Hi there,
The second day we went to Punta Cocos which is supposedly where you can see the bioluminescence at night. We walked on the road and almost got killed by mosquitoes on the way. There the puddles were bigger, and the water was even more than knee high.
The mosquitoes did not give up at any time and I went with a towel to scare them away. Because it didn’t matter if we put repellent; they even bit through clothing.
After almost two hours passing through puddles of disgusting stagnant water, we arrived at Punta Cocos. It was much better than the beach near the town because there are no restaurants, no beach clubs, no music.
We got into the water because it is the only place where you can stay without being attacked by bugs. Black mosquitoes riddle you everywhere and if you lie down on the sand other smaller white mosquitoes start to bite you. I tried to lie down in the water and some kind of little sea cockroaches got into my hair and bit my whole head. Incredible.
Within the sea, the fish also stumble upon you. There are some brown ones that stared at you and are not scared.
We went through all that area and wanted to cross to the other end, which is the one in front of the Isla de la Pasión, but a guy told us that there could be crocodiles and that we better not risk it. Diego was halfway across, and I started yelling at him to come back. Too bad, because the other part looked idyllic.
Around 2:00 p.m. we headed back to the hotel, this time along the beach. Much better because there weren’t so many mosquitoes, and it was better to walk on the beach than through the rotten puddles. The only thing is that you must avoid all the hotels that do not respect the beach line. In the end, you end up getting into all the properties.
We spent that afternoon on the same beach near the hotel. I tried to lie down on the sand to read, but the mosquitoes make it impossible for you. The only thing left is to get into the water and have it cover you up to your neck. Diego went swimming every afternoon, without seeing anything because the water is completely cloudy, and he returned annoyed because he said that throughout the journey there were things that rubbed against his feet.
That afternoon, we covered ourselves with repellent and headed back towards Punta Cocos. The idea was to arrive, watch the sunset and wait for it to get dark. I don’t think we covered a mile. We tried to continue, and people ran as best they could in the opposite direction. It got to the point where we said, “fuck bioluminescence” and we’ll see it somewhere else. We ran back to the hotel.
We spent 3 whole days in Holbox, we organized it this way because I thought that everything was more beautiful and that there were more things to do.
The third day we went back to Punta Cocos, and we stayed a little earlier in a part that was fine. I wanted to try to reach the point that is in front of Isla de la Pasión by road, since yesterday we had not been able to cross by water, but I gave up as soon as the first mosquito bit me.
That afternoon we were trying to rest on the sand and a woman got up hysterically from her towel, told her husband that “everything itched” and ran to the hotel. I understood her so much.
I sat in the water for a while and about 10 fish started circling me and they kept stumbling past, it was super curious.
The day we had to leave, since we had a late flight, we went to the beach early to take advantage of the morning. Just that day that we were leaving, the water was a little more crystalline.
I left Holbox happy to never to return.
The island is very different from what it really is and even “the most acceptable part” is ugly. In addition, some genius came up with the idea of putting pieces of cement to make a kind of boardwalk and for each restaurant or hotel to cut its part of the beach, which is visually a shock and not very “eco-friendly”.
Even the “Velero Beach Club” which is what they sell you as the best of the best, has no charm because you lie down on the loungers to see pieces of cement and the beach itself is one of the ugliest in Holbox.
In short, I think they have destroyed the island with these constructions that monopolize the entire beach. You should be able to walk for miles and miles on the sand and it’s impossible because you find garbage from the hotels, walls pierced in the water, rubble from the constructions and you must be getting in and out of the hotels to get from one side of the island to the other.
Also, there is a lot of dirt. Here people throw their garbage and especially cigarette butts where they want. In the downtown part you don’t notice it because the workers are constantly raking along the shore. Also, it is not forbidden to take things from the beach, and I saw people taking bags of shells and snails.
For me, this island was disappointing, beyond the apocalyptic mosquitoes, for its prices that do not correspond to the quality, the disrespect for the beach line and nature in general, the chaotic constructions, the amounts of debris on the shore of the beach, that everything smells like a drain, etc.
Even so, we tried to enjoy the island and I was super happy with the hotel. First time in a long time that I put a 5-star review.
Here is the link to another blog that I found, and it seems very realistic in terms of Holbox:
http://www.nomad-as.com/2017/06/isla-de-holbox-caminar-descalzo-sale.html
My gallery “Visual Impact”:
https://www.barbierika.com/en/gallery/visual-impact/
The link to my Youtube channel: