My Journal

4/26/2026 Sunday at 5:30AM, Nadia and I took Uber to Newark Airport. This is the Costco deal: Marriott, an All-Inclusive Resort in Cancun, 5 nights, roughly $1,300 per person, including flight, room, unlimited food, airport transportation. We're on 5th foor in Room 5070 with great view overlooking the lagoon (the west side of the Hotel Zone strip) rather than the ocean view which I presume would cost more. Marriott's Cevicheria (Hispanic raw/cooked seafood salad) for lunch was the highlight for me, been want to to try Ceviche ever since learning it on Youtube Geography Now a few years back.

I never thought my introduction to Mexico would be Cancun. I thought it would be a desert cross country ride into the country instead. This Marriott resort is also rather grand. All thanks to Nadia. Hotel staffs' attitude reminded me of Indonesia's service in hotel management, professional friendliness.

It's true, coral reef is not an easy place to find in Cancun if we are talking about public accessible beach side snorkeling. However, Punta Nizuc is known to be the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. Access from shore is tricky because of private resorts around this national park trying to own it's passage, as some on reddit claimed. It's fine for resorts to restrict access through their properties but it's a problem when they overstepped their territory to government property which is the shores to high-tide level being public, not private area. So the trick is to walk 20 minutes from Playa Delphines public beach access. Maybe I'll sign up for the tour to avoid all these hassle (taking R1/R2 bus to Playa Delphines and wall 20 minutes to find the reefs.

It also seems that these past couple of years, the beaches are getting more and more infested by sargassum. Still clean water.

4/27/2026 Monday

Breakfast at Hana Grill. Buffet style. Impressive items are Tuna (smoked?) steak that looks like beef. We like. Waiter Samuel was nice, like many staffs here. He even tried to sell us a $13 USD coconut, I was tempted to ask him if I could climb one of their coconut trees.

We asked about Aquaworld tours (mainly for their skyrider, Subsee, and snorkeling at Punta Nizuc), and Nadia got frustrated with the staff. He seemed frustrated as well. Though this was subtle. But we came back for the three packages with a little discount totaling: $216 USD (Skyrider, parachute ride in sky pulled by speedboat, $75/person, Subsee Explorer+Snorkeling = $78/person, which Nadia is not participating due to motion sickness and interest.) So the Skyrider is for both of us tomorrow and I immediately jetted off to Aquaworld across the street to catch the 10am boat to Punta Nizuc outer reef barrier. After learning that Punta Nizuc is located in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System which is the 2nd largest coral reef in the world (after Australia's), I knew I must go check it out.

I spent extensive time the night before reading reddit and other online sources to compare the free beach access in Punta Nizuc (entrance from Playa Delphines and walk south for 20 minutes along the hightide shoreline which is government public property to avoid private resorts-Westlin & Club Med, in that area where they set up guards to prevent people from using their property to shortcut access the reefs, and take the Aquaworld boat tour. When I learned that with Aquaworld, you can go at the earliest at 10am and return anytime you wish with the 4pm boat being the last for the day. This "unrestricted" time window is golden for me, you don't usually get this flexibility with reef tours else where. I used both GoPro and Insta360 as my underwater camera. Nadia was worried at first but I ended up bringing a backpack with my phone in it. Can't really leave without phone especially when Nadia is around: Communication capability is crucial.

Subsee exploration was not bad. It's basically a submarine with V-shape glass window on the left and right, and visitors sat in rows from front to back on seatings that sit 2 max each. I wasn't interested in underwater rock sculptures of any kind. But when later (around 1pm) they arranged a guide to show me around the sculptures, I appreciate that enough (though after a long wait and asking it for a while - that how I could see more sculptures - I actually just wanted to explore further and those areas are not allowed to be done without their guide) that they spared a guide to show me around. So I tipped $100 Mx. I brought $500 Mx + $20 USD because I needed to pay for some docking/platform fee for $20 USD. I was allowed to pay in pesos so the conversion rate they gave was accurate $347 mx, but I forgot to get the chance back from the Aquaworld counter after giving him $400 mx. That's $53 mx = around $2.5 USD. But I'm not sure how much I saved by not paying in USD ($20). And the whole tour they've been looking for opportunity to collect tips. So I gave eventually. Took a photo with the boat crew after returning at 3pm. I was probably the only person who stayed that long in the reef. I am reluctant to say that Punta Nizuc is better than Koh Lipe, but I did find a sea turtle twice (once in Subsee, another while snorkeling with the guide) and the reef space is huge, it's just too bad we are not allowed too far. Koh Lipe's reef are not bad either and no tour/guide needed as the beach has plenty of coral access, plus the point of Koh Lipe was to spend time with my dad (not at first as I was ready to go by myself until my dad decided to tag along, perhaps to make sure I'm safe).

Upon returning to the resort, I lunched at Cevicheria for the last one I wanted but haven't tried: fish ceviche at around 4:30pm. But the fish is not raw so I prefer the mix ceviche (which has octopus) we had the day before. Fish seemed overcooked for me, shrimp ceviche is better. I then went for a swim in the sea hoping to learn body surf but either I did not learn or that the waves weren't strong enough. Checked out their chess tournament (every Monday) where big pieces are on the big floor board by the pool slides, nobody playing there was actually into chess.

Nadia and I dined for dinner at Tuscani restaurant next to the Hana Polynesian Grill. Italian food was okay but Nadia did not like it enough. She saw a waiter carrying a plat of fried large fish and learned that this was for Hana restaurant. We regret that we've made the wrong reservation after learning that Hana only opens on Mondays and Fridays for diner. We missed today, there's no more chance as we leave on Friday.

Walked around the night Gazebo after dinner. Saw some Latino modern dance performance in the lobby. Nadia returned to room to rest. I brought my laptop down to the lobby to type this diary and do some camera file transfers.

4/28/2026 Tuesday

Breakfast at Hana again. Seems to be the only place for breakfast in the resort. By the way, room service is also included, but Nadia doesn't like the food choices.

Then we spent most time sitting out on the hotel ocean deck overlooking the sea. I went in to swim a few times until it gets very hot. Don't want sunburn, despite having sun scream. At 12pm, Nadia took part in their Aquaboxing (learn to exercise in water using boxing technique). Nadia definitely enjoyed their water events. Earlier today they had Aqua Basket Ball game (two teams swim to shoot the hoops).

At 4:30pm, I decided to explore the R1/R2 bus route myself. Both busses will pass Kukulcan Blvd. (The strip with all the major hotels) or Hotel Zone. I took R2 into the suburban area (Paseos Kabah) and I think that was enough, I think the bus would keep going until Villas Otoch per Google AI. But I certainly learned a lot. Where this ferry station is, how Walmart looks like here, and more. I also had to push myself to speak Spanish with the locals. One trip already took about 45 minutes, due to heavier traffic than coming back. These drivers give change only if you paid in pesos ($12 MX), but not in $1 USD according to many sources, including Marriott Resort Receptionist, who broke the change of $100 mx to me in $20's. I had to ask around in Spanish in order to get onto the returning bus (at least catching returning bus is as easy as walking across the streets from where you were dropped off), because there's no bus stop signs, so I could only play by ears and eyes. When getting off at Marriott, I asked "Por favor, paras en Marriott?" (excuse me, do you stop at Marriott), seconds before. "Bahan aqui, por favor" (getting off here, please) would be another way to say it but I didn't get to.

Then Nadia and I went to Casa Madre (mother's house) for dinner as reservation was made two days before via the Concierge because reservation was not working on the app (Marriott Experience app) they asked us to use. We certainly love this dinner more compared to before. Nadia decided to give the waiter Adrian $40 Mx tip.

Now at 10:44pm I finish typing today's diary. Am tired. But want to read some book in our balcony (I have brought light for reading). I brought Charlie Kirk's book (from library) called Stop (it's about keeping the Sabbath) and the Occult Bondage and Deliverance book by Kurt Koch. Or I could just read Kindle.