Cancun Mexico ~ Day 3 ~ Snorkeling in Puerto Morelos
We woke up early Monday morning to catch our tour to La Joya del Caribe for a snorkeling excursion at Puerto Morelos, which is a huge nationally protected coral reef. The van picked up about 10 of us at the Coral Mar Resort, and took off on the 20 minute drive to Puerto Morelos. Once there, we met a nice man named Joaquin who took us down to the dock and loaded us into a boat. Joaquin then introduced us to our tour guide, Paz.
Paz was this classic Mexican surf guy. Long sun-bleached hair, sunny disposition, the whole bit. You could tell just lived in the ocean 90% of his life. We were all sitting in the boat, and Mary was talking about how she’s blind without her glasses. She took her glasses off, and was trying to maneuver them into her snorkel mask. “I’m blind as a bat,” she said. “I can’t see a thing.” At just that moment, as if in a movie, we all look to the front of the boat and Paz, his backed turned to us, slowly stripped off his shirt, to reveal an, um… BUILT little body. We all looked back at Mary, who was wide eyed and gaping, smile on her face, staring at him. “Well, you can see THAT!” said her friend Becky. It couldn’t have played out any funnier. We were all a fan of Paz. Even the men had to appreciate him.
We were all given our snorkel masks and fins, and also a guide showing all the coral and fish we were about to see. The boat was driven out into the middle of the ocean, and then we dropped anchor.
One by one we tossed our legs over the side of the boat and slipped into the crystal clear water. The ocean was warm, and so the cold “shock to the system” I was expecting didn’t come as I went into the water. Steve was warned that because of his whiskers (I like him with a healthy two-day scruff) he might have some leakage into his mask. I had no problem, and the thing suctioned right onto my face. Steve’s leaked a bit, and he swallowed a few gallons of saltwater, but enjoyed himself all the same. Next snorkel outing, he’s shaving!
Paz then guided all of us around this huge coral reef. It was absolutely BREATHTAKING. I can’t even put into words how amazing it was. I had been snorkeling before, but I had never seen an alive flourishing reef like this!
We stayed in the water for about two hours, the whole time swimming from reef to reef. We saw so many different types of fish… too many to count. Several huge Groupers, Barracuda, Needlefish, and even a Spotted Eagle Ray! Paz was a great guide. Whenever he’d find a particularly cool fish, he’d grab whichever one of us was closest, and bring us to it. He definitely deserves credit for half the photos I got. Especially the Eagle Ray. It was hard to spot at first, despite it’s size, but once we saw it, it was awe inspiring! It was huge! A wingspan of around 5 feet, and a stinger at least 8 feet long. I got excited, and with my camera going, paddled my legs to get closer and chase it. Just then the ocean current caught me, and pushed me even closer, and I found myself only feet from it’s huge stinger. Immediately flashes of Steve Irwin’s untimely stingray death flashed into my head. Just then Paz grabbed my fin and pulled me away. Close one! (I’ll upload the movie later, which was totally worth the risk!)
After paddling around for hours and getting our snorkeling fill, we all piled back into the boat. On this little excursion we met some other Coral Mar guests… in particular this couple that isn’t a couple. They’re both retired, and are only friends, a man and a woman, and they’re just travel buddies. These two – they absolutely crack me up. The man, John, is this big jolly dude, and is a retired corrections officer. You’d never know it, he’s just this big goofball. And… he’s clumsy. He somehow managed to find a way to fall INTO the boat. Not out, IN. That gave us all a good laugh as we rode back to shore.
After rinsing off in a nearby outdoor shower, we all sat down to a buffet lunch that had been prepared for us. Classic Mexican fare, including the hottest salsa this side of Texas. As we all sat down, our friend John, once AGAIN found a way to fall. He was getting into or out of his chair (not sure which) and slipped on the wet tile and fell like a beach ball onto the floor. We all stopped and wanted to make sure he was okay, but his travel buddy, she just LAUGHED AND LAUGHED and got the rest of us laughing, too. Those two cracked us up the entire time.
After lunch and a stroll along the beach, we caught our ride back to the Coral Mar for a much needed rest.
I need to tell you about the Leather Ladies. There are three women – all in their 60s, easily – who have been sitting out by the pool THE ENTIRE TIME WE’VE BEEN HERE. If the sun is out? They are out. They have been overheard saying that if they go home without a tan the entire trip’s a bust. But let me tell you – they look like slabs of Bacon in Bikini’s. As we walked in from snorkeling, they tried to bribe us into going to Walmart to do their shopping for them. They couldn’t handle even a moment out of the sun! We passed. I’ve never seen three examples of skin cancer like those three. They are even darker than the local Mexicans. It’s a bit frightening. And their nickname – The Leather Ladies – seems to be universal. When we met another couple later that night, they referred to them by the same name! Hah!
Monday night was Yo Quiero Taco Loco Fiesta in the Palapa at the Coral Mar. It was all you can eat Fajitas, all you can drink drinks, and party and dancing like any true Mexican Fiesta demands. We went, expecting some yummy food, but we were pleasantly surprised by how much fun we all had!
After the dinner was mostly finished, they began all these silly Mexican party games, which turned out to be a blast. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves (once I upload them) but lets just say, Steve lost a hat game and took shots. I won a chicken/hen/nest game, won a gold medal, and took shots. Steve and I both won this couples/balloon game, and took shots… you can see the trend, no? We enjoyed that fiesta very much. And I learned I am very good at walking with a lime squeezed between my knees!
Stay tuned for day 4… a spontaneous trip to Playa Del Carmen!
Cancun Mexico ~ Day 2
The bed in our hotel is wider than it is long. It’s probably four people wide, but not only do Steve’s feet hang off the end, but MY feet even do a little. Well, my toes do anyway. Maybe we’re laying on it sideways?
We woke up Sunday morning and took a leisurely stroll down to the Palapa. They were serving free breakfast, and had a little presentation about how to get around, things to do, and a tour guide told us about a whole bunch of fun tours we could do. Each and every one of them sounded fun, but we really don’t want to spend thousands of dollars, so we got busy picking a couple of them to do. Mary and Becky met us down there, and we decided that we’d all do the snorkeling tour to the coral reef, and the Coba Maya Encounter. The snorkeling was Monday morning (I’ll tell you about that in a bit), and we’ll probably do the Coba thing on Wednesday. I’ll tell you more about the Coba thing after we do it, but let me tell you… it is going to be AMAZING. It’s a full day of adventure.
After the breakfast, we decided that to save a bit of food money, we’d go to Walmart and stock up our condo’s kitchen so we could eat (and drink) with much less expense. We hopped in a cab, and paid the 110 pesos it took to get us to the Walmart.
Walmart… was an EXPERIENCE. It looked much like the American Walmarts do, but almost every single thing on the shelves was unrecognizable. Not only was everything (of course) in Spanish, but even the brands and packaging shapes were different. The produce section was HUGE and I don’t know what half the fruits were, and of course everything was in Pesos so I had my iPod Touch currency converter out the whole time. It was the most fun I’ve ever had at Walmart! 
It took us a while to shop, because we literally had to sit and investigate each thing, to make sure we knew what we were buying. I couldn’t for the life of me find pancake mix, and when I went to pick out limes for our Coronas, there were several small round green fruits that could have been limes, so I just randomly chose one and hoped I got the right thing. (Turns out, I did.) Near the cheese section, there was some sort of fiesta going on (party in cheese aisle!) with loud speakers and loud Mexican rock (?) music and lots of people. I found some orange cheese and danced off to find milk. That’s where it got really strange. Milk wasn’t refrigerated! It came in little cardboard boxes out in the middle of the aisles. Not cold. We were tripped out by it and didn’t buy any. Maybe we just didn’t find the right stuff? It’s entirely possible.
Our taxi driver was this adorable little old man named Pedro, and he told us he’d wait out in the parking lot for us while we shopped. (That’s rare! So nice!) We went back out and he had been taking a little Siesta while we shopped.
After putting all our groceries away in our kitchen, we spent a few hours by the pool reading. Adjusting to this slow, relaxed lifestyle has been, well, an adjustment! It’s weird for my brain not to have something I have to do or get to or think about. Just relaxing by the pool, with no end time needed, no place I needed to be, no schedule. It was really nice!
After feeling appropriately sunned, we took a nap. Yes, I actually took a nap. Me, the queen of I HATE NAPS, took a little siesta of my own. After my nap I walked around and took photos. I met a new friend, Gerry the Pelican, and he let me take lots of close-ups. You can see those on my Flickr page.
Later that evening Steve and I took another taxi over to La Isla, a shopping center over in the hotel zone. It was this huge outdoor mall type place, with canals running through it, stone bridges, and shops galore. It was huge, and we totally got lost in there. We shopped in the little Mexican market for souvenirs, and Steve was *this close* to buying one of those Mexican wrestler face masks. He put it on, and it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I think we need to go back and buy it. After shopping for a while we stopped at this Taco restaurant on the dock. We ate shrimp tacos right on the water, looking out at the night ocean, where boats with lights were sailing around. It was so gorgeous!
After that, we decided to go to the beach, and take a nighttime stroll in the sand. Hotels completely line the beach, and to get to it, you have to either find one of the public access points, or cut through the lobby of a hotel. The beaches are all public… none of them are private, but getting to it is tricky. The hotels can totally stop you and kick you out if you try cutting through their lobbies. But the Westin Resort was right there, calling our name, so we decided to give it a try.
Maybe it was because it was nighttime, but nobody stopped us or questioned us. We walked through with no problem, and found ourselves in the vast expanse of pools and palm-lined walkways behind the Westin resort. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we walked around in awe until we finally found ourselves on the sandy beach.
The beach was HUGE, and completely empty. We didn’t see a single soul. The stars were out and the warm balmy air was accented with a refreshing breeze. The sand really IS powder-soft like they say. We walked along the beach for a while, passing all of the huge Vegas-style hotels that lined it. It was really amazing.
After a while, we were tired and ready to find a taxi back to our condo. But then we had another challenge… how to get back through another hotel lobby from the BACK. (The Westin was long behind us by now, too far to turn back.) The back of all the hotels is a maze of pools and amenities and restaurants… the entrance to the hotel is completely obscured by other things. One hotel even had a big movie screen facing the beach which was playing Harry Potter. But we couldn’t exactly go in there, behind the movie screen!
We finally found a place to give it a go. Again, it was a maze of poolsides and walkways and archways and staircases, but eventually we found our way out. It was fun, especially with the added element of possibly getting in trouble by hotel concierge workers.
After catching another cab home, we were pretty beat. We hit our giant sideways bed and fell fast asleep.
Coming next… snorkeling with Paz on a huge Coral Reef, fun with Jon the retired corrections officer, the leather ladies, and Yo Quiro Taco Loco Fiesta! (in other words, Day 3)
Cancun Mexico ~ Day One
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8am this morning. It was a direct flight from Salt Lake to Cancun, and early enough to get us there with time left in the day to play.
The downfall? Waking up at 5 in the morning to make it to the airport on time.
But alas, we did. We (or rather, I) had spent the last two days in anxiety danger-zone planning and packing and planning and making sure we didn’t forget to plan or pack something. So this morning we were totally packed and ready to go the minute we opened our eyes.
My Mom had flown in a few days prior, to house/cat-sit for us while we are here in Cancun enjoying the sun. She woke up at 5 a.m. too, and drove our sleep-deprived asses to the airport at that ungodly hour.
Steve and I are light travelers, and in the last 9 years we’ve known each other, we’ve always traveled with carry-ons only. We aren’t bag-checkers. But this time we decided to not break our backs and just check one big huge suitcase with all our stuff, so we didn’t have to schlep it all through the airplane aisles. Check-in went surprisingly quickly, and our flight was on time. We hopped on the plane, grumpy tired and excited tired, and prepared for the four hour flight.
We have travel buddies, too. A coworker/friend of ours, Mary, happens to own a timeshare in the same place we are staying, and we both unknowingly booked this same week, and even booked the same exact flight. She’s been down here several times before, so it’s nice to have another person with us who knows the ropes. Neither Steve nor I have ever been to Cancun.
The first half of the flight went well. The airplane had those little miniature TV screens on the back of each seat, and offered free TV for the entire flight. (Or, at least until we crossed the Mexico border, when we subsequently lost signal.) I ended up getting sucked into the movie Freaky Friday, and Steve fell fast asleep.
About halfway into the flight, the flight attendant came over the loudspeaker and said, “If there is a doctor or medical professional on board, please report to the front of the plane.” A few rows ahead of us, an older woman was having some sort of health episode. People were bunched in the aisle, gathered around her with concerned expressions. It turned out that she was okay, and just needed to lie down, but it was pretty scary. What if she was really ill? What if she needed a hospital, and we’re over ocean? What if no doctor is on board? What happens? Luckily a nurse on board was able to calm that situation down.
Towards the end of the flight, as we were approaching Mexico, the flight got very turbulent, and they passed out Customs forms to be filled out. The flight attendants were actually pretty rude, which bugs me. And nothing is worse than filling out Customs forms in a tight seat on a stuffy airplane during heavy turbulence. I kind of felt like I was going to puke. I never get nervous on flights, but this one made me a bit nervous.
After about 20 minutes, the plane finally chilled out, and we saw the white beached coastline of the Yukutan Peninsula out our little window. Bright turquoise water, that even from 3000 feet, you could see through to the ocean floor. That’s when I really got excited, and it felt like “Vacation” time begun.
I was a bit worried about the upcoming customs rat-race in the Cancun airport, though. Thankfully, our flight was one of the only ones arriving at that time, and our customs experience was very speedy. Even baggage claim was a breeze. We were out of the airport within 15 minutes, and our ride to our resort was waiting for us right outside the door.
It was so great to feel the hot humid heat on our skin, see palm trees and bright hibiscus flowers everywhere, and be speeding down a small highway among hotels and beaches! We got to our resort, the Coral Mar, and settled in. Our condo is on the top floor, in the perfect spot. Our bay window overlooks the pool, which overlooks the ocean. Plumeria trees abound. It’s just gorgeous!
After we dropped our stuff in our room, we went down to the pool bar. We propped ourselves up on the tall stools under the thatched grass roof, and ordered fish tacos and Coronas. They were, hands down, the best fish taco’s I’ve ever had. Fresh and absolutely delicious! We could have hung out at the bar for hours, but we were feeling seriously sleep deprived. We went back up to our room, and both of us crashed.
A couple hours (maybe only an hour?) later, we both woke up from our naps feeling much more fresh and more human than we had in days.
We’ve spent the rest of the evening tonight hanging around the resort, the pool bar, planning excursions, and walking under the stars among the palm trees along Pok Ta Pok Road, enjoying the warm tropical breeze, and meeting a few local Cancun kitties hanging out on tall walls behind flowery bushes.
This is gonna be a goooood week.
