When I woke up it was cloudy and the sky was just beginning to get light.
I threw on some
clothes, grabbed some towels and headed down to the beach to grab a chair. Yes…before
the sun was up, people were out on the beach claiming their spots. I don’t like
the idea of being a “chair hog” (CHOG for short!) but knew if I didn’t stake
out a spot we would not have any shade.
I used my chair clips to secure our towels to a couple of
chairs in a palapa in front of the snack bar. (It is always nice to be close to
food and drinks!) And as an added bonus, I was treated to one of the most beautiful
sunrises we were to have all week. Slowly the dark clouds turned a brilliant orange...
And eventually the sun made its way above the horizon.
Once the sun was up, I went back to the room to find Bob
awake. We changed into swimsuits and were on the beach by 7 a.m. The snack bar
which used to just serve pizza, burgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. is now open 24
hrs. a day and has a pretty decent breakfast available. It was so convenient to
eat breakfast there and we enjoyed scrambled eggs, bacon and several different
kinds of fresh fruit. We both took large, insulated mugs and I filled mine with
ice and then grapefruit juice to enjoy the rest of the morning.
After breakfast we walked down the beach towards Akumal and
went into the water near where the boats are anchored. Within the first 30
seconds we saw our first turtle!! We snorkeled for about an hour and saw a
couple more turtles during that time.
During the morning I alternated between laying in my lounge chair
and floating in the water on my noodle. (Yes…I packed a noodle in my luggage!)
Bob is a paramedic and had just finished a very long stint on call. Sitting on
the beach doing nothing was just what he needed. Besides enjoying the beautiful water,
we both had fun people watching!
The resort offers lessons several times a day for stand up
paddle boarding (SUP) and Bob decided that was something he should try. I
walked over with him to watch and take pictures. I also got pressed into service to video a British couple that were in the class.
For most of the people in the class, it was a disaster. No
one could stay up on the boards…or manage to go in the same direction.
After
being warned twice to not wear sunglasses, the British lady fell off her board
and lost her prescription sunglasses. She and her husband searched for a long
time, but no luck. Bob ended up being the star pupil in the bunch and fell in
love with the sport.
After lunch at the snack bar, Bob went out for a second
session of SUP and this time the group did much better and went WAAAAYYYY out. I was happy to just
float around on my noodle.
Afterwards we both dozed off in our chairs and awoke to find
the cloudy skies had cleared and the sky was bright blue! The weather forecast
that we had been following was very dismal, with rain forecast for every day we
were to be in Mexico so this was a welcome surprise. During the afternoons, there was various entertainment on the beach and by the pool. That day it was the One Man Band!
Late in the afternoon, we went back to the room to shower
and get ready for dinner. ABBWR has four different ala carte restaurants, none
of which take advance reservations. We decided to eat at the Japanese
restaurant and were able to be seated right at 6 p.m. when they opened. The restaurant looks out over a small bamboo garden and with the quiet music playing it was a relaxing and delicious meal.
Following dinner we spent some time near the bar area just
watching the waves washing into shore. There were a large number of smokers
staying at the resort so we decided to retire to our room rather enduring the
smoke. It turned out to be a perfect time to fill the Jacuzzi and enjoy our
balcony before turning in early once again.
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