Isla Holbox

If someone would ask me for the Spanish translation of ‘quietness’ I would probably answer ‘Isla Holbox’. In comparison to the other Mexican Islands, Isla Holbox can be considered as less touristy. In fact it is a great spot for relaxation, since there are not many opportunities to actually go out. Thus, the main activities on this heavenly calm place can be reduced to  laying all day at the beach and enjoying the lazy, sun-drunk atmosphere.

Instead of booking a normal bed in a hostel I decided to to take the chance of saving some money and sleeping in a hammock at Hostel & Cabanas Ida y Vuelta for the whole stay. I found it quite comfortable and relaxing to enjoy my time there within the nature, my travel friend, however, was eaten by the mosquitos and changed into one of the more expensive bungalows after the second day.

Even though the water is not as translucent and bright as on the Caribbean beach sites of Yucatan, for those seeking a change to the hubbubs of Cancún and other well-known places, it might be the perfect stopover while traveling the Mexican coasts.
In addition, especially for topless-tanning lovers like me, this island has much to offer. During our one week stay, there were only a handful of other people at the beach, if any at all.
After a few days of endless relaxation, book reading, tanning and laziness we decided to take a long walk in the afternoon towards the end of the island, which is home to a diversity of rare bird species including flamingos. However, doing so during summer season isn’t the smartest idea without any repellent, since you’ll be confronting clouds of mosquitos close to dusk. Hence, taking one of the golf carts, which are commonly used everywhere, is probably the more convenient and lazy option :-).

Especially during summer there are lots of tour deals to see the famous tiburón ballena (whale shark) because they congregate relatively nearby in big quantities. In the end we decided not to do any tour due to the relatively high costs and the mixed experiences we heard from other people. Plus, I’m not really a fan of those touristy, profit-orientated tours which disturb the animals in their natural environment, but that’s just my opinion.

Must-do: Skinny dipping by night when the sky is clear! Due to the richness of bioluminescent plankton the water shines light green while swimming 🙂