Laguna Bacalar and the Mahahual Coast

We headed out on a day trip to visit Fortress de  San Filipe and to check out a small campground on the shores of Laguna Bacalar. What we found was breathtaking.

View of the Lake from the top of the fort

Views of the lake on the south side of town near the campground.  We found the campground to be very rustic.  The low hanging limbs along the access road preventing us from even considering staying here.  Our rigs  are 11.6 and 12.3 ft.  There is a large nice Balanario on the north end of the malecon.  We asked if we could camp there in a Casa Rodante.  The attendant appeared to be a little groggy, he said Si but I don't know if he really had any idea of what we had asked him.

Mahuhal and Xcalac

Well, the time has  arrived for us to leave Yax-Ha.  So many great people have come and gone during our stay.    We have enjoyed the campers and the staff a great deal.

Our next port of call is the Fishing Village turned Cruise Ship Port of Call, Mahahual.  No campsites listed.  We'll see.  The Cruise ships come in Tue, Wed. and Thur.  the rest of the week it is real quite. Photo by Helen

The young man using my computer is Jerry, owner? manager? of the Lighthouse Restaurant.  He is in the process of putting in a small campground.  The location is great right on the water and the Malecon.  The sites have just been cleared, palms have been planted but no water electricity or dump yet.  Jerry says next year.  We felt that the ground was not solid enough for our heavy rigs. Photo by Helen

Ron and Jerry discussing the new campground to come.

Beach Volleyball court awaiting players in front of Lighthouse Restaurant and soon to be campground.

The Sakha Palapa actually sits under the lighthouse.  The lighthouse Restaurant sits across the street and on the other side of the  Navy Base.  We ate a few meals at the Sakha Palapa because the food was good, the location unbeatable  and we enjoyed the family who runs it. 

Xcalac, aka the end of the road.  We took a circle tour today. 

But first we need fuel for the 4 wheeling trip.  They fuel gage in the Jeep read 1/4.  We arrived at the Pemex and there was no electricity to run the pumps.  The attendant assured us that it would be up in 20 minutes.  Our minutes or Mexican minutes?  What to do?

We waited and the power and the fuel was flowing in less than 10 minutes!!!!

We have heard a lot about the end of the road.  The end of the road is a area on the Caribbean where Mexico and Belize meet in a isolated spot on a spit.  There is a man made channel separating Mexico from  Cayes in Belize at this point.

We are scouting in the Jeep but we really could have brought the Rigs down here and parked just about anywhere along the waterfront near the fishing piers. 

This was as crowded as the waterfront gets.

A middle class abode

The best house in town.

 There are two roads that service this area .  We began our trip on the paved Jungle Road.  It proved to be very good road straight as a arrow  south through the jungle.  Our intentions were to take the Jungle road down and the two track beach road back. We fell just a little short of completing our goal.  The Jungle has a little thing that is akin to spontaneous combustion.  Spontaneous combustion had occurred along the beach road and destroyed a bridge.  A local told us no problem if our Jeep had a snorkel to ford the river!  No snorkel.  We were able to return 15 miles or so on the Jungle road and then cut over to the Beach road and continue back to Mahahual.

Conch shells must be plentiful on the reefs and beaches.  Many places had improvised Conch Trees in their Gardens.

The road was good for a 2 track sand road.  There were quite a few expensive homes and small Hotels along the way.  The main tourist activity in this area apparently is fly fishing for salt water bone fish.  This is strictly a catch and release activity.  The name Bone Fish should explain why.

We found that the area was really in transition.  It took the full force of Hurricane Hugo 2 years ago and evidence of that is still there.   Rebuilding has been extensive and the whole place looks pretty good considering what it has been through.  But that appears to be because of Gringo investment.  Mainly  the Cruise lines with their shopping mall. But also we noticed that the restaurants, bars, hotels and Condo developments were all owned and run by Gringos.  And of course the huge fancy houses that line the beaches north and south of town for the most part weren't built with Peso's.  We liked the place, but it will soon be to much like anywhere in Florida or California.