resort and met up the rest if the crew and the 8 of us holed up in a spot with no wind and played cards for the rest of the afternoon. A lot of fun, actually, and we turned the ugly day into a nice little mini party.
Later, I had a "what a small world" moment - we live in Alberta, Canada (western Canada) and we ran into my cousin's wife who is from the east coast of Canada (New Brunswick) who had just arrived.
After supper, Stacey had volunteered Kerry to be a part of the Miss Akumal competition/entertainment. Kerry was mortified but put in a good effort and it was fun (she didn’t win, by the way).
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 11:25:35 AM
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jabostick
Posts: 45
Joined: 10/24/2012
From: Airdrie, Alberta
Status: offline
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Tuesday, Feb 19
Started off with great weather today; a little bit cloudy but hardly any wind and much warmer. As per yesterday's journey, we decided to go to Yal Ku first thing. We rented a couple of bikes, invited my cousin’s wife and her friend and headed off.
We saw some pretty neat things but while the weird haze of the fresh water and salt water mixing was cool, it made for some blurry pics sometimes.
When we were finished, it started to rain lightly, by the time we started on our bikes it was POURING! We got wetter on the bikes than we did snorkelling. Made for a memorable ride, at least.
Unfortunately, clouds and light rain was the story the rest of the day. Still not as chilly as previously, but we ducked inside a few times to regroup.
Later in the afternoon we decided to head out snorkelling, in spite of the weather, because it was our last full day. Are we ever glad we did, we saw a huge spotted eagle ray! It was amazing! Water was a bit murky because of all the wind but it was so cool to see. We only have a video, no pics. Apologize for the shakiness but we were busting our butts to keep up with it. Here is a YouTube link to the vid.
http://youtu.be/QzkvfYs7mLI
Also got better video of squid than pics but
Had a low key but late night. Dinner was really good, maybe the best buffet of the week. Entertainment was Caribbean music. The singer had a great voice and the animation team did their best to add some dancing but most people seemed to just enjoy it as background music (the singer’s request for audience participation went mostly unrequited). We played cards and talked over a couple of drinks. Very enjoyable.
Wednesday, Feb 20
Woke up early to try and get a good sunrise on our last day and it was gorgeous out. Point-and-shoot pictures don’t really do it justice but a coffee watching the sunrise was a great start to the day.
We snorkelled early before breakfast and again saw some amazing things. Having seen turtles and rays, we were more on a fish hunt this time. Saw eels and squid and trumpetfish, spotted cowfish (I think), etc
Tough to see but am swimming just behind a big school of Tangs or angel fish – I don’t know my fish.
Our transfer wasn’t arriving until 12:30 so we just spent the morning trying to soak up every bit of beach and water as we could, while saying our goodbye’s to everybody. The beautiful weather made it slightly depressing to leave but I’m not going to complain about nice weather. Got a few final pictures with our new buddies and just relaxed.
The transfer ride back was pretty quick (~1 hour) so we were almost at the front of the line for check-in. That all went smooth and we had lots of time so we did some shopping.
Unfortunately our flight was about an hour late arriving so the wait at the airport seemed forever and, being up at 5:40 or so was starting to make the day seem long. I also can’t sleep on flights so even though the flight was the same length, it seemed to drag on and on. Anyway, got home safe and sound and with a lot of great memories.
Overall, knowing what I know about the “old ABR” (from reading online/talking to others) and knowing that was part of the reason we chose it (it was still ‘old ABR’ when we booked our trip), it was a bit disappointing to not have the chance to experience the moonrise and all that, but it was still a fantastic vacation. I really enjoyed the company of the people we met, and I would gladly go back (though that might not happen for quite a while) and recommend it to others.
Lastly, here are some random pics of the resort, snorkelling, etc
< Message edited by jabostick -- 2/25/2013 11:46:30 AM >
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 6:44:54 PM
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Jazzsmith10
Posts: 95
Joined: 1/1/2013
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Great pictures and trip report! Thanks for sharing. What kind of underwater camera do you use? Would you recommend it?
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 8:43:08 PM
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Bosco
Posts: 6895
Joined: 5/8/2006
From: Another day..another seedy hotel
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Very swear worthy trip report, jabo.
Well Done.
Glad you had a great time.
Bosco
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/25/2013 8:57:12 PM
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husker gringoes
Posts: 57
Joined: 2/6/2012
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Great report ! Glad you had a good time. We will be at the ABR starting march 2nd, got me exited back. We have been there 5 times and always a great time. the staff and the beach say it all !!! We also have a D-10 and we love it, nice pictures and nice video under and above water.
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RE: ABR - Feb 13-20, 2013 - 2/26/2013 6:23:36 PM
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traveljunkie
Posts: 17
Joined: 1/26/2013
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Thanks so much for the trip report! We will be there for the first time very soon...trip reports are awesome, they get me ready to go...even more so than I already am!
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Printable Version
... kinda fun riding in the rain on HMB road dodging the potholes eh?
