Holbox Mexico

[BigSky]

I just returned from Holbox for a week of kiteboarding and fishing. The forum has been a great resource to me and I'm hoping to add to it with my experience. I've been to Punta Allen to fly fish a long time ago and it was incredible. I found Holbox Kite Boarding School in a search here for foil instruction and kite surfing and Saildawg was super helpful with details. If you're into the 4 seasons this is not your place. If you want a low key, ridiculously inexpensive and authentic experience with super friendly people with awesome kiting and fishing from shore you should to check it out. The launch area is somewhat small but once you're on the water the area is endless shallow water and soft sand. The busiest day I saw was maybe 12 kiters. We had wind every day. They only use golf carts on the island and the beaches are amazing. I did several foil lessons with Jonny and the Holbox Kiteboarding school and couldn't be happier. They are a super friendly and accommodating crew and Jonny helped me get a great jump on my foil boarding progression. I also caught several 30 plus pound tarpon from shore on my own and tons of other fun species on both fly and conventional gear. It was hard to leave and I will definitely go back. I don't see a lot of posts about it so I wanted to throw it out there. Btw, great place to bring the family too. Cheers.

[jeromeL]

I went to Holbox and was one of my best kite trips so far

[Brian H]

How's the water depth for foil boarding ?

[TomW]

I was there last week and still at Punta Morena. In SE wind you have to get on Holbox KiteBoarding's daily boat to the beach beyond Punta mosquito. 12dollars I think. Or take a lesson with Jonny and he takes you out with the zodiac in offshore conditions. In West to East wind you kite from small beach just east of Hotel Nube.
You'll have to walk out 100m or so to foil. There's tons of space on the water.
It's a great place, but wind is variable. Has weather changes. Big Sky is correct in other aspects, can add that town / Village has numerous restaurants, bars, eateries, street food, and beach places that I thought didn't exist anymore. Fantastic food and authenticity.
I want to go back for 2 weeks. My wife and 11 yr boy thought it was great place too, so good for family.
It's rustic, but with qualities.
Here at Catalonia Playa Maroma, I can walk 6 min south along beach and launch at a kite station. It's protected by a reef off the point and it gets deep 25-30 m out. Foiling inside reef. It's been SE all week, 8-12 or 10-15. Winds are changing with weather systems. If you lived here you'd be happy with wind, but you could get skunked on vacation.

[keegster17]

So getting to Holbox, did you fly into Cancun and take a bus? I assume a rental car doesn't make sense, if there are no cars on the Peninsula? How are food and hotel costs?

[Toby]

No cars on Holbox.
Not sure if bus goes there, taxi for sure.

Then you need a boat shuttle.

[jeromeL]

So getting to Holbox, did you fly into Cancun and take a bus? I assume a rental car doesn't make sense, if there are no cars on the Peninsula? How are food and hotel costs?

It's possible to take the local bus, I ended up calling some taxi company from cancun because we were a group of 5.
Then you have to take a ferry to get there.

I have met a lot of people from northern Europe how went there originally for 2 weeks and ended up staying 3 months learning kitesurfing and enjoying, every week they are like one more week. it looked like some stay at locals who have spare room or small rental, looks very cheap. Locals are very nice, doesn't really have a touristic feel to it.
I don't quite remember but restaurants and hotels were affordable. A lot of people back pack around N/S America and stop there for a while so I assume there are relatively cheap option...

[BigSky]

I flew into Cancun. My hotel (Amaite) scheduled transportation from the airport and the ferry. It was ~2 hours in the car which was a larger SUV to accommodate my Dakine Country Club bag. All the locals said joked Muerta which I believe means it contained a dead body; it weighed 70 pounds. Definitely don't rent a car to travel from Cancun. Holbox has tons of little restaurants and a great local market where fresh bread and fruit was .30. The hotel was right on a beautiful beach and right in town. The cost was ~$130 per day. The room was very clean and nice with an ocean view, but still basic. There was live music that lasted until 3 or 4am. It would have been annoying but it was really good music. I rented a golf cart 24/7 because I wanted to fish early in distant locations. There are golf cart taxis everywhere for really cheap. Definitely contact the folks at Holbox Kiteboarding for better details. I have no affiliation, I was just super impressed with their helpful nature and operation.

[saildawg]

Easy to get to from Cancun. A transfer will pick you and your gear up at the airport and take you to the isla, this company's price includes the cost of the ferry as well as a "taxi" to your accommodations. https://holboxadventure.com/
You can fly from Cancun Airport to Holbox for a cheap 800 pesos per person. I think the plane seats six, there is a larger one that likes to fill up with latecomers, same price. Taxis are as expensive as transfers. Or you can take the bus from the airport to Cancun Centro where the autobus station is, it was 100 pesos to Puerto Chiquila where you catch the ferry. Bus is 2 some days 3 times a day. Holbox lodging is getting very tight, I'd make sure you have a room before you go, at least for a while while you look for other lodgings. It can be impossible to get a room around big holidays such as Easter. Great kiting, really friendly local kiters. It's been awhile since Toby visited, might be time to go back and update his information personally. There are cars and trucks on the isla now Toby, though mostly golf carts and an awful lot of them.

[Toby]

Oh really? How sad! I was there 2004 or 2005...don't remember actually.

Any pictures to show us?