After a day of relaxing on the beach, Ken and I were ready for a little excitement the next morning. We booked a "Jungle Tour" at Barracuda Marina that wasn't exactly anything to do with a jungle, but a power boat ride through the mangroves was good enough for us. Don't these little boats look fun?!
Evidently one couple that had booked the tour was late and we waited around a while for them. I think being 20 minutes late is grounds for being left, but we enjoyed the views...
The boats waited patiently as well ...
When everybody finally arrived, we were given instructions on hand signals and told not to follow too close. Our guide said that the week before, one boat ran into the back of another and was left with a bill of over $10,000 bucks! We then boarded our boats and "followed the leader" through the mangroves.
We sped around curves for about 25 minutes ... the breeze felt so good. These little boats are as fun as they look!
We then arrived at a reef (along with other tour boats), where we anchored and snorkeled for about an hour. Unlike the snorkeling in Isla Mujeres (which we enjoyed), this spot had an actual reef! There were all sorts of cool looking coral and fish, and we even came across a couple of underground sculptures ... really cool! We packed real light, so the only camera I had was my phone ... so no pictures.
After snorkeling, another brief source of entertainment for Ken & I was to watch everyone climb back on their boats! We had no ladders, so needless to say it was comical. We all got a good laugh at ourselves. As we rode back through the mangroves, I wished the ride didn't have to end. If we become full-time landlubbers after traveling, one of these tiny boats would be perfect to keep at the marina. Talk about less maintenance! The tour was a lot of fun, and we'd recommend it. Again, going in September got us a cheaper rate ... a really good time to visit this part of Mexico!
We arrived back at the hotel just in time for lunch. Although we didn't purchase the "all-inclusive" package, we were able to buy food at the hotel. We decided to eat at the pool area, and the grilled burgers were really good!
The afternoon was again spent lounging on the beach, and as we arrived I spotted a couple of guys in uniform standing in the area that was roped off to protect the turtle eggs. As it turned out, a ton of tiny turtles had hatched. Check out the egg shells!
We really need to learn Spanish, as we couldn't talk to these guys but they had gathered up the baby turtles ... probably to release them later. I wish I could have seen them hatch ... or watched them be released. So cute!
The lazy afternoon was so peaceful as we watched colorful para-sails glide through the air. Just like in Isla Mujeres, we tried not to think about the fact that this was our last day. Can't we stay a little longer?!
That night we again walked around downtown and then ate across the street from our hotel at Bubba Gump's. Although we have this restaurant in the states, we never eat at it so this was still a treat for us. A feast of shrimp for Ken and "fish n chips" for me while overlooking the lagoon was a nice way to end the night.
With an early flight the next day, our trip had come to an end. The getaway was too short, but the memories will last a lifetime! We really hope to sail Nirvana back someday. We've already been back in town a month, and we've been getting a lot done on Nirvana.
It seems that videos are the new trend, so I wanted to start playing around with how to create videos. I created two short ones from our time on Isla Mujeres ... one is clips from our scooter ride around the island & the other is really just a slide show, but gotta start somewhere. Stay tuned!
Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment