The faint, barely perceptible hum of a distant fishing boat. The silent, languid arc of a pelican. The mere hint of a breeze, infused with the tang of a well-travelled ocean. Subtle suggestions of shrimp and bacon tacos, fried grouper and octopus ceviche wafting down from a beachfront taverna. This was Akumal on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico in September.

Akumal, a small unassuming village an hour south of the airport and (to my mind) the awful hustle and bustle of Cancun, provided much needed respite and sanctuary from the multiple draining challenges of 2020.

Founded as recently as 1958 on the site of a former coconut plantation on the Riviera Maya state of Quintana Roo, Akumal has a population of just 1,300 which attracts snorkelers and divers from around the world and is also a great place to visit the nearby Mayan ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza.

Whilst we ventured out to Chichen Itza, this trip was always to going be centered on recharging body and soul. Long, hot days almost entirely given up to inertia slowly ebbed with a glorious, unapologetic lack of productivity. A few chapters of Graham Greene’s novel ‘Our Man in Havana’ might be followed by cooling off in the waters that lapped up onto our deserted beach just yards away. Rumpled sheets of lapis lazuli and emerald, sapphire and jade crooned their way to shore to collapse upon the fine white sand.

Depending on the ocean’s mood, my solo sunrise walk along the empty beach could see internecine skirmishes as the boisterous green waves jostled in their race towards the shore. Another morning may see a more sedate and subdued Caribbean, mournful in appearance and accompanied by a reluctant, almost elegiac narrative.

Being September, we expected a storm or two and we got them! Late one afternoon and stealthily a capricious and bruised sky, a patchwork of varying shades and shapes, had stalked us. The obsidian, obstreperous clouds brawled and sprawled across the sky, roiling the hitherto peaceful ocean below. We took sanctuary in our ocean front apartment and were mesmerized as the ocean was cleaved by the wind and rain and then summarily soothed by the resurgent sun and accompanying rainbow. It was magical!

With our toil and trouble of 2020 banished for this week, we strolled and sauntered both literally and metaphorically, and took our sweet time over the tantalizing menu at our favourite restaurant, La Lunita on sleepy Half Moon Bay. We returned again and again for lunch in the shade or dinner by moonlight, our toes tucked into the warm sand, and our senses beguiled by the symphony of the ocean just yards away. The staff were very friendly and the cuisine, Mexican Caribbean and Latin, was well priced and so, so good! Shrimp, lobster, grouper, octopus, Mahi-mahi, garlic, onion, lemon juice, tacos, calamari, barracuda, chilled wine and cerveza – under a swaying palm tree it was delightful. Of course the week flew by and before long we were back at Seatac watching the rain streak down the plane’s windows, the grey tarmac an abrupt reminder that our brief sojourn to the sun was over.