There are places you write about because it is another tick on the bucket list.

There are places you write about to warn travellers away from.

There are places you want the whole world to know you have found, but at the same time want no one to discover so it can remain as you found it – remote, endlessly peaceful and wonderfully fresh.

Isla Holbox is the latter.

Do whatever you have to do to get yourself there now! Especially before word of this blog gets out, or as in other parts of Mexico a plague of largely American tourists arrive and destroy that which they came to see.

I felt like decades were washed away within moments of arriving – weight just seemed to fall off me (which strictly speaking was the opposite but hey…what happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico). Like your first kiss, the first dive into the surf after a long haul flight, or another season of Meghan Markle in Suits…it was total bliss and a moment to cherish.

From breakfast at Madariana (lightly seasoned chicken pieces, fried eggs, rich tomatoes, spring onion, ripe avocado, a hint of chilli and of course the cheese), to Le Chapulim where the chef has a chat then serves up what he caught that day while the power goes on and off (afterwards there are artisan beers upstairs), to Bar Arena for a rooftop difference and Zapata with the seafood platter…the food always equalled the surreal surroundings and was delicious. The meal of the island went to La Palapa with a mango tuna tartare followed by a rich lobster risotto that would rival any restaurant I have been to.

Each day everyone came to the waterline and the pier to watch the sunset. The waves would come in and wash away everyones’ footprints, leaving you to start afresh each day… carefree, no sense of time, and no email…just the gentle, hypnotic waves to lull you asleep.

4 nights wasn’t enough, it rarely is I know, but what I would have given for another moment, another Monday, another month here. As the ferry pulled away a sense of forlornness came over me, if I knew what was to come I would have jumped and swam back…stay tuned…in the meantime tick this box!