Isla Holbox changes
Holbox got really whacked by Hurricane Wilma last year (2005)–this isn’t reflected in the guide, because it was already at the printers when the storm happened. Floods up to three feet high, buildings knocked down, trees uprooted…but you’d really never guess it, a year later.
The biggest change is that the parque is being totally redone–no more scruffy grass square–so Antojitos Dafne Guadalupe (p. 110) is gone (though it may move back when the construction is done). El General Taquitos also seems to be shut. The new place for morning and evening snacks is now on the inland (south) side of the parque—no name, but very busy.
Perhaps because it’s low season right now (October), lanchas to Holbox from Chiquilá (p. 108) are only M$200, with a maximum of six people (usually) and the ride is a bit quicker than the ferry—handy if you can pull together a group. But there’s also a competing ferry service, for only M$20, that runs several times a day, filling in some of the gaps in the existing ferry schedule (allegedly its last run is at 8pm, an hour later than the original ferry service, but I wouldn’t count on it).
Parking in Chiquilá runs about M$30 per day—but that’s not per 24 hours, so if you park in the evening and come back the next morning, that’s M$60. A little bit of a racket, but at the nicer place (on the right before the end-of-the-road roundabout), at least there’s shade. There’s still no ATM on Holbox, but a couple of the restaurants (Colibrà and Viva Zapata) take credit cards. The laundry looks closed, but there’s still plenty of people willing to do it, for not much money.