Cancun: Mayans, Turtles, and Whale Sharks, oh my!
Trip Information
- Time of Year Traveled: July
- Total Cost per Person (Airline tickets, transportation, hotel, food, excursions, gas, etc): $840
- How many days: 4 Days
Tours Taken:
- Snorkel with Whale Sharks
- X-Caret
- Floating Bottle Island
- Coco de Bongo
This is both our third time in Cancun. We have come to know Cancun like the back of our hand, but it is fair to say that this will be our last trip to the beautiful island for quite some time. Not that we don’t LOVE it, especially Isla Mujeres, but there are so many other places in the world!
It was a very quick trip and started off a little rocky. Both of our planes got delayed for very different reasons and a few hour flight turned into almost 9 to 10 hours for Lisa and almost 12 hours for me. Lisa was also very proud of me for packing very light- the pink bag is mine. But I couldn’t compete with Lisa- She only brought a backpack on the trip.
Last year, we went to Cancun to swim with the whale sharks. It has been on my bucket list for the past 3 years and who else will experience it with me? Lisa! But last year, due to the wind, the entire port was shut down, so no chance to swim with the whale sharks, but this year, luck was in my favor.
We loved our experience in Cancun and hopefully you love yours as well.
Nightlife in Cancun
There are so many different clubs in Cancun. You can’t go wrong, but COCO de Bongo was definitely our favorite.
Lisa really wanted to go to COCO de BONGO, it is the most famous club in Cancun. I was very surprised how great the show was. It is a musical mixed with Cirque Soleil. For the price we paid for our ticket, it was worth it.
The cost for the tickets was about $95, but that included a souvenir, unlimited alcohol, and a spot in a special line where we didn’t have to wait.
We went to the club at 11 PM, which is still considered early for Cancun, but I was glad we did. We got a really good spot to view the show and multiple water bottles to keep us hydrated. This is how much of a party animal we are…We indulge in water bottles.
I will warn you, it is just an open floor and seats are not available unless you get a table. The bars are so packed that it is hard to get a drink, plus you don’t want to lose your spot.
It is definitely worth going once. I was extremely impressed with the show.
Here are the dancers:
Here are the acrobats:
They even have Phantom of the Opera:
And there is always lots of confetti everywhere!
The whale sharks were amazing. I worked with Mariel from Isla Mujeres Tours and she was able to get us a swim for $125 each, which is half the price of other places.
First off, I am fascinated by whale sharks for so many reasons. They are gigantic creatures, but only eat plankton. They are harmless. They are so safe, you can snorkel with them, but be warned they are fairly fast.
This is us on the hunt to find the whale sharks:
I felt so bad because Lisa got really sick from the boat ride for some reason, so she only got to do one jump, but being the great friend she is, she was just happy that I got to live my dream.
Here is a selfie of her super sick self trying not to throw up.
Here are my whale sharks!
They even gave us snacks and drinks in the water throughout the tour.
And here is the group that was brave enough to go swim with the giant whale sharks:
FLOATING BOTTLE ISLAND
Last year when we went to the Floating Bottle Island and met Richard, we felt hope in his vision. Honestly, neither of us would ever want to live like him, but we were intrigued because we applauded his spirit and his hope that he was making a huge difference in the world.
Unfortunately, this year we returned, Richard was not in the best of moods. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend, so his whole attitude was dark and dreary. You could tell he didn’t keep up with the place, he even stated that he doesn’t know what he was thinking about doing this and spoke to us all about his break-up. Last year, he didn’t let us take a picture of the bedroom because his girlfriend wanted privacy, this year he’s like take any picture you want.
Here is Lisa listening to him speak about his developments and heartache.
Hopefully he snaps out of it, but for now, I would not recommend visiting this unique tourist attraction.
NORTH BEACH
By far, this is one of my favorite beaches out of all the places I have been. This beach is one of the cleanest and clearest beach I’ve been to. Also, there are hardly any waves, so you don’t feel like you are going to get swept away. It’s never really crowded and you can just rent a chair for about $6 for the day and relax the day away.
There are several large parks that you can go spend the day and this year I was trying to decide between XCaret, Xel-Ha again, or Xplor. I am so glad we picked XCaret. It was so enjoyable and absolutely worth the money. The park is open much later than other parks and there are so many things to do including a spectacular night show.
Other Memories
Lisa had to have her Happy Meal for the Minions
Why not take a picture with a giant shark?
A complimentary sombrero picture is a must-have
Click here to go through our trip from last year.
Adios Cancun, you will always have a special place in our hearts.