Our Journey Begins – Playa del Carmen
¡Hola amigos y familia!
After months of preparation, packing up our Austin home, a road trip to Oregon (shout out and many thanks to Bob, Natalie, and Amelia), and a rather epic final push, we finally made it to beautiful Playa del Carmen on the sunny Yucatan Peninsula! After a bit of a rough first week owing to Rhonda dealing with “cough due to cold” (apologies for the Forrest Gump reference), we’ve finally settled into the rhythm of life in this small but vibrant coastal city.
During our first couple weeks, we’ve found some great little restaurants (Marisquería Punta Esmeralda being our favorite) and eaten our fair share of fish tacos, shrimp tacos, and especially tuna tostadas. We’ve walked the length of 5 Avenida Norte aka La Quinta (the 5th) taking in the restaurants, colorful shops, and even more colorful people. We’ve been to some great beaches (Playa 88) and done as much open water swimming as the sargassum and surf have allowed (see our open water wanderer post).
After leaving Hawai’i, the gnarliest waves I’ve dealt with were in Barton Springs and the North Austin YMCA pool. Probably needless to say, I’m not quite as used to rough water as I once was, but I’m getting my “sea legs” back a little more each day.
And in case you don’t know, sargassum is a stinky and sometimes highly prolific seaweed that washes ashore in huge patches. At normal levels, it’s a natural part of the Caribbean marine ecosystem. However, pollution, agricultural runoff, and elevated water temperatures have created giant blooms that find their way to shore, wreaking all kinds of havoc. Sargassum is causing serious health problems for people as well as marine wildlife throughout Central America and the Caribbean. Rotting sargassum is also having widespread and devastating economic impacts on the fishing and tourism industries. Not to mention, it’s also absolutely no fun to swim through.
Playa del Carmen is having a record year for sargassum, expecting 60,000 tons to wash ashore in 2026 alone. The Mexican maritime organization Zofemat and even the Mexican Navy have been working nearly around the clock to deal with the issue installing barriers and cleaning up beaches. It’s a monumental endeavor we’ve witnessed firsthand and truly appreciate. The beaches would be quite nasty and unhealthy without all their hard work – often manual labor in the oppressive Caribbean heat. For more info on sargassum, click here and here. Suffice it to say, sargassum is a major environmental issue for many Caribbean countries that have had essentially nothing to do with causing this problem.
On a happier note, we’ve visited some beautiful cenotes, traditional Mayan villages, a delightful small town called Valladolid, and an incredible archeological site called Ek’ Balam. More on all those wonderful excursions coming soon.
We hope you’ll join us again for our next weekly adventure, until then hasta luego!
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ReVv LuVv
This is AWESOME! It looks like you are having a great time!!!