Las Marietas Islands

---

It's March 7th, which means exactly one month until my birthday. Woah, time flies!

Today, Karolina and I washed up and headed to breakfast at Paradise restaurant, which has become our routine. We were greeted with a big smile from Poly, the head waiter, and he lead "his princesses" to a nice table overlooking the pool. I finally tried the yogurt that Karolina was raving about for the first few days of our trip. I had mango yogurt and mixed in granola, flax seed, wheat germ, coconut and strawberries. She was right -- so good! I also had some salsa, chicken and eggs mixture that was incredible. We finished up and quickly hurried off to the port to catch our 9:00 boat out to the Las Marietas Islands. Today we plan on whale watching (I've never seen a whale in the wild), snorkeling, kayaking and hanging out on the beach. I definitely can't complain.

Karolina and I bought the Las Marietas tickets online and because of the buy 2 get 1 free deal, these were free. After getting the sailboat trip and Rhythms of the Night, which Fred joined us for, we had an extra 3rd ticket for Las Marietas. We stopped people before they went to the counter offering them our ticket for free, but everyone had paid beforehand, like us. So we wasted that 3rd ticket and headed on to the boat.

We grabbed some seats in the shade on the upper deck. Little did we know they provided breakfast. Oops, we already ate. Regardless, Karolina and I grabbed an orange juice when offered. We each took a sip... Ugh! It was pretty much just sugar water. Nothing like the fresh squeezed juice we got at the resort. Haha, I felt so spoiled.

The captain then began his search for some humpback whales. We stood up near the bow of the boat to get a better view. We chased the water shooting in the air in the distance in hopes of seeing the whale diving, but with no luck. We only ever caught a glimmer in the distance.

We arrived at the island and we each were sized up for flippers, goggles and wet suits for snorkeling. My feet are flippers all by themselves -- long and ghin. None of their enhancement flippers really fit, but I decided to settle or the closest pair. We took some pictures and then jumped into the water. When I initially looked down into the water, I saw nothing but the muck of the ocean. As we made our way toward the shore the coral and fish became visable.

I saw a great big trumpet fish weaving through the coral. These black fish with electric blue fins were all over and very beautiful. I did about a dozen free dives and had enough. These reefs weren't nearly as cool as the Cayman Islands. As we made our way back to the boat I began to feel sick from all the salt water I ate. After a few moments on the boat though, I was good as new.

Karolina and I decided to head to shore next and a boat was leaving to take us there right away. As we arrived on shore we put our sundresses out on the rocks to dry and then made our way down the shoreline taking a bunch of pictures along the way.

There were a bunch of blue footed boobie nests along the rocks and occasionally a fluffy newly hatched chick. That's not something I see everyday up in Philadelphia.

We probably spent too much time on the shore, because by the time we got back to the boat it was ready to headd back to Puerto Vallarta. No time for kayaking :-( Not that I'm complaining though, the white sand, cliffs and blue water was quite beautiful.

The captain resumed his search for whales as we made our way home. Several dolphins showed themselves. They played as we watched. Soon the captain heard from another boat about a whale sighting and we headed in that direction. Not 30 meters from our boat a humpback whale emerged and the dove. They're HUGE! My favorite part was the tail slapping the water as the creature dove deeper into the ocean. The wake had the ability to rock our boat just a tad.

Satisfied we headed to Puerto Vallarta. We changed and Karolina headed to the pool while I took a nap before dinner. I was exhausted!

At 6 I met Fred at the bar out on the beach so that we could enjoy the sunset and a drink before dinner. The sunset on the Pacific coast is so gorgeous. From where we sat we gazed past sailboats to the colors on the horizon. After the sun snuck behind the horizon we headed for dinner. As usual, it was great, but they still did not have the Red Snapper fish that I had dreamed about since tasting last year. Regardless, my tenderloin was great. Because of my wrist injury, Karolina had to cut up my meal. I was so grateful, but I do have to admit I felt like a child for a moment. We headed back to the beach bar after our meal and stayed until we were all ready to sleep. It was another great day.

---