Akumal Day 3 - Friday, October 9

Since I got up early to “reserve” our chairs yesterday, I nominated Bob for the job today. And with that task came the side job of photographing the sunrise. (FYI...sunrise in Akumal is about an HOUR earlier than here at home in Minnesota!) I wasn’t sure any sunrise could compare to the one the previous day, but it just wasn’t too bad!

Friday was just our second full day at the resort, but we found ourselves falling into a predictable routine…breakfast at the snack bar, lounge on beach, snorkel, float on my noodle, Bob do SUP, etc. However there was one change from the previous day…the beach was thick with seaweed. Although we hadn’t heard the storm during the night, others were talking about it and the wind seemed to have changed directions and was washing up massive quantities of seaweed. We still were able to enjoy our snorkeling...but this time we went directly out to the reefs in front of the resort.

Workers at the resort worked relentlessly raking up the sargassum on the beach. Just as they seemed to be getting ahead of it, another wave of the seaweed would wash ashore. I felt sorry for them…being Minnesotans, I likened it to shoveling snow in the middle of a blizzard.

There was a bit of entertainment value to the seaweed clean up. We got a kick out of a woman who would wade out into the water and grab a single handful of the stuff and carry it to shore and add it to the piles. At that rate I’m sure she could have had the whole area cleaned up in about…679 years.

A couple of other guys did their part as well by using a beach towel to gather large quantities of the seaweed floating in the water. Slightly more efficient, but still a hopeless cause.

Bob did a couple of SUP (stand up paddle boarding) sessions, and in between I suggested that we walk down the beach as far as the webcam on the Lol Ha restaurant just for something to do. We took time for a photo op with a seaweed message in front of the new (not yet open) Secrets resort next door.

When we got to the camera, Bob “borrowed” a rake from one of the seaweed crew and wrote our names in the sand. Our sweet daughter-in-law just happened to check the webcam a short while later and texted us that she saw our message! (Thanks to jkirk on Locogringo for these webcam captures!)

During the afternoon, dark clouds formed over Akumal. They were looking so ominous that I suggested we should go back to our room BEFORE the downpour began.

Back at the room a short nap seemed like a good idea because sitting in a lounge chair all morning had been so strenuous. ;) By the time we got up, the skies were once again clear and not a drop of rain had fallen.

Not wanting to change back into swimsuits so late in the afternoon, I suggested that we walk back to Akumal...this time to wander through town and maybe do a little shopping.

I texted my daughter-in-law before we left and told her that we would be in front of the webcam in about 15 minutes. She was watching for us and was able to capture our photo on the computer.

Our foray into town was not long. Once we left the waterfront, the heat and humidity jumped tremendously and I quickly reached my “melting point.”  The humidity HAD to be at least 120%...or maybe more. We looked through several shops, but there was nothing that interested me enough to endure the misery that I was feeling.  

Back at our room we took our second shower of the day, cleaned up and dressed for dinner at the gourmet restaurant. (Guys must wear long pants.) The plan was to get there a bit early and put our names on a list, but when we arrived at 5:45 pm they said…”come on in.” It was a little strange…and awkward…to be the only people in the restaurant, but eventually others started to show up. The food was good, but the portions were small. Small enough, in fact, that once we finished Bob suggested that he wanted to go to the snack bar and order a pizza. This was eaten sitting on the beach in the dark (by choice.)

Although I don’t have a photo, we saw one of the neatest sights while sitting on the beach. A flock of white birds flew by. Not sure where they were headed in the dark, but seeing them against the black sky was awesome.

With our early morning start to the day…and another early day planned for the next morning, we headed back to our room and had lights out before 10 p.m. I loved the way the resort looked at night with all of the new lighting.