Waves in the Mayan Riviera?
 

Our family is planning a January trip and have loved the reviews of the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo. Here's the only concern we have - are the waves there typically so wild that our 9 and 11 year olds won't be able to snorkel comfortably from the beach or do the other fun water sports, for that matter?

If so, any other Mexican/Caribbean recommendations of all-inclusives with generally calm water and great facilities? Would the western side of Cozumel be much calmer, wave wise?

Thanks!

Although it's impossible of course to predict exactly what the conditions will be tomorrow, much less several months in advance, and of course things can at times be rough, you virtually never have to worry about this in the RM.

Steve

I have never found the waves in this area to be very big, unless there is a storm off the coast, but if you want VERY calm beautiful water, look into Isla Mujeres Playa Norte. North beach is like a swimming pool. Never any waves, but the same fabulous color.

Just returned from a week at the Lindo and it was fantastic. But I must say there really is no snorkeling from the beach - it's a sandy bottom with no reef there. We drove down to Akumal one day for some reef snorkeling.

The waves are of course impossible to predict - we had some yellow flag days which we thought were pretty tame (small waves and no undertow) and some red flag ones which had stronger waves and some sideways pull. But there were always kids in the ocean.

We were at the Iberostar Tucan three years ago and the ocean there was calmer. There was also a small reef a ways down the beach. We loved both Iberostars. The Tucan is great because of the jungle and it's closer to town. The Lindo has the wave pool and the lazy river and we really loved eating in an air conditioned restaurant every night, while at the Tucan you could only make restaurant reservations for 2 nights guaranteed. Would return to either in a heartbeat.

We stayed at Shangri-La and found the water to be mostly rough with medium wave action. Definietly no snorkeling along the beach there - and I think it would be unsafe for 9 and 11 year olds even if there were. Your best bet for kids that age is to go to Yalkul Lagoon in Akumel or to one of the snorkeling parks - XelHa or Xcaret where you can ensure their safety.