After the fun of exploring a cenote the day before, today was to be a "lie on the beach & snorkel" kind of day. It started with my pre-dawn trek to stake out a claim for a palapa and to get my daily sunrise photos. The sun was hidden behind the thick clouds as it came up, but after crawling out of bed, I felt obligated to take a few photographs anyway.
When I got back to our room I found Bob up and on the balcony watching the sunrise as well.
After discussing the weather situation, we decided to snorkel right away and have breakfast later. It was nice being out in the water early while it was relatively calm and very few others were snorkeling. I didn't have my camera, but we did see a turtle and...a first for the week...a lion fish.
By the time we were back on shore, the dark clouds were building. Bob checked with German about going SUP (stand up paddle boarding) at 8 am, but with the approaching storm, he wasn't going out.
Instead we decided to retreat to the snack bar and have something to eat. The staff was busy clearing all of the tables along the perimeter hoping to encourage people to sit further back and away from the impending rain. (Good move!)
The hot food at the snack bar was always served in covered pans which required EVERYONE to open EVERY pan to see what was inside. The usual offerings were two pans of scrambled eggs (one had vegetables added), bacon, sausage, pancakes or french toast, and some sort of muffins. The cold foods always included cereal, fresh fruits, lunch meats & cheeses, and all sorts of Mexican sauces/condiments such as guacamole, pico de gallo, etc. Orange and grapefruit juice were available self serve.
The rain was coming down by the time we filled our plates and I was glad we were sitting under cover. The wind continued to pick up with the storm and eventually even our table was getting a bit wet.
We ate slowly and although the rain had lessened, it looked as if it might continue for some time. The beach had pretty much cleared out at that point, so we gathered our stuff and went back to the room. As we walked through the main bar area, we were very careful of our footing. The marble floors were slick all of the time, but add a little moisture and it became a skating rink.
In retrospect, we should have just hung out at the snack bar a bit longer because in a short time the rain stopped and the sun came out. Not wanting to waste any of our last day, we headed back to the beach.
After lunch Bob wanted to snorkel. I really didn't want to go, but I also don't like the idea of him being out alone (he insists on going out SO far!) I compromised and just floated along with my noodle, but didn't take my mask & snorkel. We went straight out from the snack bar and I was just tooling along when a turtle popped his head up right in front of me! I alerted Bob and he followed the juvenile turtle around in circles for some time.
By the middle of the afternoon I knew I needed to face the fact that I had packing to do. I left Bob napping in his lounge chair on the beach and I went back to the room. Once I felt sufficiently organized, I walked back to the beach, snapping photos of the resort as I went.
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| Jungle area behind our building. |
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| Construction happening behind building #3. Not quite sure what it is. |
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| New covered walkways between buildings had been added since our last visit. This leads from Building #3 to the main lobby area (and also the gourmet and Japanese restaurants.) |
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| Looking towards the buffet from Building #3. |
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| Lobby. |
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| Walkway from lobby to main bar. |
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| Lobby and walkway that leads to Building #2. |
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| Building #2 behind the pool. (Formerly was Building #5.) |
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| Main bar. |
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| View from main bar towards beach. |
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| Walkway between pool and beach. |
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| Pool. |
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| Volleyball and Stand Up Paddleboard area. |
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| New sushi bar. |
On our walk back to our room, we saw a small group of people gathered around one of the turtle nests in front of our building. (The nests had a small round fence surrounding them.) Ever so often the sand would shift as the turtles below were trying to escape from their eggs. In talking to one of the "turtle guys" that monitor the nests we found out they had captured a whole nest that morning that had hatched and were going to release the turtles after dark that evening.
Our last dinner was in the buffet and after finishing (and having our lemon ice cream!) we joined a small crowd on the beach to watch the turtle release. Any kind of lights cause the turtles to be disoriented so everyone was cautioned to NOT use any flash on their cameras. I knew I would never get a decent photo without a flash, so didn't even try. But...of course...as soon as the turtles were released, someone in the group set off the flash on their cell phone. It was fun watching the little guys scurry down the sand and into the water knowing that those that survive would make their way back to the same beach to nest someday.
While we were watching the turtles, we started seeing searchlights flashing across the dark sky. Word from some in the group was that the new Secrets resort next door was having some big celebration. We had noticed them cleaning up the massive amounts of seaweed in front of the resort that day and also a helicopter hovering over the resort...makes me think these events were all related.
We ended the night (or so we thought) by sitting in the benches by the main bar watching the light show from Secrets.
Our shuttle to the airport was scheduled for 7 am the next morning so after doing a bit more packing, we were in bed early (nothing new!) About 10 pm we woke up to some loud booms. We bolted out of bed and saw fireworks in the sky. I jokingly told Bob that I had arranged them for his birthday! My cameras were packed so I grabbed my phone and took this blurry photo.
We watched the fireworks display to the end and then went back to bed once again. A nice way to end a special birthday, but there is more to the story...be sure and check out the post for our last day!
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