On the Beach/Off the Grid: Mahahual

Mahahual, Mexico lies deep within Mexico’s Costa Maya on the Atlantic Ocean only a few hours drive from Belize. It is a relaxed destination for nonconformist tourists and international backpackers. Far from the noise of Cancun and the trendy popularity of Tulum, Mahahual is low key and ready for investors.

Peg and Chip recently kicked back with new friends in this out of the way paradise. They chilled in the quiet, renegade lifestyle of this seaside paradise a three hour drive from their new home in Akumal and light years from the lively chaos of Cancun.

But even now, 2 decades into the 21st century, Mahahual is a throwback in time. The vibe here feels like undeveloped Riviera Maya when it was just stretching its touristic wings in the 1970’s.

Sealife abounds along the largest reef in the western hemisphere, the Mesoamerican reef which covers approximately 700 miles from the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula through the Honduran Bay islands.

You will find delectable seafood easily available and large conch shells clutter the beach.

P & C are guests at “Casita Dragonfly,” the newly acquired vacation home of two friends from Oregon, Ron and Carol. This comfortable, quaint casa is 10 kilometers south of Mahahual and is one of very few to have survived brutal Hurricane Dean in 2007. It fronts the Caribbean where small waves break a quarter mile out as they crest the Mesoamerican reef.

Frigate birds hover above a white sand beach and coconut-loaded palms rattle fronds as they reach toward cottony clouds. A hand painted sign identifies their view from the porch as “Naked Beach.”

We laze in hammocks and loungers on a wooden porch shaded by a palapa roof because there is really not much else to do. We are totally off the grid. No cell signals. Electricity comes from solar panels. Fresh water is collected in a cistern. And waste is disposed basically the way the Mayans did. No traffic. No sunburnt tourists. No bare fanny cheeks.

Much time is spent telling stories about ourselves. As we enjoy our drinks the tales grow taller. Surprisingly most are true.

Host Ron began playing violin when he was 6 and once lived in Micronesia. Now he lives to scuba dive with sharks and always travels with a flute. Friend Ken has sold miles and miles of wood moldings and tried to skewer his head with a ski in Colorado.

Peggy learned to ride ponies in Laos and had a flight home delayed because the Shah of Iran was loading his family on three planes just ahead of the Revolution. One of Chip’s first trips abroad was to Uganda in East Africa where in a dark corner a woman tried to steal the belt he was wearing.

None of this has anything to do with the slowly emerging tourist population moving into this part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. But the lazy, reflectful, suds-soothed conversation reflects the easy, breezy atmosphere here.

Check out Mahahual now before it’s too late. Real estate prices are expected to skyrocket in the next decade.