Brett and Trevor going into Garrafon de Castilla. Like Dallas’s beach bag?

Admission was $50 pesos (about $3.90 USD)

Brett braided my hair. What a relief to have it up for the beach and golf cart ride.

Larry

Looking down at the beach.

Lynda, Jess, Dallas, Josh, Mike, Todd

Feeding the fish

Feeding the fish

Just part of our crew!

Our first stop on our tour of Isla Mujeres on golf carts. Garrafon de Castilla is a beach club on the south end of Isla Mujeres. For $50 pesos (roughly $3.90 USD), you get access to their private, white sand beach, snorkeling, a bar and restaurant, beach chairs, dressing rooms, showers, restrooms, and staff that waits on you. This was our first stop on our golf cart tour of Isla Mujeres.

One thing I didn’t really think about before arriving on Isla is the water. It is so clear and beautiful. A bright turquoise color. I made a comment right away saying it reminded me of the Caribbean (from when I visited St. Thomas many years ago), and of course…. duh. It is the Caribbean! Isla Mujeres is the Eastern-most part of Mexico and is essentially in the Caribbean. Another thing really liked liked about hte beaches around Isla was that there were no rocks. It was smooth, fine sand all the way out. And the sand really is so soft, not course like the Hawaiian sand we’re used to. Many of the beaches were shallow for a long way. You could walk and walk and still be only waist deep.

Anyway………. for a few pesos, you can rent snorkel gear to go snorkeling at Garrafon de Castilla, but here’s the thing: When you step into the water you are immediately surrounded by fish! And the water is so clear, you can see them all. Some of the girls were freaked out by all of the fish, but that doesn’t really get to me. Kelly decided not to snorkel because of it, so I took advantage and used her gear to go out a little bit farther. Tons of fish to look at. If you wanted, you could get a little container of food to feed the fish. I didn’t do it, but one woman did and the fish were surrounding her! I wonder if this is why the fish are so “friendly” in this area – they’re used to getting hand outs! Kind of like the pigeons in NYC or something.

The bar and restaurant were under a palapa. You walked down some stairs to get to the beach level. The beach was abundant with some groovy wavy chairs and you could rent towels for $25 pesos (about $1.90 USD). Visitors go up the palapa to order or there is wait staff who will come down to the beach to take and deliver orders. I had an order of fish tacos that was pretty good. And again, glass bottles on the sand and in the water? No problemo! I don’t know how the ocean is not filled with glass. I guess drunk people are more responsible than I would believe. Also, early one morning I saw people hand-raking the beach at our hotel with what looked like garden rakes. Maybe this gets most of the debris out before people arrive.

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