Snorkeling tour

We haven't had internet fora few days, so I am just now catching up with posting. I will put up three posts today. This is the first one.

Saturday we hurried and got our stuff done, and went out to Boca de Tomatlan to catch a water taxi out to Yelapa –which we heard had great snorkeling. Ari and Kai originally didn’t want to come, but when we said that was fine for them to stay at the apartment and start on the Saturday cleaning, the boat ride started looking good to them. Ari said she wanted to go after all, and I kind of made Kai come at that point. I knew it was just nerves holding him back, but thought that maybe when he saw the fun we were having he would decide to jump in the water too.

The bay at Boca didn’t look very promising, and the young guy we got as a captain said Yelapa was “chocolatizado” –chocolatized –turned cloudy and brown --from the river coming down into that bay. Boca looked the same, and Mismaloya cove wasn’t super clear either right now. But he promised to take us to some great spots.

We started to see clear water almost immediately, and some dreamy houses and restaurants and hotels right along the shore. 

The first spot our guide stopped at was a deep bay, with little cave like indents in the cliff sides around it. We got in and started seeing some cool fishies (our underwater camera never turned back on after that first time using it. Wah!),  when Ari said she saw a jellyfish. Kai was back in the boat before you could say stinger. The truth was that there were hundreds and hundreds of tiny jellyfish in that cove. I found myself in a cloud of them, pushing then around with my arms and legs. They were tiny and whitish clear, kind of bell shaped. They didn’t sting. Kai wasn’t taking any chances.

We moved on to another beach (gosh, I am not remembering the names of these! ) with a bit more of a commercial presence. Luckily we seemed to have beaten all of the tourist boats, and had every little spot mostly to ourselves. This water was a bit cloudier, not much, but we saw quite a bit more life here, and no jellies, so Kai stayed in quite a while. The sad thing was it was getting kind of surgey and I started getting nauseated from the roll of the water. I got back in the boat kind of early and got some water, which helped a bit.

Ari said she saw a fish the “size of a piece of furniture”. I was sorry to miss it!

Our guide showed us a few more beaches, and kept suggesting we stop at a restaurant and get lunch, but food would have been a bad idea for my stomach, and the others weren’t hungry. We ended up going back near the same first bay he took us to, but around the corner near some other little caves. He said it was a good area to see lobsters and octopuses.

We didn’t see and octopuses, but I did spy a sea turtle, and a trumpetfish as long as I am. We ended up swimming around the corner and back into the little bay we started at. Kai had started to believe me about the jellies, and once he was able to hold one in his hand without ill effect, he stopped worrying about them. We brought out our bread and cheese, and fed the fish, and it was spectacular. So many clouds of color around us! It was like being in a flock of beautiful birds.

We went back to the apartment and showered, and Jeff and Ari and I headed into town. Ari really wanted some sort of souvenir. Kai thought that sounded like torture, so for once we let him stay home. With all of the doors locked haha.

I don’t know what the deal was with the face I was making! We went to the Cuale island, looking for the little art museum there, but it was closed. We wandered around the pretty little shops, and I wanted to get ALL THE DISHES!! But I resisted. Jeff would have groaned for a week.

Ari had her heart set on a locally woven blanket. She remembered Tia buying a dress woven in Madagascar, and was hoping to help someone out while getting a cool exotic looking textile. She finally decided on this Aztec calendar  blanket, and while I am not sure how handmade it was, it was sure typical of the regions products. 

We saw such pretty little places I am disappointed that the only shot I took of them was this under the bridge area. Lame!

We somehow managed to get Ari’s souvenir, and the grocery shopping done, and still get the cleaning done before collapsing into bed that night. Having internet go down while we were out on the boat helped us not waste time. I hope it comes back up soon!

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