All photographs ©Brian Overcast
“Too cold” is the most common verdict when my wife touches swimming pool water. She’s from Mazatlan on Mexico’s Pacific Coast so she likes it hot. Or heated. Although I have discovered that even when hotels in Mexico advertise their swimming pools (piscinas) as being heated (climatizada), they oftentimes are not. As a result, most of my attempts to find adequately warm swimming spots on our travels have failed.
“Too hot.” That’s what I thought when I had to reschedule a January vacation to the Yucatan peninsula for June. It was the same thought I had when we arrived on a rainy afternoon in Holbox Island, a two-hour drive and 30-minute ferry ride from the Cancun airport. Instead of the white beaches I had envisioned, we were greeted by a muggy, gray afternoon.
Our taxi to the hotel on the afternoon that we arrived. Good thing it was 4-wheel drive!
“Just Right.” The next morning, Mireya and I donned our swimming suits and sandals for a sunrise walk on the beach, two blocks away and yet unseen. The sun peaked out, the skies cleared and the view of white sand beaches and turquoise water was startling. We waded into warm, waveless water that even 100 feet out was only up to our waists. Mireya’s verdict: her most wonderful beach experience to date.
Although the water in the photograph appears to have a greenish tint, in person it is almost transparent.
Further random notes on Holbox: It will take you a while to get there on public transportation / Foreigners abound, we loved hearing the different languages on the ferry ride from Chiquilá / Winter is high season because of its dry weather and bearable temperatures. If you come in the summer, rainy season runs from June to October and this town does not handle a downpour well—we crisscrossed the streets to find high ground / The sand on the beach is white, fine, and hard enough to make walking and running comfortable. Take advantage of that for an early morning beach walk to Punta Cocos to observe the flamingos / The experience of swimming with whale sharks is available in July and August, maybe we’ll be back!