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Published: August 6th 2007
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31/03/07 - 06/04/07 Kissing Dolphins and Tequila for Breakfast!
Our accommodation in Tulum was Cabinas just seconds from the beach. We lazed around the first day on the beach watching kite boarders and soaking up the rays. When we weren’t lazing on the beach, we were lazing on the hammocks that were strung out in front of our small stone huts. If swinging on the hammocks wasn’t enough, we also had the unusual feature of a swinging bed that hung down from four strong ropes tied to ceiling beams. If you didn’t keep very still then it was easy to become quite seasick or that one-too-may-drinks-feeling of the whole room spinning. The hammocks were just big enough for two with hilarious results. Try being the second person trying to get into a hammock or even the first person trying to stay in whilst someone else is climbing on board!
On April Fool’s morning all four of us were the April fools, trying to get to see the Tulum Mayan ruins at sunrise. We eventually watched the sun come up over the sea but didn’t get to see the ruins till later in the day when the Archeological Park opened.
The ruins were different based on their cliff top location but I think we were all pretty much done with Mayan ruins by them and they were very crowded so we whipped round them quickly and headed for a bar!
Some of Mexico’s most famous cavern and cave systems were close by offering the chance to dive in a Cenote in crystal clear fresh water. We opted for one of the top dive sites for cavern diving (we weren’t doing that taking off your tanks and crawling through caves stuff), Dos Ojos (Two Eyes). It was a very different type of dive from everything that we are used to at sea. Apart from the obvious salt/fresh water buoyancy difference, instead of looking at marine life and coral it was all about the beauty of the rocks; the stalagmites, stalactites and columns of calcium that we swam around and through under the water. When leaving the caverns and heading back toward the entrance, it was amazing to switch off our torches and just head for the turquoise light, following the silhouette of the diver in front (It was only Jen, myself and our guide). Mysterious and Beautiful.
Our last stop
in Mexico was Playa Del Carmen, a busy tourist beach resort, where we had 4 nights in a swank apartment to laze around more. Our planned itinerary was shop, dive, snorkel, swim with dolphins and drink Tequila!
On my birthday, we all hit the town in our big sombreros but they were too itchy to wear, and big, and embarrassing that after a couple of sombrero photo shoots, we eventually palmed them off to small children who seemed delighted with our gifts. All this occurred after a day that started with a small bottle of tequila and followed up with an amazing Moroccan meal with plenty of wine. Unfortunately we couldn’t go to crazy cause we had booked our diving trip for the next day (diving day after partying = seriously bad planning!)
We caught the public ferry over to Cozumel and dived the famous Santa Rosa wall with its loads of swim-throughs and a coral garden site. Cozumel has the second biggest reef in the world and is a Mecca for divers. We saw a big hawksbill turtle and many different tropical fish from what we’d seen in south east Asia and the Barrier Reef, particularly a
different ‘model’ of one of our favourites - the honeycomb cowfish.
We booked a last minute snorkeling trip, hiring a boat between the four of us to investigate the reef off of the Playa coast so that Rebecca could see most of the beautiful fish over the reef that we had seen diving the day before. We saw huge schools of blue tang, beautiful coral and the honeycomb cowfish once more - Horrah!!
On our last day we treated ourselves to a dolphin encounter, where we got up close and personal with the friendly mammals. Although very tacky and touristy the experience was still hilarious fun, especially being photographed kissing the dolphins which had us all in stitches. All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Patrick and Rebecca and to Mexico as we boarded our respective flights to L.A. and Amsterdam. This was our last planned country and we now had a month in the States left before heading back to the reality of work once more!!!
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..the fish..
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All Play and No Work
Old saying: "All play and no work make Matt a poor boy!" Ah, work - yes, how I remember that! Stop off in Dublin on the way home, guys, coz yer daddy just got a new permie job there! I'll send you an address when I've got one. >