This day was the Fat Cat trip with all my pals. We were headed out for the day on a large Catamaran for sailing, snorkeling, and drinking! John was going to stay home with Rob and the kids.
The Fat Cat was absolutely awesome, and I didn’t get seasick! We stopped in the Xaac cove to snorkel and enjoy the beach (until a great big tractor came along that squeeked at a decibel level that would have broken glass!). Then we returned to the Cat for some lunch, and then took off. We all got to try out the boom net, which is when you sit in a net at the back of the boat in the water, and hold on tight while they go fast! So much fun.
After that we went to another cove where we all floated around for awhile in beer diapers (ha! upside down life jackets, with your legs in the arm holes). This was a lot of fun, and you are able just to float around and drink your beer! Too cool.
We then set off for our return trip to Puerto Aventuras. Here’s some photos:
Boarding the Cat:
Heading out:
We were all quite tipsy by the time we got back to land, and I ended up forgetting my camera in the van. John picked me up and we promised to meet everyone later at La Ranita bar. Shortly after we arrived home I noticed my camera wasn’t there, and I proceeded to call Anna and see if anyone had turned one in. NO luck. It wasn’t found by the Fat Cat crew, either. DARN!! It was my digital camera, and lucky thing John had gotten me to take out my big, full memory card and put in my smaller one before leaving.
After dinner, we went back to La Ranita to enjoy everyone’s company yet again. However, within an hour or so I started to feel seasick (always happens to me when I get OFF the boat) and so we headed home.
The next day was New Year’s Eve, and we had arranged for our friends Michael and Rose’s daughter to babysit for us. However, I soon realized that I was not going to feel up to going out, and John and Rob didn’t really want to go out either. So we dropped by Michael’s villa to let them know, and to pay their daughter anyway. We really felt that we should still pay her, since we were backing out at the last minute when she would no longer be able to acquire another babysitting gig. Rose tried to stop us (Rose is a darling!) but we insisted, and we wouldn’t have felt good about it if we didn’t pay her.
After that John, Rob and the kids wanted to go to Xel-ha. I decided I’d be okay, and if I didn’t feel good I could always lay down in a lawn chair. The first thing we did was the river floating, which was horrible because there was no current, and so we didn’t float downstream! It took forever to get to the end. After that we had some lunch at the fast-food counter, then headed for the floating bridge. The last two times we came we never went over there, I don’t know why exactly. We soon found out what we were missing! There were some great cenotes that went right under the pathway, and cool rope swing, and some general great scenery. Most of the photos I took were on our disposable waterproof camera, but I did take some with a camera Michael had lent me for the day (Thanks, Mike!)
We were all feeling tired, so we decided to go. We went home and got changed, then went out for dinner at Restaurant de Bruno. Dinner wasn’t fabulous, and my steak came very rare when I had asked for medium. I couldn’t eat most of it.
We then grabbed some videos, and headed home. I wasn’t feeling good, and was in bed by 9!!
The next day after seeing the Dr. again, we had to seriously make a decision to return home, based on health issues. We were worried about Jorden’s heart, which the doctor confirmed was having some issues, and as well I wasn’t getting any better. We had suspected something with Jorden as he had been overly tired and “blue” looking lately. Dr. Carlos suspected he was entering heart failure and would do much better seeing the doctors back home. While this did upset us to leave early, at the same time I really felt like I wanted to be home right now given these issues. So we decided we would head for home after taking Rob to the airport on the 6th.
We decided to head to the Tulum beach again, and on the way we thought we’d try going south on the Boca Paila road for a ways into the Si’an Ka’an Biosphere, a protected wild-life refuge. The road was a dirt road, with some areas that were very full of potholes and we had to go quite slow. There were a lot of retreats/hotels along the way that looked like great places to kick back for a week or two.
We went for quite a ways, and then saw a small driveway leading towards the water. We took it, and found it led to the most beautiful beach I’ve seen yet in the whole area. It was a completely barren, white sand beach that stretched for miles. We spent the day here, and found out that we had almost made it to the bridge that leads to Punta Allen.
I have no photos of this beach because the ones I took were on my disposable camera, since my camera was still lost. Sorry!
We returned late in the day, swearing we would make it back to this beach again sometime soon.
On the 2nd we went to Paamul. We stopped in to see Susie, and Tyra was also there. We had some lunch here, and spent some time on the beach in the company of friends. It was a nice day. On the way back to town, we dropped Tyra back off at her villa.
The next day we decided to go into Cancun and take Rob to see Market 28. We did some shopping there, but soon found that prices had increased dramatically there from a month or so ago. I guess it was the holiday season. We managed to russle up some deals thought, then we left and stopped at a beach we found on the Can-do map, just south of Puerto Morelos. It was also a very, very beautiful and pristine beach and the kids managed to find a lot of shells here. I took some photos with a disposable camera, but they aren’t very good quality.
That night we took the kids to La Parilla and enjoyed yet another good meal. We then did some more shopping of some things I wanted to pick up before we left, and went home with videos. I was in bed early yet again!
On the 4th, we had another friend who was in town and staying at the Iberostar Lindo, so we picked him, his daughter, and his daughter’s mom (confusing, I know! Purely travelling together) and headed to Tulum. The place was absolutely packed! We enjoyed showing them this marvel. After Tulum we all bought and tried some cocos frios (cold coconuts) which they chop open with a machete and then you drink the milk out. It was very sweet, and the kids really liked it.
We then went to Oscar y Lalo’s restaurant in Soliman Bay. The weather turned very windy and cloudy. The restaurant is beautiful as is the bay. Again, I’ll post some photos when I get the disposables developed. After lunch we decided to try Dos Ojos again, and see if we could get in for the proper price. Sure enough, this time they only tried to charge us $8 US per adult. After travelling down a long and bumpy road we reached the main cenote, which was amazing! WAY better than Grand Cenote. In one part you are able to go through a little cavern which leads to an undergrown cave. Very cool!
After snorkeling here for a few hours, we decided to go. On the way the kids fed bananas to the poor little monkey that was kept on a leash in a tree there. We hated seeing this, and even contemplated setting him free when the guy wasn’t looking! When we walked away and were at the car, I looked back and saw the guy throwing rocks at the monkey! I started to go back to give him the what-for, but he saw me and quickly ran away! Man.
We took our friends back to their hotel, and then went for dinner at Babe’s Noodle Bar, good as usual! I got a phone call then from Anna telling me they had found my camera! Turns out Scott or Terry had grabbed it thinking it was someone’s in their villa, where it just sat ever since. Then when everyone was packing to leave, they realized that it wasn’t any of theirs! Perfect! I was sooo happy.
On the 5th, it was a little sad because we knew it was our last full day there. We decided to go to our favorite local beach, Coco Beach. On the way I stopped at James and Anna’s and picked up my camera. I emailed Susie and told her where we would be in case she wanted to stop by, which she did and with Tyra. We spend a nice relaxing full day at the beach, and took some photos.
Jorden body surfing with his boogie board:
Kite boarders:
Some ladies on the beach whome we bought some fruit and potato snacks from:
This photo cracks me up:
We said sad goodbyes to Susie, and then returned back to the condo to finish packing.
The morning of the 6th was spent packing and cleaning. By the time we were done, it was time to head to the airport. We dropped Rob off and said goodbyes, then headed on our way to Merida.