Why retire on Isla Mujeres, Mexico?

Caribbean Blues!

Wow! Pink sand beaches that stretch for miles on a narrow scimitar of land in the Bahamas, on an island named Eleuthera. It fascinated Lawrie for months, fantasizing about living on a long, empty stretch of beach with no one around. There is a total population of approximately 8,000 people (mainly English-speaking) in this former British colony, with the nearest city, Nassau, located fifty miles by air.

Whoa! Stop! I'm fine with rural or semi-isolated areas, but not Robinson Crusoe remote.

In 2002, we fell in love with the turquoise sea of the Caribbean, and the search began for the perfect property for our dream home. We had a choice of over 7000 islands in and around the Caribbean Sea, including 501 in the Bahamas, 43 in the British Virgin Islands, 12 in the Cayman Islands, 58 in the Turks and Caicos, and 81 in the US Virgin Islands. 

Ah, but then, reality pokes its pesky little head up and says - what about obtaining building supplies for the dream-home?  A construction crew to do the work?  Furniture? Milk? Meat? Veggies? Doctors? Dentists? And what do you do when you finally get bored watching the ocean? As fascinating as it is, eventually you have to do something else with your day.


Our outdoor decision-making office. 

So, when the opportunity arose to purchase a slice of heaven on Isla Mujeres, we decided it was definitely worth considering. 

We opened a bottle of our favourite wine, took two glasses, and a bowl of mixed nuts and retired to our home office - the lakefront patio.  After lighting dozens of candles and lanterns to set the mood for serious consideration of our future, we started to list the reasons why Isla Mujeres would be a good decision:

1.  Close to the City of Cancun, population of approximately 800,000, with shopping centers, grocery stores such as Costco, Mega Commercial, Soriana's, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart

2. Home Depot and other large Mexican chain stores for building supplies

3. Three excellent, and very affordable, hospitals in Cancun with American-trained doctors

4. Only 20 minutes via water taxi (passengers only ferry) to the mainland

New Chedraui Grocery & Super Store.

5. Only 45 minutes via a car ferry to the mainland

6. Easy air access to and from Canada to visit family 

7. Easy air access to South America, as we have not had the opportunity as yet to visit that area of the world

8. An active ex-pat community from the US, Canada, and Europe

9. Pleasant oceanfront temperatures of between 20 degrees C (70F ) and 33 degrees C (95F)

10. Cooling ocean breezes, swimming and snorkelling. (We later discovered the sea turtle nest annually in front of our casa.)

11. Not much rain, even in the rainy season, as the clouds skid rapidly across this low island, heading to the mainland

Four Amigos!

12. Electricity available curbside

13. Internet service available curbside

14. Municipal water system

15. Municipal sewer system for the side of the island where we were proposing to purchase property

16. Two gas stations on the island

17. A variety of small grocery stores on the island, and later in 2011, a Chedraui Super Store 

18. A variety of restaurants

Home Sweet Home!

19. A choice of banking options

20. Doctors and dentists on the island, with many more available in Cancun

21. The best reason of all, we enjoy the Mexican culture very, very much

By the time the wine was gone and the candles had burned down to nubs, we had decided that yes, Isla Mujeres would be the perfect place to build a dream home. 

It is!  And we are never bored!

Hasta luego, Lynda and Lawrie 

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