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Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Club Oasis Akumal, 2000, Part 2a
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OUR AKUMAL ADVENTURE, PART 2a
Monday, 6/19/00, Day “2”
I awoke at 7:30 a.m. knowing exactly where I was. I flung back the curtain and, after a moment of awe, said, “Honey, get up and come look! This place is gorgeous!” The day started a little overcast, but the water was a beautiful turquoise. In front of me were palm trees and palapas with those awful hard plastic lounges and off-white sand. Through the palm fronds I could see the water and the reef beyond. The view to the right was less obstructed; I could see all the way across the sand and the bay to the reef, where the waves were breaking in soft white foam. Some small fishing boats were tied up to the shore, bobbing gently. The refreshing breeze, the smell of the ocean, the color of the water all tingled my spirit.
In a while, we set off in search of breakfast. We found the Restaurante Tucanes and a table for two next to a window. I ordered us café negro (black coffee—for me), café con leche (coffee with milk), and dos aguas frías con hielo (two waters with ice). Fidencio, our waiter, seemed delighted I spoke a little Spanish. Steve got his papaya fix from the buffet, and we both had excellent omelettes from the egg station. The coffee was outstanding, as was the view from the restaurant.
First impressions were flooding my mind. One, and this was born out throughout our stay, the staff at COA really hustles. The fellow who raked the beach, guys who cleaned the pools/Jacuzzis, waiters, bartenders, desk staff, all were pleasant and efficient. Each seemed to know his job and get on with it. I give a great deal of credit to the management of COA for this.
Two, COA is NOT the place to get falling-down drunk. A lot of the pathways are made of dead coral, which can be hard on bare feet and could cause a bad scrape. The path around the restaurants is not very wide and drops off about 3 feet to the sand below.. A tipsy plunge off the ledge could be quite serious. Ergo, be careful.
Three, the Italians party hearty and for the most part are not early risers. When they do emerge, they mostly keep to themselves. I heard of a couple of instances of rudeness, but the ones I spoke with or smiled at generally responded pleasantly. Strangely, every day a whole herd of them of all ages were out doing water aerobics and exercises, with loud chants in synchronous motion. I’ve never been on vacation anyplace else where you could get that many people doing an activity all at once. It wore me out just watching them!
After breakfast, we meandered back to our room, getting beach towels on the way. (Upon arrival, you get a towel card, which you trade for a towel at the activities desk behind the Turtle Bar. You can trade your towel out for a fresh one anytime during the day (if they have clean towels). They like the towels back by 5, but you can keep it and get a fresh one the next day. This helps if you’re an early riser and want to stake out your palapa first thing in the morning.)
We sat on the balcony for a while and I caught up my notes. Then we walked down to the pier, out to the palapa at the end of it (it looks exactly like the panorama on the COA Website), and watched the fish below. The water was so clear we could easily see a school of needlefish, with sergeant majors and doctorfish flitting about them. Then we walked out on the point to the north, which is all weathered coral and rather treacherous footing. We sat under the palapa at the end, watched the waves, and found some little shells and sea urchin “skeletons.” A brief sprinkle of rain passed quickly.
We made our way back to the front desk to meet Gabriel, one of the assistant managers, for an orientation tour, which didn’t take very long. (I suggest doing this, since restaurant and bar times tend to change.)
Of the four pools, three are located on the ocean side of the hotel, one between the condos and newer section (which they opened up late in our stay) away from the ocean. Two Jacuzzis are next to the Turtle Bar. All the pools and Jacuzzis are cleaned first thing in the morning and during the day as necessary. The (mostly) Italian section is the north wing of the hotel, the condos to the south. Some of the condos are still privately owned and have kitchens.
There are the Tucanes and Arrecifes restaurants, plus an adjunct gallery to the Arrecifes called the Salon Galera. For this small restaurant, there are two evening seatings. One must make reservations the day before with the gal who sits at the other activities desk in the second lobby by the Akumal Bar. I believe her name is Lourdes, and she is a very pleasant young woman. You make reservations the day before so you can select what you want for salad, soup, entrée, and dessert, and they get it prepared for you the next evening. (The Galera was frequently empty and closed while we were there.)
Tucanes is all buffet; Arrecifes has a lunch menu from which you can choose and/or do buffet. From about 11:30 to 5, you can get hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries at the Turtle Bar. The Crab Bar has another grill and steamers set out with pizza or other snacks pretty much from the time it opens until it closes at 1 a.m.
As far as wildlife, there are the usual iguanas. The ones at COA seemed quite shy. Small geckos abound, and there is an amazing lizard that runs on its back legs. There are many grackles, whose calls are varied, one sounding exactly like someone blowing a whistle. Seabirds frequently fly overhead, including pelicans, frigate birds, terns, and gulls. As the terns and gulls fly low over the water, their undersides reflect the turquoise of the sea. We also saw a couple of bananaquits who were nesting in a palm tree near the main lobby.
On our journeys, we observed intensely hued orange and black orioles, some parrots (?) with bright blue wings, two kinds of vultures, and a hawk or eagle of some sort (too quick a glimpse to identify).
And there is the sundry sealife. We much enjoyed watching the hermit crabs in the evening. I even saw a white crab on the beach one day. As far as in the water, life abounds, as I describe later.
We ate lunch at Arrecifes, with excellent waiters Ricardo and Pedro. Ricardo is actually a sort of maitre d’, and he keeps the waiters on their toes! (Once again, excellent management.) I forget what we ate, but the ice cream at COA is wonderful. A couple were performing in the restaurant. They were both very good singers and he an excellent saxophonist.
Amazingly, Spanish words kept popping into my head. My Spanish is 35 years old, taken in junior high. I got to practice it a little on trips to Mexico in 1969 and 1972. Otherwise it has lain dormant and moldering in my little pea brain. As we were preparing for this trip, I got to practice “speaking” it (i.e., typing) in the Aruba chatroom I frequent, but typing is vastly different from speaking the language. I had firmly fixed in my mind two phrases: “Una más cerveza fría, por favor” and “Donde está el baño?” (which seem to go hand in hand!). I also came with one Mayan word, maló, which means good or fine. Anyway, I was actually understanding a little of the Latino songs the couple was singing. We enjoyed listening to them very much.
After lunch, we met with the A.T. rep Jorge (not to be confused with a later Jorge) in Lobby #2. We got our receipt for the return transfer to Cancun and discussed the various tour options. We booked a tour to Chichén Itzá for Thursday. Steve went back to our room to retrieve a credit card while I sat and chatted in part English/part Spanish with Jorge.
Submitted by: D. Stevens -- dragon5@fullnet.net
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