A gorgeous, private residence overlooking its own beautiful pool and the Caribbean Ocean awaits you with access to a small, quiet shelling beach below where you can put your toes in the azure sea or explore tidal pools. Labeled "an architectural marvel" by delighted guests, this home has the light, cool decor and lovely design you dream of in your Caribbean paradise. The vast array of windows in this home offers you constant, breathtaking views of the Caribbean's aqua-colored water. The entire second story is a plush master suite with a king-size, feather-topped bed and "his" and "her" vanity areas- an ideal retreat for romantics! Stunning views of a heavenly turquoise ocean fill the suite- watch the waves come in from your pillows! Amenities in the master retreat include a new 96" projection screen theater. Honestly, the best theater experience! You may never leave your suite ... so we added a "morning kitchen" for your convenience. It includes a microwave, toaster, small fridge and water tower. The suite has a breakfast nook overlooking gorgeous scenery and a walk-in closet for storage- no hotel "sprawl". There is a lovely guestroom on the main level with a comfy queen-size bed and bath. Airbeds are available for extra guests and there is a pretty rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the island. Many of our guests request a chef to cook special meals during their stay and dine in the beauty of the "glass" dining room. The chef even enjoys beautiful views and the breakfast bar is great for less formal lunches or snacks. And a great location to boot! Cristal sits the ocean edge of a popular colonia where you will find great, inexpensive restaurants for authentic Mexican food, roasted chicken, slow-cooked bbq ribs, handmade tortillas, a couple of new breakfast places I'm hoping to try asap (La Casa Del Waffles ... yes, please!), and so much more. There are also small tiendas and a nice grocery store nearby. We were thrilled to see some delightful bakeries & eateries sprouting up in and around our wonderful colonia. The top restaurants on Isla are within a couple blocks from the house, including the hottest new spot called Fuego De Mar. There is also the famous Limon', Isla Vida, Bastos Grill, Beachin Burrito, Rincon Cubana, Tonichos Taqueria, & Chilitos. To the north a block or so is the new, lovely Topaz, Madera Food & Art &, the highly regarded, Mango Cafe. Our favorite, which is just across from Mango's, is the wonderful Taqueria Manolitos (the pavo tostadas are yum!) Some guests have raved that La Bruja in our colonia is good especially the chipachole on Sundays (a red broth seafood soup), so I'm really looking forward to trying it. You'll discover there is a string of new restaurants popping up near the Mango cafe that are the buzz of the island including a pizza joint, ice cream parlor & the Isla Brewing Company :) Our amazing property manager, Ricardo, can give you good directions for all this as well as his own recommendations. The home is *the* spot for convenience to all you will want to see and do on this tiny, charming island! Also, the "Caribe" side location is ideal for cooling breezes that are so welcome under the Caribbean sun. And speaking more about location, our corner lot adds distance from neighbors but easy access to taxis for convenience access to all parts of the island. Or, it's a fun and easy drive in your golf cart or scooter from the home to the South end of Isla with its surreal water for snorkeling and zip lines, or to the western beach clubs and spas for relaxation, to the north beach's swing seat bars or to the "downtown" area for shopping and dancing. However, the best part for us, is coming home, watching the ships going by under the moon as they pass in the shipping lanes, listening to the waves come in & putting down the theater screen to create the best cinema experience in the world. *********************** Check out these entries we found in our guest book: "Willie and Michelle- what a pleasure it has been to deal with you- I could feel your kindness over the phone- no small feat!"; "You have created such a tranquil retreat! Everything reflects the beauty of the water and the island."; "We loved every moment in your beautiful home."; "Cristal Isla Rocks!"; "Casa Cristal was magnificent!"; "Casa Cristal is a beautiful home with stunning views."; "The house has amazing views and so many places to enjoy them. We found so many quaint shops and wonderful places to eat. One of our favorite things to do was watch a movie before we went to bed... thank you Will & Michelle for sharing your gorgeous home with us. We couldn't imagine a better place to spend our honeymoon"; "We loved staying here and everything about the house. "Beautiful home in a beautiful setting- just what we needed"; What a wonderful place to spend our 15th wedding anniversary! Casa Cristal was perfect! "The house is just spectacular. Love the movie screen upstairs and all the beautiful windows overlooking the ocean. You can't get this at home! "Wow, how fast 10 days go by. What a great house to rent. We enjoyed everything... found it hard to leave our retreat here. I will miss the house... thank you for sharing your home... it was a fantastic experience!" Comments sent to us from our most recent guests: "We had a wonderful time. By far it was our most treasured Christmas with our kids and your home and the locale made it a huge hit... Your home is stunning. We loved the layout, the amazing movie screen upstairs (we watched a movie every night with our kids which we haven't done since they were little), and the pool was perfect. The terrace was another favorite spot. The kids actually slept up there a couple times. The kitchen was great...We loved being away from town and our ride to and from home was nice and easy in the golf cart." Gary and Cindy "Michelle...we love Cristal, and hope to come back again next year!! Your home... is truly amazing. Thank you again for sharing it with us...we felt like a king and queen in our own private kingdom!! The view is to die for, we could have sat upstairs in the master and looked out at the sea for hours on end. That blue green water.......ahhhhhh!! Cristal has every creature comfort one could ask for (and more!) The refrigerator was so well stocked, the only beverage we needed to buy (besides some tequila!), was the delicious orange juice we bought from the grocer. We slept up on the roof several nights (thanks to Will for suggesting that possibility to us!). It was so comfy and cool-and with the sound of the waves crashing, we slept like babies. Jorge cooked a gourmet 3 course meal for us one night, complete with flowers and candlelight. Driving around the island by golfcart was a fun activity in itself- and Val never got enough of shelling, she'd risk life and limb for that perfect conch!!! We had a fabulous vacation on Isla- at Cristal. As we said, we'd like to bring the family back for spring break. Thanks for everything!!!" Val and Bob "Your Casa was both beautiful and well appointed. We spent a few days at the Ixchel Hotel & Condos at Playa Norte which was very nice but the accommodations could not compare...I would highly recommend your wonderful Casa to anyone visiting Isla Mujeres and we do hope someday to return." Ray And here's some unique info you might like from a recent guest. "Casa Cristal was as beautiful as the pictures represented. We had a fabulous time in Isla Mujeres and returned very relaxed ... the rooftop is amazing and probably the best place for cool island breezes no matter what time of day. We actually slept there the very first night. Additionally, the pool water remained refreshingly cool the entire week despite mid 90' temperatures. I am guessing that cold water is constantly circulated into the pool. Finally, the convenience of the bar at Villa la Bella and breakfast at Caribe Brisas / Mango was fantastic and great for morning/evening walks. Dining offers great diversification in both taste and ambience. Two of our favorites were La Lomita at the outer edges of Centro offering some of the most authentic Mexican dishes and extremely good chile rellenos. Limon was also a great experience with a fantastic presentation of the beef carpaccio and succulent caribbean lobster. Although we arrived at 7:30 pm, our meal was paced according to our schedule with subsequent courses not fired until the prior course was cleared. The owner personally served and attended to all tables while grilling entrees. At the end of the meal, we lingered with a snifter of aged rum and the owner sat with us for a long time eventually driving us home despite the short walk. For the tequila lover - Adelita's is unbeatable. I sampled 10 tequilas that I had not seen in the US (including repesados and anejos) and my wife sampled 10 mezcals. She did not expect to find such a diverse variety in one location but found three new mezcal's that she enjoyed. Thank you again!