Sunday, April 21, 2013

Ramble On

The bikes are in their boxes, and now it's time for us to go.


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Ray

Today we went on one of those touristy adventure packages. The hotel gave us $1500 in resort credit, so we used some of it on things of this nature. This package was called the "Sting Ray Adventure" or something to that effect. I went into it thinking it would be, you know, "touristy," but it turned out to be pretty damn fun and educational.

The rays are in the open sea, although there is a fence along three sides that creates a very large pen. For the first half of the tour we stood in the shallow water while our guide showed us rays and talked about their habitat, anatomy, diet and reproduction. We fed them, held them and posed for pictures.

During the second half of the tour we snorkeled with the rays, and it was cool. The pen is so large that it feels like open water. Regardless, it was awesome to swim in such close quarters with these huge, graceful creatures.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest.



It was a great experience and I am very glad we did it.

Later.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Another Island Tour

Today we rode around the island again, but in the opposite direction.



It was hotter and more windy than the last time we rode. And it even seemed more humid, if that's even possible.


The blazing heat did not detract from the incredible scenery, though. More than once I found myself running off the road because the beauty was so distracting.



The iguanas don't care how hot it is.



Unfortunately my little tripod wasn't tall enough to get much of the sea in the frame.



There is an ironman triathlon held on the island every year, and we saw many cyclists out training. An ironman in this heat would likely kill me.



When we finished the ride, I wasn't feeling great. I drank plenty of water, but the heat still got to me. I have a nasty heat rash on the tops of my legs, which is something that happens occasionally in Sacramento when I do really long rides in 100-plus degrees. Here it was much cooler than that, and the ride was only 41 miles, but the humidity was much higher than I am used to. According to WebMD, humidity plays a big role in heat rash.

Jen didn't seem to be affected much by the heat. Women will often tell men they are the tougher sex; they may be right.

After recovering for a bit, we had a nice dinner in the Asian restaurant.



I broke out my favorite Tommy Bahama shirt, the one I am terrified to wear because it cost me a small fortune, and promptly spilled food on it.



These two characters are always making us pose for pictures. Tonight I turned the tables on them.



Our days here are drawing to a close, which is always bitter sweet. One more full day and we are jetting back to reality.

Later.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Fish

Today the theme was fish; we caught them, ate them and swam with them.

First up was a little fishing. We hit the water at 7:00. In hindsight we should have started a bit earlier because the action stopped at about 9:00.


Carlos and Manuel prepare the bait.


Right off the bat I caught a mahi mahi. Jen also hooked one, but it jumped and threw the hook. Shortly after that I hooked a tuna. Fish on!



Not a huge tuna, but man did it fight.





Jen then had her turn with a tuna.



I know her arms were burning at this point. Mine were.




Almost in.



Nice one.



We took our mahi mahi back to the chef at the hotel, and he made some delicious tacos with it. Great lunch.



After lunch we went snorkeling for a while. The water was warm and inviting, and there were plenty of fish to look at.
















Fun stuff and another good day. Sorry this post is mostly pictures, but I am not feeling especially wordy today.

Later.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Tulum and Tequila

Run like poison in my blood . . .

Today we took the ferry over to the mainland and went to the Mayan ruins in Tulum. Our guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip interesting. The Mayan culture and contributions were quite amazing. You can read a little about Tulum here.

Right after we arrived, Jenn saw an iguana walking through the underbrush. She quickly pounced on it, and after wrestling it into submission, posed for a picture:



Here are a bunch of pictures from Tulum:




























Later in the evening, we went down for dinner. This may be be hard to believe, since we are in Mexico, but tonight was a Mexican theme night. Really. There might have been a shot or two of tequila consumed.






One is one too many.


One more is never enough.



But that didn't seem to affect my ability to play "donkey drunky." Notice the beer in my left hand. I scored extra points for standing the bottle up while drinking a beer. My true talents are being wasted in the information technology field.



It was a good day, but it's time for bed. We are getting up early to do a little fishing.

Later.