Isla Holbox, the Lovely Opposite of Cancun

We spent a few days mostly inside the Moon Palace convention center just below the Hotel Zone in Cancun, and after all of the work of our TBEX meeting, it was time for a change of pace. So we packed in to a van and drove two hours to the northwest to a ferry that took us out to an island with no cars, very few televisions, and the sea surrounding us all around.

It’s one of the shallowest seas I’ve ever seen…people were hundreds of yards off shore walking in light blue water up to their ankles! This small island is only 16 x 1 kilometers, a narrow strip located in a sandy basin. Most of what people do here is lie around and relax, besides the 28 hotels’ wifi, there isn’t a lot of media to entertain us.

My friend Tim lives in Mexico and told us last night about how loud everything is there, it’s a constant cacophony, a symphony of sounds, from loud radios, to blaring car horns to trucks with speakers mounted in top blaring out news of an upcoming concert or a plea to vote for someone.

Isla Holbox is simple. A place to chill out.  Scandinavians love coming here and in February they are one of the top visitor nationalities. More than six thousand people can show up here, but most of the time it’s only the 1000 or so locals. Tomorrow we are going to swim with giant whale sharks in a protected environmental sanctuary.  One of our hosts has been involved with helping to restore and preserve flamingos. Barbara, who owns a hotel here, told us that five years ago there were only 10,000 of the birds, today there are 50,000.