I’ve been writing articles about beach bars all over the world for over eight years on this blog. Even though I’ve visited countless beach bars during that time and before and imbibed in more rum punches, tings with a sting and margaritas that I care to recall, I can still remember it like it was yesterday when I realized I was going to be spending a lot of time bellied up to beach bars.
I don’t recall the exact year (2010 maybe?) but I remember where we were. It was our third trip to Cancun and we were on Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is a small island about a 20-minute ride from Cancun but a world away as far as atmosphere. Back then, it wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now. You could still roam the island without fear of being run over by a drunk tourist, always a bummer while on vacation.
View of Buho’s Beach Bar on Isla Mujeres, a small island just off the coast of Cancun.
I was sitting at Buho’s Beach Bar which is located on the world-famous Playa Norte. Buho’s was famous for its swing seats and I and the rest of our small group spotted a set of them together and started swinging away the late afternoon while enjoying the bar’s happy hour.
I remember sitting there (in the spot at the left end of the bar in the above picture), as I glanced at the rest of the people chilling out at the beach bar, the palm trees dancing around us and the clear blue waters of the Caribbean lapping against the white-as-snow sand and it suddenly hit me – could sit there forever and be perfectly content. I figured I couldn’t be the only person to find contentment in this activity and the idea of building a community of fellow beach bar lovers sounded like a pretty cool project to take on. The Facebook page was born and grew to the point of needing a website and here we are.
I was able to walk by Buho’s on a recent trip to Isla Mujeres and spotted the swing seat that started it all. It’s no doubt been replaced many times over the year to the unforgiving rays of a Caribbean sun but the place where it all began hadn’t gone anywhere. It’s a personal shrine if you will, and if a private wedding party hadn’t been there at the moment, I would have grabbed a seat and started thinking. After all, it seems like a pretty good spot to come up with some pretty cool ideas.
Find out more about Isla Mujeres and its beach bars.
