We spent a week in the sleepy little town of Akumal in April of 2009. Akumal is a great place to relax and get away from the "crowds" at the all inclusive resorts.

We stayed at Hacienda de la Tortuga while in Akumal. It is a sister property to La Mirage. The picture to the right shows La Tortuga on the left and La Mirage on the right.

The condo was very nice. It is in no way "luxurious" but a very nice place to stay in Akumal.

We were in room 12 on the top floor. This is a one bedroom unit with living room and kitchen. The unit was large and very clean. The back bedroom is air conditioned but we never used it because there was a great breeze which blew through the unit each night.

The kitchen was nicely stocked with a microwave, stove, fridge and lots of cookware.

We also had a large container of fresh drinking water which was perfect for making ice and coffee.

The picture to the right shows the nice walk in shower.

The one drawback was that the TV did not have cable. So there were only two Spanish speaking channels available.

But there is a DVD player so thankfully we brought some Netflix movies with us which we watched throughout the week.

The unit is located directly on the beach. The balcony was large and included a nice hammock.

To the left and the right were great views of Half Moon Bay.

The beach in front of the condo is nice but it is NOT a swimming beach. Once you walk into the water you hit some major rocky landscape. But the beach itself is nice and it is a nice place to snorkel.

Overall, we recommend Hacienda de la Tortuga as a comfortable no frills condo on Half Moon Bay. Would we return? Yes.

We really liked La Lunita. It is a little beachside restaurant that is located at Hacienda de la Tortuga.

The restaurant is only open in the evenings. We ate there twice and both meals were very good.

It is a little more pricey than other restaurants in Akumal, but only slightly and we thought the atmosphere and food quality was worth the extra cost.

I had the Grouper with tequila cream sauce and Carroll had the steak with a shallot sauce. Both dishes were muy bueno.

We spent a lot of time at La Buena Vida. We loved the bar but thought the food was pretty mediocore.

They have free internet so it was a great place to take the ITouch and check email.

The tables are right on the beach and they have some nice swinging chairs that look out over the ocean. The happy hour is daily from 6 to 7. Cervezas were half price which brought them down to 15 pesos.

The food at Buena Vida was OK but not that great. Our favorite menu choice was an appetizer for two dish which was plenty for both of us for dinner.

We stopped at Zamas for lunch after touring Tulum in the morning. This was a great little place located directly on the beach. We thought the food was very good and the prices were also very reasonable.

I had the tostada. (Shown above) It was great. We had a table that overlooked the beach. Good food and service. W recommend this place.

While in Playa del Carmen we stopped and had some beer and chips at Playa Maya. Playa Maya is on the beach and has always delivered decent food and service.

Wow, has Playa del Carmen grown in the last 5 years? We were shocked at how the town has progressed in such a short time. We remember dirt streets not to long ago....

Playa Maya is one of many beachside places along the beach in Playa del Carmen.

The beach at Playa del Carmen looked pretty good, considering all of the hurricanes that they have recently had.

By far, our most expensive meal was getting a cheeseburger and margarita at Margaritaville at the Cancun airport. The food and drinks were very good but darn pricey.

We decided to spend one morning at Yal-Ku Lagoon and we were glad we did. This place has really grown!

The entrance fee has increased. It was $9 USD or $110 Pesos per person. But the park has added a lot of very cool art that really adds a new dimensionality to the experience.

We arrived at 9:00 AM and it was pretty quiet. The lagoon is protected, so even though Half Moon Bay was very windy, it was calm in the lagoon.

There are steps that allow for easy entry into the water. The water was a little cool, since it is a mix of salt and fresh water.

This time we snorkeled within the lagoon and we did not venture out towards the bay. The snokeling was better in the lagoon (to the left) rather than out towards the bay (to the right).

There aren't tons of fish, but there are plenty and it is very cool snorkeling among the rock formations.

The art has been put out amongst the lagoon which really made for some nice picturesque scenes.

Make sure you arrive early, because after 10 AM the "tours" arrive and it makes it a little less enjoyable.

An iguana did not like the fact that we put our snorkel bag next to his home.

Akumal has a decent places to snorkel. Unfortuneately, while we were there, the water was rough due to high winds.

You'll find Akumal about 20 miles south of Playa del Carmen. The beach town is located about 1/2 mile from Highway 307.

Probably the best place to park is before you see the arch. There is a parking lot to the right that offers free parking. From there, it is an easy walk to the water.

Akumal Bay is where you will find lots of turtles. We only saw one, but the day we went out there were red flags and the visibility was pretty stirred up.

You'll see a restaurant called Lol Ha. If you swim out from there you will see some buoys. These buoys keep the boats away from the "turtle areas". So swim toward the buoys.

We also snorkeled in Half Moon Bay. The main reef is located in front of La Mirage. The bay is very shallow so it wasn't ideal, but there is a lot of sea life.

We actually saw more from our balcony than we did snorkeling. From our balcony we saw lots of turtles, rays and barracuda.

We went back to Tulum because it is such a beautiful place. The park was about $8 USD a person.

This time I "opened the wallet" and purchased the train fare. This saves you walking about 1/2 mile each way from the parking lot to the site. It was $2 USD a person (roundtrip) and worth it if it is hot.

We didn't purchase a tour guide, so we leisurely walked through the site.

This was very strange. The picture to the right was taken 6 years ago. The picture to the left was taken this trip. Notice that there is an iguana at the SAME place. I think maybe the new smaller iguana is the child of the iguana from 6 years ago? Maybe that family of iguanas "own" that perch?

The site is very pretty because it is located directly on the ocean.

More scenic shots.

Afterwards we saw a Mayn show which included some Mayans climbing a pole which had ropes tied around the top.

Then another guy climbs up the pole and he steadies the platform.

Then they hang from the top and the rope "unwinds" as they spin around the pole. They took donations and it was good fun.