Back to the Caribbean!!!

I'm having Jon build me one of these as soon as we get back and I'm planting bouganvillia

Sunday, March 18 2012

We have come again to the Caribbean coast.  We haven’t seen this area since we left Gulf Shores, Alabama in January.  I think I prefer the Atlantic as opposed to the Pacific.  The waters are calmer and warmer.  The beaches seem to have very white sands and there are longer stretches of beach to enjoy.  One thing that I do enjoy about the Pacific though are the tide pools.  You can explore the tide pools looking for echinoderms, gastropods and bivalve-shelled animals, which are probably my favorite groups of animals that live in the ocean besides the sea turtle.  They are always so colorful.

This morning we went to the ruins of Tulum.  These ruins were a 10-minute walk from our cabana and are the only ruins we have visited which are on the beach.  Jon and I have visited five ruins thus far and this one was pretty spectacular.  We were able to go swimming on the beach with the ruins on the cliffs above.  The water was brilliant turquoise and really warm, while the sand was fluffy and white like the clouds.  There were muchas touristas but with a spot like that it has to be expected especially since we went on a Sunday.  While on the beach though, Jon found a spot for us that could have been interpreted as off limits but no one questioned us about it.  So, we were pretty much by ourselves in no other man’s land. Other people were reluctant to come into our zone.  There were a few professional photographers that were taking pictures of girls in sexy poses.  It was a little weird and must be awkward for the girls to have to pose and make the “Don’t you want me” faces while tourists are there taking their own pictures, swimming and gawking nearby. 

We are spending another night in Tulum in our cabana because it is such an excellent spot.  For lunch we had mangos, plantanos, agua de coco and hongos & meil te.  Todos local. After lunch we walked down the beach to meet up with Antonio, a guy we talked to yesterday about snorkeling.  Yesterday he was wearing a Grateful Dead shirt and told us that he would take us snorkeling for 200 pesos a person, which is the cheapest snorkeling we’ve had yet.  The trip did reflect the price however.  The captain took us by boat to look at the ruins from the water and take pictures.  The angle and lighting weren’t the best but I got a few shots.  Next we went to the reef and jumped out after a little instruction to stay away from the Fire Coral.  This made me a little nervous.  The swimming was a little rough and there were a bunch of other boats with snorkelers out there and a few of the those chumps ran into me or kicked me with their fins.  It felt a little like a shit show and we only snorkeled for about 30 minutes.  Jon and I both saw an octopus though in different locations so that was pretty interesting.  There were some nice fish and the coral was pretty to look at but it felt like a big herd of sheep or something and overall I would have to rate this as my least favorite snorkeling experience thus far.  And my snorkel mask broke so I have to get a new one of those too.

We drove to the supermarket today and got some bacon, eggs, avocado and Oaxacan queso and we are going to have breakfast burritos for dinner.  We are Americans and we haven’t had bacon in like two months.  That’s sacrilegious and we are craving it.  Tomorrow we are going to do some morning yoga then drive a little bit north again to Akumal which means the meeting place of the turtle and we are going to try to snorkel with the sea turtles.