Playa Del Carmen and Puerto Morelos (Cancun Area, Mexico)

[V]

Jake, If your girl is going, the all-inclusive is great. South is just open area, no hotels (or people). The hotel beaches are filled with people. You can still do it, but there's a lot of people in the water and on the sand, so be careful. I'd go somewhere a little more open.

However, if you're not necessarily staying in Playa del Carmen, you can check out Puerto Morelos. This is the hot spot for kitesurfing, or so I am told, by a few locals that I've met and emailed with. There are a lot of kiteboarders there and its kinda a kitebeach. Real cheap to stay, too, but you'll need a car and stuff. The difference is the all-inclusive lets you eat and get entertained without having to worry about it and if your girl si with you, that's "muy importante, amigo!"

Quoting jake steele

V,
Thanks for the info. I'm about to book my tickets and I had a couple more questions if you have a moment. It does look like the Riu is right in the middle of a huge pack of hotels. I see why you went south to find some open beach. Is there something special about the area south of the Riu or is it just because there are no hotels there -open beach? Do you know what I mean? Is that whole coastline from Cancun to Carmen del Playa kiteable or is there something special about the area by the riu? We are trying to decide where to stay. There is a place midway between Cancun and Carmen called the El Dorado Royale. There are no hotels around and plenty of open area, but maybe that means there aren't any other kiteboarders around either. Is there a "kitebeach" for Carmen del Playa? We are also considering the Iberostar which is south of the Riu and the Reef Club to the North. Where will you stay the next time you go?

One more question I may have already asked you. What bag do you recommend for traveling? Do you guys sell anything like that? Thanks again for all the info,
Jake

vytas@chicagokitesurfing.com wrote:
Jake,

Didn't I send you all that Playa info already? I thought I did....
Stayed at the Riu Playacar. There were kitesurfers there. Don't know of any schools, but the beach just south of the hotel (a good walk) was totally open (no hotels built yet..) Glad you like the Pyro. Those rock! Didn't get on the snow. My meeting ran real late...

V

Quoting Jake steele
V,
Thanks for the recommendation on the pyro. I ended up going Sunday. It rules! I was warm (except for fingers and toes)
Anyway, one more question. Sorry if I already asked you this. Brandon said you like going to Playa del Carmen. What is the scoop with that place? Where exactly do you kitesurf and what hotel do you stay in.
My girlfriend wants to take lessons. Is there a kite school?
Did you make it out in the snow the other day?
Thanks,
Jake

[V]

I keep the board less than 5'1" for travel so I don't get charged by the airlines. Plus they are heavy. That's the reason I sold that big 'ol Lightwave. Decent board, but real big and heavy. Don't need it anymore. Where you travel you should expect wind, or go somehwere else. So I try and go short as possible. The Jarvis is the longest. I have the LFT which is 167cm but never travel with it.

The car is for getting around from Puerto Morelos, from what I understand, there's not much around there int he immediate area...

V
Quoting jake steele <jakesteele2000@yahoo.com>:

> V,
> I have a litewave 169. Is this too big for traveling easily?
> Puerto Morelos is right where we're looking. When you say I'd need a
> car - is that for getting to Carmen del playa for nightlife etc. or is
> for getting to the beach?
> Jake

[bcruz]

Jake,

If you end up going to Playa Del Carmen, let me know how the kiting goes. I'm heading down there in July for a week.

[dannyboy]

Just following up on this thread - the main kiteboard beach in the Playa Del Carmen area is in Puerto Morales and this where the folks from Ikarus Kiteboard have their school set-up. The main Ikarus shop is on 5th avenue in Playa Del Carmen.

I was just down there a couple weeks ago and took my first lesson. The folks are super nice - so hello to Andreanna or Micha.

Ikcarus also has a a website at http://www.ikaruskiteboarding.com

[V]

Just got back from Tulum, which is just south of Playa (about 40 minutes south of Cancun). Puerto Morelos is probably the best spot to kite, but we got a great deal at Club Maeva Tulum for a week so we took it. The kiting was mainly E winds. Side on, two days was more NNE. These two days were heavier winds and I used the 15m in a fully powered setting to get the most of the wind. The other days were all 19m winds. The wind was surprisingly up and down. Seemed the nights were very windy and the days were borderline teasing me. 10mph in the day but around 3-4pm each day it would kick up. In the evenings it got fun until sundown. Or early riser dawn patrols would work, too. The bay was a public bay and a couple other guys out too. Rarely though. There was a couple spots of exposed reef so you had to really watch underneath to see if your board would catch some 2-3 inch deep water and send you into the reef. Once I learned the channels, it was great out there. Big waves outside and smaller waves inside made for a nice week. Got the toeside riding down going right shoulder forward at this point and made some nice waveriding passes. Pretty cool stuff. Saw turtles and Eagle Rays underneath me a few times. One turtle was trying to outrun me. Different conditions than Bonaire since Bonaire didn't have the waves, but fun as heck. Never went to playa del carmen or cozumel, but one of the locals told me there's a couple great spots in cozumel to ride. Personally, I think I will hit puerto morelos next time in mexico since the local dudes believe that's the best spot. Flat water protected sandy bay.