Playa Norte Beach
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Playa Norte has been rated one of the cleanest beaches in Mexico and was awarded a Blue Flag status this year. This award is only given to the most pristine and safe beaches in the world and just a month before we arrived, Playa Norte received their Blue Flag status. In order to acquire a Blue Flag status, a beach must meet 33 specific criteria which include water quality, ecosystems, clear of wastewater or sewage and be free of harmful bacteria. Environmental status is included (level of litter and noise pollution on the beach) and safety must be monitored constantly. Also, Isla Mujeres was recently nominated for the title of "Leading Island Destination in Mexico and Central America". Isla Mujeres has also recently been named the Best Beach Destination in Mexico.
I knew there had to be a road of some type to go down toward Mia Reef Resort because I knew there was a bridge that goes over to it. But somehow, we hadn't found this road yet even though we've been all over this area. Well, we were about to find it.
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It was a very crowded street and everyone was parked along the street. However, we managed to snag a parking spot right at the end before hitting the beach. We got lucky!
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For those that don't know...Mia Reef is a resort that is on an island of it's own at the tip of the Isla. There is a wooden bridge that goes over to it across the water. It is an All Inclusive hotel. Some love it others do not. Many say it's not worth it and the hotel is not "luxurious". Don't forget about how you should get out and taste the Mexican food around town as well.
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However, it did look like an awesome place to hang out on the beach and swim and I had read that this was the place to snorkel. Of course my idea of snorkeling and someone else's are two different things. So we will see how it goes.
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We decided to put our things right by the bridge so that we could see them. It was hot out and we all just wanted in the water. Like right now!
Time to explore. You know the saying the grass is always greener on the other side? Well, we wanted to see how green that grass was over there at Mia and we all walked over in the water. There was a small place that got deeper along the way but it didn't last long. For the most part the water is fairly shallow here as you can tell in the picture above.
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Once we got over to the other side, there were a lot of rocks and I assumed that was where everyone was saying there was good snorkeling at. But mostly people were just hanging out over there and not snorkeling so who knows. I did see some people being dangerous and climbing on the big rocks out there. Yea, that's gonna hurt when you fall.
We hung out for a little bit and I decided I wanted to grab the snorkel gear and have a look around. I knew there would be fish under the bridge at least so I started in that area. I wanted to get some over/under shots.
I don't even know what was going on with my colors in those pictures. I was using the GoPro 7 so that may explain it.
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I headed over to the side along the rocks. Sakari decided to stay back with her dad. I just wanted to practice some over/under shots. I really didn't care if I seen anything or not as long as these turned out good.
Then something caught my eye...
And then another...and another...and another. There were 5 stingrays in that area.
As far as snorkeling...ehh, not really anything too impressive IMO. So, I headed back over to the fam to see if anything was new.
There are plenty of vendors pushing their carts along the beach and ringing bells. Street food at it's finest. We weren't really hungry yet, but what's better on a hot day then...melting ice cream and popsicle goodness right? You gotta be quick in this heat! Popsicles will cost you 25 pesos (or $1.24). Try to beat that price back home off the over inflated ice cream truck in the neighborhood!
Sakari had taken on a new project...making a sand sculpture and what better thing to make other than a whale shark right?
While she was busy working on her sand sculpture, I headed back out under the bridge for a few more pictures.
She finished her whale and I took a picture and she said "Ok, can we please leave now?" Um, ok...why all of a sudden? She said can we at least move over to the other side of the bridge? I looked at her and seen her watching all the little kids running around on the beach and they were coming up to see her sand sculpture and I knew right away why she was saying this and said "You're afraid one of the little kids are going to stop all over it aren't you?" She said "Yep, and I'd rather not be here to see it when it happens after all that work". LOL
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We packed our things up and headed over to the other side where she wouldn't have to witness any destruction.
We were standing out in the water just talking and Sakari had grabbed some Pringles. Well just a few crumbs escaped her mouth and she all of a sudden had an audience.
These Palmetto fish were like dogs. They kept rubbing on her legs and going through her legs and they'd do this little swoop thing to let her know they were there. She was laughing and they wouldn't stop...like forever. She said it was as bad as being home with 4 huskies begging for food. She says "What, I don't have anything!" LOL
They still followed her around everywhere she went. She got a big kick out of it.
We stayed for quite some time over here. The rain never did come and the sun was going down. It was still cloudy out and it finally felt "nice".
Here's a short video of our day here at Playa Norte. You'll see all the fish surrounding us and how funny it was to watch them swim by and rub up against Sakari over and over. She said "They are my fish friends now".
Hubby left at some point to go get pop and it would be 65 pesos (or around $3.23).
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As we headed out another vendor showed up. This was the Esquites vendor and this is something I just KNEW I had to try while here. It seems to be everyone's favorite "snack" for the youtube couples I watch that have moved to Mexico to travel around. They absolutely love this stuff and I wanted to experience it as well. Well now is my chance!
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Check out what I thought of it below:
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Recap of Playa Norte: Absolutely gorgeous beach! This beach expands pretty far on the other side of the bridge to Mia Reef Resort. Lot's of friendly fish and fish under the bridge. It's a great place for families to take children because for the most part, you can walk way out and it's still not deep. It's a Blue Flag beach so you know it is a great place to visit.
