It ain’t easy! Driving a golf cart on Isla Mujeres

A spectacular day on Isla Mujeres.      

It sounds easy: tour around Isla Mujeres on a golf cart. Just point the front end, stomp the gas pedal, and off you go.

Caritos de golf aren’t fast and are relatively easy to steer, depending on the overall condition of the vehicle. Uneven pavement, unmarked pot holes, or the numerous speed bumps, called topes, can jostle a poorly maintained vehicle around.

Richard and Lawrie, our island vehicle

A typical golf cart is very basic. It comes equipped with four wheels, a steering wheel, seats front and back, and a one-cylinder, seven-horsepower gas engine. 

They don’t have turn signals, brake lights, windshield wipers, and of course, no seatbelts, airbags, or baby seats. In the slightly upgraded models, a horn is included, and if you are lucky, it might actually work. 

Your arms are the turn signals. (Although it seems drivers born after 1980 were never taught how to use hand signals.)

Accident in front of our house

When driving on Isla, indicate your movements, lane changes, and direction changes clearly, or you will find yourself being driven in a cop car to the police station. There you will pay for the damages to the vehicle that you hit, damages to the vehicle that you were driving, the other person’s medical bills, your medical bills, and several vague traffic ‘fines’ that can mount up to several hundred dollars.

Busy streets on Isla Mujeres

The whole process of straightening out your accident can burn up several hours of your vacation time.  We know from personal experience after helping other folks deal with the situation. 

And please, don’t think about leaving the island without paying for the damages. You are a long way from home, and Mexican jails won’t win any TripAdvisor Awards for Excellence. 

(Prisoners must make their own arrangements for food to be brought to them.)

Move over. We're coming through! 

But the most important accessory on a carito de golf is the rearview mirror.  Make sure your rental vehicle has one, and check it frequently. Motos, motorcycles, and scooters will pass on either side of you. 

Drive as far to the right-hand side of the lane as you safely can because other vehicles will pass on corners, hills, or wherever there is a little bit of space. 

For a taxi driver, time is money. If you are hogging the lane, the taxi drivers will become impatient and pass you, expecting you to move over and make room for their vehicle to squeeze by.

Vacationers. Let's go to Isla and rent a golf cart!

When families are on vacation, watch out for young children steering a golf cart. 

It’s illegal, but for some reason folks think that the streets on Isla are quiet little country lanes with a few golf carts puttering along, and that it’s a cute idea to teach a youngster how to aim a vehicle on a busy road. 

Look again, folks. There are ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles, propane trucks, or tractor-trailer units, over a thousand rental golf carts, plus hundreds of taxis, motorcycles, and bicycles, all vying for limited road space. 

There is no 'slow season' on Isla anymore. 

Another challenge of driving on Isla is the abundance of drivers posing for ‘selfies,’ weaving back and forth in the lane as they try for the perfect shot of themselves and friends. 

Add a few cervezas and margaritas, and later in the afternoon, we hear the ambulances whizzing past our house, responding to yet another accident involving golf carts and motos, or golf carts and taxis, or golf carts and pedestrians.

Watch out for unmarked hazards.

One of our island-born friends recently lamented, “They think they are in Disneyland when they come to Isla.” 

Enjoy your visit to the island, and don’t become one of the accident statistics. 

It’s not the way to finish up your vacation in paradise.

Hasta Luego,

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, & Max

~
Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Express yourself with a carrito de golf, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Santa Claus parade 2012

Dozens of wrapped candies tossed by giggling children litter the roadway in front of our house. 

Steelers fan!

Our two grandsons madly scooped up the candies, catching them mid-air, or zipping between vehicles before the goodies were squished under a wheel.  

Accompanied by many honking horns (or is it horns-a-honking?), a flotilla of vehicles passes by our house.  

In a parade, there will inevitably be many golf carts overflowing with passengers who wave and toss treats to enthusiastic observers. These are privately owned golf carts, painted, decorated and accessorized to express the owners’ offbeat personalities.  

Some of our friends have decorated their personal golf carts with the logos of their favourite sports teams, or flashy chrome hubcaps, or a variety of flags. Many locals have retrofitted their carts with plastic roll-down side curtains to protect them from tropical rainstorms.

Great decorating job!

One American friend has a very charming carrito de golf.  It is upholstered in vibrant orange and painted fluorescent pink, matching the exterior of her eye-catching house.  

For Christmas, she added garlands, bows and ribbons, making her golf cart one of the prettiest on the island.  

Other friends were over-the-top with their holiday decorations, adding ornaments, wreaths, tinsel, strings of garland and pearls, reindeer antlers and even solar-powered lights.  

We left a trail of broken ornaments around the island.

When the grandsons were visiting, we borrowed a riotously decorated golf cart for a few days.  

We entertained a lot of people, leaving a trail of shattering glass ornaments as we were buffeted by north winds, or we thumped over speed bumps.   

Golf carts are legal to drive on the public roadways of both Isla Mujeres and nearby Isla Holbox. There are several golf cart rental outlets on the island where tourists can rent golf carts tricked out in camouflage, or as a 1957 Chevy, or a Jeep Wrangler, or even a fire truck.  

Not the way to drive a golf cart

And yes, this is a tropical island, and yes, you are on holiday, but letting an underage child drive a golf cart is a disaster waiting to happen. 

There are ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles, propane trucks, or tractor-trailer units, plus hundreds of taxis, golf carts, motorcycles and bicycles all vying for limited road space. You are unnecessarily risking not only your own safety but also the safety and livelihood of the other drivers. 

More friends decked out for the holidays!

Quite recently, licensing a personal golf cart on Isla Mujeres has become almost impossible as the taxi drivers keep up the pressure on both the state and municipal governments to restrict the number of licenses available. 

But, whether you rent one for the day, or own one for your personal use, the one thing the golf carts of Isla are not used for - puttering around a golf course. There are no golf courses on Isla. 

No matter, you can still have a great time driving a carrito de golf that expresses your individual personality while circumnavigating a beautiful little Caribbean island.

Hasta luego, Lynda & Lawrie

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