nature

We spent the morning snorkeling at a place that's just a 15-minute walk up the beach from our hotel. Some of the walk was really gross, through turtle grass and trash, but that was just a bit in the middle. Once we got past that, it was white sandy beach and turquoise water again. We actually snorkeled much longer than I thought we would, because it was so much fun. We saw fish we hadn't seen at the other place, including one fish that's shaped like a triangle, that was eating another fish. Sushi, I guess.

So loads of fun, paddling around and showing each other new fish, bobbing in the water and soaking up the sun for one last day. I put on gobs of intense very water resistant sunblock AND a shirt, trying not to get more burn on my back -- that degree of fortification seemed to do the trick.

We saw some other interesting stuff, like

The base of a coconut palm

These beautiful flowers in the midst of gray devastation:

The ubiquitous palm tree

Sunset(s)

And a few shots of the hotel dining room, where we had nice breakfasts and some really good lunches:

The best part of my breakfast every day

before we leave for the morning...

...we're heading out to the ship for some snorkeling, but Marc took a little walk along the beach road while I was getting ready this morning, and took several great pictures, including these:

No trespassing a la Mexicana.
I have no idea what this sign means, exactly, but I love it:
Tracks.
Doesn't this remind you of Maxfield Parrish?

He also got some great shots of the ever-present frigate birds, which I'll upload later this afternoon, if the connection is working. For now, off to breakfast and then to the beach.

just beachy

At breakfast this morning (banana pancakes for Marc, yogurt and granola for me), we asked Marcia about the possibility of getting onto the beach from other locations along the shoreline. She drew us a little map of a place with big waves for body surfing, and a place with a sunken ship that is good for snorkeling. All within 30km or so....so off we went.

Most of the drive was on a paved road, but the last potholed bit (10 hard km!)
was on this sandy road:

There was a place to pull in and park, so we did.
This tree reminded me of Beckett for some reason:

And the beach looked like this:

AMAZING. Nice sand, gorgeous water. We swam. We floated. We walked.

Then we got back in the car to drive further, looking for the alleged ship.
We parked. We walked.

We saw coral and shells.

And watery grasses:

And in the distance? A mostly sunken ship.

With a big pelican in the foreground. Lots of pelicans around here.

It's at the end of a pseudo pier of sticks. Actually, the sticks have a net underneath,
to catch fish. Marcia said this is bad news. And illegal.

Tomorrow we're going back to snorkel all around the ship.

Today we just walked and swam, checking it out. We won't take the camera tomorrow, so we took all the photos today.

Back to home base for lunch. Every table has a nice collection of sauces:

And lunch always comes with fresh pico de gallo.

Yum.

weather

What you have to understand when you look at the scenery photos is that last year, Hurricane Dean came in and completely destroyed this whole part of the Yucatan coastline. Its eye passed over Mahuhual, which is 25km from here. The cabanas were destroyed, the trees were destroyed, everything, twisted wreckage or dead. It was the 2nd most powerful hurricane to hit the Yucatan since they've been keeping records, apparently.


It makes for some eerie landscapes. The sunset photo in the previous post looks like something from Apocalypse Now -- at least that's what I thought when I took the picture. It was devastating for the region; they'd just built a huge pier for cruise ships (destroyed). They'd just done a major renovation project on Mahuhual so it was cruise-ship-people friendly (i.e., mostly bars, restaurants, and tchotchke shops) - all destroyed.

This morning after breakfast we drove into Mahuhual to look for a new face mask to replace Marc's, since the strap was about to tear in half. It was like a ghost town, very very sad. They're rebuilding, and it is great looking for what it is. Photos to come. Still, it's very sad.

I'm feeling a little like Quasimodo, who went mad with the bells (the bells! the bells! the bells!), but for me it's the wind. It never stops blowing. Marcia said the winter has been very windy; today it's been ~23 miles per hour without stopping for even a second. It blows on my face all night, which makes my hair tickle my face and wakes me up. It blows in every corner of our cabana, when we're trying to get some sun on the beach, when we're doing any damn thing. Growing up in Texas, I'm used to the wind. But still. Good grief.

We went snorkeling again this afternoon, but the winds were so high the water was choppy with big waves so I came back to the shore after just 5 minutes or so. Marc continued on, snorkel trooper that he is, and had a nice look around. More starfish, more red and yellow and blue fish. I watched nervously from my chair on the beach, watching his red snorkel tip.

For lunch we had salbutes, which were amazingly wonderful. That's the pattern; breakfasts are very nice, lunches are amazingly wonderful (yesterday was chicken enchiladas in a homemade mole sauce that was so subtle and delicious), dinners are meh. Last night? Spaghetti with chicken or shrimp in the marinara sauce. Every day I forget to take my camera to lunch with me; tomorrow I hope I remember.

salbutes

Having a simply wonderful time. Sun and good food, relaxing and reading, wandering around together, walking on the beach. Really good times.

the morning after

Last night after dinner, we took the camera and tripod onto the beach - the night sky is so amazing here, and we thought we could leave the shutter open and get some great star pictures. Capture the Milky Way, even. We took several photos and this one was the best:

Click it to see it bigger. Wish you were there.

Yesterday we snorkeled a little; there's a small bunch of coral a short way out from the shore, so we puttered around and saw dozens of small yellow fish, some large blue ones and a red one. The best thing we saw was a very large red starfish.

Here's the view from our porch:

Our beach:

Marc walking from our room to the dining room:

We're in the one on the right (the best one, of course):

And here's a shot of me, posting on this blog. Every vacation we have a photo of Marc pacing in the airport, and one of me with the computer. That makes me laugh.

Posting:

Sunset: