Paradise Found

View from the kayak back at Soliman Bay Casas.
see all photos »

After travelling to Tulum from Playa del Carmen by bus we grabbed a cab and made the 12 km  journey back up the highway to  Bahia Punto del Soliman. The entrance to this beautiful beach enclave is really well disguised and you need to find the Oscar y Lilo restaurant sign to access the bay. Soliman Bay is crescent shaped with its own coral reef and crystal clear, turquoise water. It is a postcard perfect sight!

Tropical Evergreens is located along the road in a line of exclusive and reclusive properties nestled against the coral sand beach. Our casita is located at the rear of the property and the casa grande (main house) is adjacent to the water. Although we didn't have a water view, it was only about 20 steps up our private path to the gorgeous beach. We had our own cabana, hammocks and sun lounges at the beach and shared kayaks with our friendly neighbours from Montana.

After our travel all we wanted to do here was relax, swim, snorkel, kayak, lie in the warm sun and relax some more !!

View from Tropical Evergreens Casa and beach cabana.
see all photos »

After our travel all we wanted to do here was relax, swim, snorkel, kayak, lie in the warm sun and relax some more !! We decided not to chase further ruins, sights and tourist attractions in the area (which do include Tulum and Coba ruins and numerous cenotes and Xel Ha). Cenotes are underground freshwater caves that can be snorkeled but are best explored by scuba diving.

Because we didn't hire a car we travelled back to Tulum to do our shopping and then settled into a daily routine of breakfast on the beach followed by relaxing in the sun and exploring the lagoon by kayak. We were able to snorkel at many locations within the reef by using a concrete block as an anchor for one of our kayaks and tying the 2 kayaks together. The first few days were quite windy but after the wind dropped the water clarity improved dramatically. While the coral formations in the bay are not particularly colourful, the fish life is excellent and on our last evening paddle we had an amazing swim near the main reef and saw an enormous sea turtle (tortuga) just next to our kayaks just before sunset.

Happy Birthday beautiful 11 year old!
see all photos »

If you come here you must bring your own snorkels and we recommend flippers too if possible. You can buy these cheaply at Wal Mart at Playa del Carmen.

We also celebrated the 11th birthday of our older son Taylor here at Soliman Bay. Brunch at Tulum and some time at an Internet Cafe were Taylor's picks for his birthday treat and we followed these up with snorkeling in the afternoon and a special birthday dinner.

It was so nice to have a kitchen again and we enjoyed our home cooking enormously.

In all we can thoroughly recommend this beautiful place and Tropical Evergreens to you. On our last day here we contemplated the fact that we were about to go from floating in the turquoise sea to racing down snowy slopes in Telluride. Somehow it doesn't seem real !