Dear Sloane,
Still suffering from a serious jet lag we would just like to inform you that we spent two very wonderful weeks at Casa Rosa. The house and surroundings really exceeded our expectations. The kids (our two, and our friends’ two) loved the place and thought this was their best vacation ever. And their parents tend to agree ? Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Maria and Bernardino assisted us in the most efficient and pleasant manner and the three dinners they prepared for us were really wonderful. Gina came along the second day of our stay and was very helpful with some practicalities, and we were also very happy to have the discrete but very pleasant night guard around every night.
We went to Blue Sky twice and that was good every time. But the greatest fun was perhaps a 100 % local restaurant at the main street in Tulum Pueblo, with low Mexican prices, only Mexican guests, LOUD music from a jukebox and a boxing match at the TV. However, since the kids did not like their food (truly Mexican) we only went there once.
The pool was great for the kids, snorkeling between the reef and the beach was beatiful and the kayaks were great fun. We visited several attractions in the area during our stay, including the Tulum ruins (of course) and Coba, both of which Kristin and I visited when we backpacked in Mexico in 1993. We also had a very scenic boat trip on the lagoons and canals in Sinai-Kaan, and an interesting (but dusty) car ride down to Punta Allen. Our friends also went to Chitzen Itza and Ek-Balam. Being a scuba diver I had some ocean dives and several cavern dives in various cenotes at Hidden Worlds. The whole family (and our friends) also went on a cenote snorkeling tour with Hidden Worlds – highly recommendable! We also snorkeled all the way up the Casa Cenote – very beautiful indeed! By the way, one of the cavern dive guides I dove with at Hidden Worlds strongly recommended Lucky Fish Diver Center at Tankah Inn. Cave divers are very safety-focussed so this is probably a good center you may recommend to future guests (it is a small operation and did not have capacity when I asked them, so I ended up having my ocean dives with someone else).
I should mention that the area south of Tulum is of particular significance to our family: During a heavy thunderstorm in June 1902 my great grandfather, who was a captain in the Norwegian merchant navy, lost the masts of the sailing vessel he was commanding. Having no engine the vessel drifted ashore and sunk at the reef outside Bahia de la Ascension. Luckily enough everyone on board survived the incident, but my great grandfather, his wife, their two year old daughter and the entire crew spent two weeks at a desert beach before they were rescued. My grandmother (who wasn’t born then) even wrote a book about this many years later.
Again, we spent a wonderful time at Casa Rosa and I consider it more likely than not that we will return some day. I also do hope you take time to use the house yourselves!
Kind regards,