From the man himself, Sam Medysky...
After over 25 years of Kiteboarding and wind sports travel around the world there is not too many undiscovered spots. As Mexico is a hot spot for American and Canadian wind sports travellers, many of the top spots have been well established and frequented. These include La Ventana, Los Barriles, Isla Blanca and others. Needless to say the search never stops and exploration of new locations for wind sports is always ongoing, and what led us to stay at the Downwind Deck in El Cuyo, Mexico.
My wife and I decide after the long cold Canadian winter we need a break and wanted to go somewhere warm to get on the water. We had a week off of work at the start of April and began to search for spots. Our holiday requirements were:
Location which was a direct flight from Vancouver and not too long as we only had 1 week off work and didn’t want to waste our days off traveling.
Somewhere we hadn’t been before.
Hoping to score wind at least 50% of our days.
Affordability.
Not a huge tourist town and resort scene.
We settled on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. I’d heard from friends about the Yucatan but didn’t know much about it. After a quick search we found some information on El Cuyo and it seemed to tick all the boxes for us. The nearest large airport was Cancun that had multiple direct flights a day to and from Vancouver. Reviews and wind historical data for the area were very positive for Feb - May, which was great timing to escape the cold. Flights were relatively inexpensive with Air Canada especially if you were flexible +1, -1 travel days. Since El Cuyo is approximately 2.5 hours from Cancun, we decided to rent a car so we had our own transportation in case we wanted to do some day trips to check out some local sites.
We booked our stay with Downwind Deck as the reviews were awesome and it was very affordable for a private room complete with kitchen, gear storage, high speed internet etc. On arrival to El Cuyo the first thing we noticed was the pristine off the beaten path beauty of the town itself. The streets were mostly sand with beautiful local greenery and authentic quaint buildings. It reminded me of the early days in the North East of Brazil in towns like Taiba and Cumbuco. There was several small coffee shops, breakfast spots, and charming restaurants, making good meals an easy find.
On arriving at Downwind Deck we were warmly greeted by Courtney and Eugene. The wind sport enthusiasts owners made the move to El Cuyo after falling in love with the spot after their first visit. Their experience and passion for wind sports was a direct influence in their boutique hotel. Downwind Deck gave us a home like feeling with all the amenities we’d hope for: the rooms were large, well equipped, and comfortable; there was plenty of gear storage and cleaning stations; a quick walk to the beach; and all sorts of other great features like an outdoor kitchen, hammocks, fire pit, etc. Courtney and Eugene were awesome hosts and helped us with all our questions regarding the local cuisine and on and off water activities.
We spent 7 days in Mexico and 5 days in El Cuyo before taking a couple days to travel to some touristy locations and checking out Isla Blanca. Out of our 5 days at El Cuyo we were able to get on the water kiting and winging every day, multiple times per day. We received some incredible conditions with 22- 27knt side on shore winds from the right. Winging we were commonly on 55L boards and 3M or 4.3M wings, kiting we were on 8M and 10M’s.
The days were simple and relaxing for us. The winds started off light in the morning, which gave us time for a beach walk, breakfast, and some stretching before fully filling in at 11am. The winds seemed to blow through until sunset everyday. We rode straight out front of Downwind Deck every day but also saw the potential for awesome downwinders. The water was super warm with no wetsuit required and lots of waves to get some good boosters for jumps!
Our experience in El Cuyo was nothing but awesome. It was never too crowded on the water with only 20 - 30 kiters at most. It was windy every day and there was no shortage of great places for coffee, apes and an authentic Mexican experience.
Would we go back to El Cuyo? Heck yes!
Next time though we’d definitely try and line up some downwinders and potentially bring a surfboard for a wind swell/waves. Big shout out to Downwind Deck, Courtney, Eugene and Viento for an awesome stay and all the local knowledge.
