Turtle time

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On our first morning at the Rio Playa hostel we were surprised to find edible breakfast. Just cornflakes, carton milk, bread and jam, but still a step up from the last place.

The weather was a little overcast, but we had decided we wanted to visit the Caribbean island of Cozumel. We knew this place was a divers' hotspot but we decided we wanted to go for a look anyway. We sat around for a little while chatting with some guys at breakfast, and eventually they convinced us that it would be a complete waste of time to go there unless we did dive. They had been to snorkel there a few days earlier, and apparently there was nothing to see.

So we decided that we would go to Akumal, a place which is known to be the home of sea turtles. Sometime during the year turtle eggs hatch on the beach and you are able to watch the baby turtles make their way into the sea; unfortunately this was not that time of year. However, turtles are still regularly seen swimming around the shores of Akumal throughout the year because the shoreline provides protection with its coral, and they like to feed on the sea grass.

Before going to Akumal we decided to visit our new favourite place, Walmart. We had learnt from the previous day’s experience that it would be cheaper to take our own packed lunch. As we were leaving, our new Swedish friends decided they would like to come along to wander around Walmart. Somewhere along the way we were convinced by our Swedish friends that it would be a good idea to purchase a snorkel, as in the long run we may be doing more snorkeling, and the price of renting them in Akumal was apparently quite high.

When we arrived at Walmart we were surprised to see that a cheap looking plastic snorkel set cost around £20 each. We refused to pay that price and decided just to rent at Akumal instead. However our Swedish friend (Martin) had been told by someone at Rio Playa to go to a hostel a few roads back, as apparently they sold cheap snorkel sets. Anyway long story short, we found a hostel a few roads back, maybe the right one maybe not. No one was there selling snorkels, but a Mexican lady called a man on the phone and passed it to Martin, who was given directions to a place called ‘Mexican Blue Dreams’. This whole conversation was conducted in Spanish, and Martin does not speak Spanish. So around three hours later we found ourselves back outside Walmart snorkel-less, and unable to find the mysterious Mexican Blue Dreams. In hindsight we should have seen this coming. The man on the phone was trying to sell us day trips (like every other person in the area) however as we had not been interested we think we were sent on a wild goose chase, or in search of a long weight. You get the picture.

Anyway, by about 1.30 we decided that it was too late to go to Akumal, and just wanted to go to the beach at Playa. The Swedes agreed but they were relentless; they said we may as well find our snorkels today and be ready to go tomorrow. We found some eventually in a touristy shop on 5th and still ended up paying a high price. Fortunately as Katie has a small head she was able to get the mask for ages 7-12 (embarrassing) but this was cheaper. We still ended up paying around £30 for the two, so beware if you are coming to Playa, snorkel cartels are in full operation, buy one elsewhere.

Saying that, after lunch (at our favourite taco place) we went down to Playa beach to test out our new snorkels, and we were not to be disappointed. They were really very good and we snorkeled for a few hours. Luke loved it- he was really excited as it was the first time he had ever snorkeled. It was at this point that Katie realised that her fear of fish may be detrimental to her enjoyment of snorkeling. After seeing a few flounder fish (from Little Mermaid! we don’t know the correct name) Katie was trying to jump onto Luke’s back, describing the experience as like having rats running between your legs. Fortunately for Kate the waters at Playa were pretty barren, and after snorkeling for around 2 hours we had not seen a lot. Luke and the the Swedes saw a fighting fish which is spiky that was pretty cool.

After the beach we decided to stop by Walmart to grab some beers which were extremely cheap. It cost 23.5 pesos for 1.2 litres- just over £1. We also bought some potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, bread rolls and cheese to do a bit of home cooking. We returned to the hostel and made some jacket potatoes and a little vegetable stir fry. We also made cheese and tomato rolls for lunch in Akumal. After that we chilled out on the seats in our dorm chatting with some people from the hostel all night. Katie fell asleep on the sofa and woke in the dead of night fully dressed and in a pitch black dorm.

The following morning we were finally ready for Akumal. We went to the collectivo ‘station’- a mad strip of road on the corner of 2nd and 15th -passing by Walmart to purchase a disposable underwater camera. We were accompanied by the Swedes and a South Korean girl called Bella. All of our new companions were quite a bit older than us (the youngest being 33) we were surprised that we seemed to be the youngest travelers out of everyone we have met so far.

We arrived at Akumal which was another beach paradise. We had brought our rash vests which proved to be invaluable as you get really burnt when snorkeling. We snorkeled for around 2 hours into the clear warm waters, which appeared to only go to depths of 5 metres, even when we swam far out from shore. There was a lot of coral which was really close to the surface in some areas, so much so that you would have to kick ferociously to prevent yourself from touching it.

We saw a lot of colourful fish which Katie had got used to and was quite enjoying, but we saw nothing too scary. We did not see any turtles. We got out of the water and ate our packed lunches whilst the other guys went off to find something overpriced. We fell asleep on the beach and were awoken by the others laughing at us a few hours later.

We went back in the water, and within half an hour Andre (the other Swede) called us over as Martin had spotted a turtle. We swam over and there it was. It was amazing it was about 1 metre in length and was swimming in water about 3 metres deep. It was munching on the sea grass and then coming up to the surface and going back down again. It was so peaceful and slow and did not mind us being close. We swam behind the turtle for about 5 minutes it was such an amazing experience. We had attracted over a few other people who were now following. It really annoyed us that an American girl seemed to have no consideration for the turtle and swam right up to it and started touching it. We had been really careful not to touch or disturb the turtle.

The big turtle lead us to a smaller turtle; for a while they were grazing together on the sea floor. We then decided to follow the smaller turtle for a while. Once we had actually found the turtles we didn’t really know what to do. We eventually stopped following them and decided to swim back in to the beach. On the way back we saw two more small turtles. A very successful day.

We walked to the main road and waited for a collectivo to stop and pick us up. We were very impressed with the music played on these local buses, ranging from Robbie Williams to Kelly Rowland. As we were getting off the bus we did not have the correct change, which we had made an effort to ensure we had on previous journies. And lo and behold the driver tried to short change us, giving us 40 pesos change from 100 pesos as opposed to 50 pesos. We argued with him that it was 25 pesos each as everyone else who got off at the same stop (including our fellow travellers) had just paid 25 pesos, and this was the amount we had paid on the way. Eventually he gave in and gave us the 10 pesos but he was not happy about it, and we were not impressed that he had so red-handedly tried to rip us off.

When we got back to Playa we decided to try to get our underwater turtle photos developed. However, we were told in Walmart that the machine was broken- great. We went to get something to eat and decided on ‘supertortas’ which are like footlong subs with mexican fillings. Katie accidentally dropped half of hers on the floor again which was really annoying and disappointing. We went back to the hostel to drink the rest of our bacardi (Luke) whilst Katie drank free drinks on the roof terrace, which were available every night between 10 and 11 for girls, much to the annoyance of the disgruntled male guests.

Also, tonight happened to be Wednesday which meant free entry and free drinks all night for girls, at any night club in Playa. Notice the sexism here. Fuelled by the excitement of a free night out, most of the females at the hostel were up for a night on the town. In turn the males followed, and it ended up being a big hostel night out, lead by the hostel’s barman, who managed to wrangle 150 pesos entry (including drink all you like) for the paying guests (males). We went to a club called Brahma which had some good shows on including trapeze artists and balance acts. It was a really good night, we had about 5 tables between us and we had waiter service, the waiters were bringing jugs of lager over, and bottles from the optics. So many tequila shots! We spent a lot of the night trying to matchmake a New Zealand girl with our Swedish friend Andre and it was successful! We left the club quite late, dragging Martin home, leaving Andre with his new lady friend. The following morning Luke woke up with a roquefort and spinach pizza in his bed which Katie dutifully ate. We decided it was time to leave Playa and travel to our next destination; the island of Isla Mujueres.

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Comments

[zee]

funniest pic ever!!
"after tequila" hahahahaha!! xxxxxx