wildwahinepaddler

It was a beautiful Riviera Maya day!  The whole area has been suffering from a massive seaweed influx from some crazy current and I’ve never seen this situation here in the five years we have been coming here.  Apparently the seaweed has been affecting every area and so far…. Tulum has been the worst!  The usually pristine beaches of Riviera Maya have been overwhelmed with mounds of seaweed and although the Mexicans are trying to clean it up……. It has them overwhelmed.  The beach in Tulum is unusable and un swim able!  What a drag.  Thank goodness for cenotes to explore and swim in!  Today we decided to go to the beach in Akumal and to our delight….. The seaweed situation there had improved!  There was still seaweed….. But there wasn’t as much in the water and the water was very clear.  I had such a great time!  I counted about ten turtles, I saw a stingray and lots of curious fish.  One big turtle was so friendly.  I floated on the top just watching the turtle munching sea grass….. And three times it surfaced right in front of me!  I rubbed its shell and it floated right next to me,  looking right at me before diving down to munch more sea grass.  I couldn’t believe it kept doing that!  Then a tour guide with a group of tourists descended on me, surriundung me and diving down to chase the turtle and go crazy with cameras and GoPros!  The turtle was bothered!  The turtle started to surface straight up!  Right into me!  I was trapped by all the snorkelers and was trying to move out of the way of it trying to surface but people were too crazy trying to get photos!  The turtle bumped right into me on the side and the next thing I know….. The tour guide grabs me by the arm and tells me I’m harassing the turtle!  When I tried to explain about the snorkelers, he said he was going to file a complaint with the Policia!  Then he told me to get out of the water!  Oh yeah buddy…….. Right!  I don’t think so!  I just swam away.   What an idiot!  Well it was a great day……. EXCEPT for that incident!  Tonight is our last night in Tulum and then we go back to the Vidanta Resort until Sunday.  I can’t believe our trip in Mexico is almost over!  Adios!

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

This is a natural wonder!  We discovered this cenote today!  A big natural pool and it was so clear.  I loved swimming and snorkeling there!  Around and under  the edges of the pool there were natural caves with stalagtites visible.   It is literally under the ground!  I spotted four fish hiding back in the cave.  One was twenty to twenty four inches long……. One fish a little smaller… And two were a lot smaller.  They were silver with some striping on their bodies and their mouths opened really wide!  I tried to find out what kind of fish they were but so far no luck.  It was a nice relaxing spot and a great place to spend an afternoon!  We just might go back there again tomorrow!  Adios!

This is an amazing place!  It is a natural Cenote that mixes with the sea and there are lots of fish!  I would love to stand up paddle here!  I only saw kayaks though.  It’s so fun to swim and snorkel here.  Besides the interesting rock formations……. I found a pool that was like an aquarium.  There were some big fish that were hiding in a cave and only came out when most of the snorkelers left.  I hung around and the fish came out!  There was a group of six colorful Parrotfish and one of them was so big!  There were also some bright blue fish and some pink fish too.  I didn’t want to leave that spot!  Yal Ku is definitely one of my favorite places!  Tomorrow we are off to Tulum for three days for another adventure….. Adios!

Yal Ku Caleta

I got out early today!  I woke up before the alarm went off.  I got down to the beach and decided to swim first since it was so nice.  I was having a great snorkeling morning watching a school of about thirty Unicorn fish zipping around when a turtle appeared under me!  I swam with it for a while!  It was great to see a turtle!  When I came in I could see people hanging around the stand up paddling spot so I hurried over there.  The guy in charge handed me a paddle and told me I had a board for the 9:00 a.m. paddle!   We paddled out by the huge outside reef.  It was so neat out there!  The waves washing over the reef were generating some swells to paddle over.  It was fun but after a few of them…. I was done out there!  I left the group and paddled around by myself for a while and then I came in.  I can’t believe I got out paddling three days in a row! I never expected that to happen.  It was still nice so I headed out for another swim/snorkel.  Then it was time to check out of the hotel and head back to Vidanta.  We will definitely stay at that hotel again!

Beautiful day!

It was a beautiful day at Akumal Bay!  It wasn’t quite as windy as yesterday…… And I swam and found paddle boards too!  It was a bit bumpy by the time I decided to go out paddling but I really wanted to get out on a board!  It was just me and the paddle board guy.  I really appreciate my personal equipment back home on Maui because these boards are so heavy!  Yikes!  And the paddles are kind of heavy too…… But hey, I got out paddling!  It was nice!  Tomorrow I will try to get down there earlier.  Adios!

Beach day!

We finally made it to Mexico!  Yesterday we drove to Akumal which is a quaint little beach town.  It was great to the beach and get out swimming!  I spotted a huge turtle munching on sea grass and then another one.  One of the turtles surfaced right in front of me so I got to rub its shell!  I saw quite a few fish and then a big stingray fluttered by underneath me.  The ocean is so warm!  It felt good to sit on the beach and soak up the Mexican sun then we were off to the Turtle Bay Cafe for shrimp tacos!  It was a good day!  Adios!

Swimming with turtles!