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First Time Reader? ......here is the background to this series of blogs:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/9/1233502800/tpod.html

Mexico: 23 Destinations to Spend the Winter Months

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo
no. 22 of 23 destinations (this is not a ranking)

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Real Time: December 22, 2009

Time to blog has been hard to come by lately as we have been busy with the process of finally moving into our condo located in the heart of James Bay Village. No, we are not enjoying a rural life style in a village as James Bay Village simply refers to the heart of the historical district of Victoria, British Columbia known as "James Bay". The designation “village” is not a misnomer as the area very much has the feel of a small community where a “hello” from passersby is not unusual and where tourists are carried about in horse drawn carriages year round as they admire the Victorian style houses in the neighborhood . This is an exciting time for us not only from the viewpoint of moving into a relatively new brick and steel condo but even more so for being able to find a condo in an area so close to everything that is beautiful here on the fringe of downtown Victoria. We are therefore located only a couple of blocks from the Inner Harbor, the Provincial Legislature, the Empress Hotel, the BC Museum, the Emily Carr House, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and only a little further from the Cruise Ship Harbor and downtown. From our short stay in Victoria three years ago we knew that if we came back it would be James Bay or nothing.On another note, we started the Mexican trip on December 14, 2008 and today's blog is being published on December 22, 2009. In view of the fact that we travelled in Mexico for six weeks to research this blog and then spent over a year writing about it sporadically, we certainly got our money’s worth out of this wonderful experience that was Mexico: 23 Places to Spend the Winter Months.This sounds like the end of blogging on the subject of Mexico but there are about four more blogs to come before the epilog will be written .  
 Lastly, some you may be celebrating Christmas and the New Year - so from both of us - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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Playa del Carmen – The Beach

“Playa”, after all, is the Spanish word for "beach", so – “Playa del Carmen” would be the equivalent of a name like “Miami Beach”.

Therefore I would be remiss in not saying something about the beach and including photos of our short visit.

Here is what I said about the beach in my previous blog.

“If there was one complaint that Barbara had throughout the trip is that we did not have enough time at the beach. I would not disagree with this but on the other hand we are not beach people and the thought of lying on a beach roasting in the sun has, at least for me, all the appeal of a visit to the dentist . But if you were going to get some R & R, a well-known resort town such as Playa del Carmen would be the place to do it”.

So it was with high expectations that we headed for the beach that is located only a five-minute walk from the 5. Avenida, Playa del Carmen’s beautiful pedestrian street.

The visual impact is immediate as we gazed in amazement at a beach of white sable sand gently sloping towards the azure blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. This had the marking of a classical tropical beach, as one would imagine on an island paradise.

The white sable sand was a contrast to the golden, coarser sands we generally found on the Pacific Coast. If I had to choose between the two I would prefer the white sable sand of the Caribbean coast. The other feature of contrast was the gentle slope of the beach towards the Caribbean Sea as opposed to the steep inclines we generally encountered on the Pacific Coast that produced a dangerous undertow . The Caribbean would appear to make for a safer swim. In a quick unscientific search of “Mexico AND shark attacks” all the results I encountered took place on the Pacific Coast. So is all good on the Caribbean Coast? Well not exactly – where are the golden sunsets that set the Pacific Coast apart?
(On the ferry today (Dec. 23, 2009) from Vancouver to Victoria I spoke to a diver who just came back from Playa del Carmen who told me there are mud sharks and hammerhead sharks in the waters off Playa but that they were no threat to swimmers)

As we walked further north along the “Central Playa del Carmen”, the wide beach narrowed taking away some of its impact. Fortunately there were relatively few people on the beach, which was surprising given the time of year. The answer may be that package tours to “Playa del Carmen” may have as their destination the many resorts north and particularly south of here that are a self-contained tourist village with all the amenities one would ever want. Included in these amenities would be beaches that are whiter, cleaner and much wider than what is found in Playa del Carmen proper .

An interesting sight from the beach is a high-rise hotel that is visible on the horizon. It seems to be suspended in the Caribbean Sea but is in fact on the near-by island of Cozumel.

Since I had visited Cozumel in1995 we opted to reserve our limited remaining time for a later visit to Isla Mujeres located near Cancun.

http://www.islacozumel.com.mx/eng/act-attractions.asp

After half an hour of sunbathing we decided to take a break and walk north along the beach. It was during this walk that we went “gaga” in the sense of “completely absorbed, infatuated, or excited” over a flock of pelicans on the beach. (As an aside, do I admit that at the time I had not even heard of “Lady Gaga”?)

.The pelican is a majestic bird prone to do anything to get food. In this case it was a group of fishermen cleaning their catch that attracted their attention . This gave us a golden opportunity to get close to these beautiful seabirds.

The male of the species is particularly beautiful with its white, black and grey colors and sculpted feathers. Dominant is its huge yellow bill festooned with a fleshy hanging pouch just right for gathering fish. While awkward on land, their large wingspan allows for graceful flight, which includes steep dives into the water to catch fish.

I can’t speak to their personality but they seem to be lazy since they make a big deal over the possibility of getting a few morsels of fish parts thrown their way by the fishermen. I guess it would be akin to us going to a restaurant as opposed to going out and getting your own food.

They also seem to be somewhat uncivilized since they have no sense of propriety. Consequently when the fishermen discard a morsel of fish there is no waiting one’s turn. It is a free for all brawl to see which pelican can outmuscle or out maneuver the rest in order to satisfy their hunger . It does boil down to the survival of the fittest.

Be that as it may, the experience of being this close to these beautiful birds had my camera clicking at a furious pace. I have way too many photos of the pelicans as it is but I discarded just as many as I posted.

Also marvelous to watch was the skill of the fishermen filleting a freshly caught tuna and then popping it into a cooler for sale to a supermarket or perhaps for personal consumption.

As it turned out we continued walking along the beach since walking is one of our favorite activities and we never got back to sunbathing. The act of walking on the beach was nevertheless another form of sunbathing in this beautiful weather so prevalent at this time of year in Mexico.

So in summary the central beach in Playa del Carmen is impressive but it pales in comparison with the beaches we found south of nearby Tulum .

For more information on Playa del Carmen:

http://www.playa.info/index.html

Coming Soon:

Puerto Morales – Living the Dream