Yaya Beach Resort/ Dolphin Discovery (used by all cruise lines)... any questions?

http://www.**********************costa-maya/

https://www.yayabeachclub.com/

I had written up a report on both of them but the forum screwed up and ate it. If you have any questions, please ask.

Quick synopsis:

****** All cruise lines go to this pier and tourist market and all of them use Dolphin Discovery. You can not book privately, they only use tour groups from cruises.*****

Dolphin Discovery was great, we have done dolphin swims before but this was the best. The people and trainers were great and we had a long time with the dolphins. Safe lockers, changing rooms, and bathrooms.

Downside.... like always they try to charge out the nose for photos but you CAN and should negotiate. They tried to charge us $70/person for the pictures but we negotiated down to $30/person plus they tossed in some mugs and something else (forgot what). This is Mexico... old Mexico at that.... EVERYTHING is negotiable.

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Yaya Beach Resort

GREAT experience! They truly do provide all drinks and a great experience for a very low price. They constantly come by and see if you need drinks, help you out in any way you need, and the food was excellent! Hell, they chased us down and gave us several beers or cocktails to drink on the taxi ride back to the port. They also flagged down taxi for us and helped in several other ways.

Massages (full body excluding genital area and face) can be gotten for $20/hour (plus $5-$10 for a tip) and are quite good! That said, there are about 20 massage areas on that boardwalk so pick a girl who you think is cute :p Also, I was 2x propositioned by a masseuse for a massage on the beach or a "special and very good" massage inside... I took that to mean that they were offering sex.

The Yaya gallery is accurate on their website. There were a few venders who came by but "No gracias" was enough to get them to move on (though they had good deals) and I thought it added to the traditional Mexican beach experience. There was a quasi-boardwalk through the area where you can buy items. Things being sold are very cheap, decent quality, and lots of selection. They had a couple of pharmacies where you can buy cheap drugs like ******, antibiotics, opioid pain killers, ect. (and they ARE legitimate, I checked with a Mexican medical clinic visited).

****** = via gra, no idea why they beeped it out

They also beeped out dolphin discovery? Remove the "4" in the link to get to the page

http://www.dolphin4discovery.com/costa-maya/

Ya Ya Beach Club is a No No!!

Let's start with the sand flys - bite or sting OUCH

There were venders everywhere and not just a few - constantly on top of you.

This is not a beach club but a whole in the ranks of bars that calls its self a club. The all inclusive is good for the drinks not for the food. The package gives you a mixed plate of Mexican food, though not bad.

Also, beware that the rink up credit card charges in pesos with their own conversion rate, quite below the official exchange rate.

Recommendation - seek another place!!

We didn't have any sand flies or any stings. We also went in early February (did you go at a different time of the year? Maybe bugs are more prevalent later?). We also had 4 venders.... a Mariachi playing guitar (he rocked, we liked him and tipped him. Only came over when we were having lunch), some lady selling fried plantains, someone selling leather pocketbooks and things, and some guy selling hats and cigars. All of them quickly left when we said "No gracias".

Not trying to dismiss your opinion, obviously you had a different experience then we did. I am curious as to what time of the year you went, maybe that matters for both the venders and the flies?

Ya Ya Beach Club is a No No!!

 

Let's start with the sand flys - bite or sting OUCH

There were venders everywhere and not just a few - constantly on top of you.

This is not a beach club but a whole in the ranks of bars that calls its self a club. The all inclusive is good for the drinks not for the food. The package gives you a mixed plate of Mexican food, though not bad.

Also, beware that the rink up credit card charges in pesos with their own conversion rate, quite below the official exchange rate.

Recommendation - seek another place!!

If you had sand flies at YaYas, every beach club along the malecon would have had sand flies. They are common on Roatan. Love the shade.

There are many other clubs to choose from. But YaYas has had a decent reputation in the past. While I've seen vendors along the malecon selling wares, they're not nearly as prevalent as other ports. Along Roatan's West Bay beaches they are indeed all over you and won't leave with a simple "No Thanks". DO NOT expect any beach club or shop or vendor in Mexico to ever give you official exchange rate credit on credit card charges. You'll get close at some banks and cambios (before service charges), but not all. And ATMs are notorious for lower exchange rates. However, you're probably talking pennies on the dollar so unless you're racking up a huge $$$$$$$$ bill. you'll spend more on a drink on board ship than the exchange rate difference for most bar tabs on the beach. Sorry your experience in Mahahual didn't meet your expectations.