Snorkeling

Today was a day for snorkeling, swimming, and playing at the beach. The boys made a cool sand castle before breakfast. I think our visit to the ruins yesterday inspired much of this.

French Toast for breakfast on the beach in paradise while writing my next blog post...it doesn't get much better than this! Kathy was in love with this French Toast. She ate it every morning for the three mornings that we were here! I was in love with the fresh squeezed orange juice! There's nothing quite like it.

The snorkeling was amazing. From the shore to the reef (about 200 or 300 yards), the water was only about 5 feet deep and it was full of life.

Kathy and I found several sea turtles. We watched them graze on the ocean floor and come up for an occasional breath of air. The current moves you around sometimes and at one point, this huge turtle surfaced right next to Kathy while she was adjusting her goggles. She was looking right into the face of this massive sea turtle. It startled her so much that she jumped and freaked out just for a moment. I was laughing so hard!

We saw a sting ray and followed it around for a while. Kathy knows me. She made me promise not to try to pet it because she didn't want me to end up like the Crocodile Hunter guy.

I swam all the way out to the reef to see what it was like. On my way there, I ran into a 5 foot long Barricuda! With it's big teeth sticking out, it was pretty intimidating. I saw hundreds of the most colorful fish and sea creatures I've ever seen.

The big waves pushed me right into the coral reef and into a sea urchin. I got poked pretty good by its long quills which drew blood. I figured I better swim back before I got myself eaten by a shark or something!

Danny said he found five old cannons underwater. He was pretty stoked about it. He said it was really cool.

The little boys liked the pool best. They swam for hours and hours. They took a break for a bit to eat and then went right back into the water. We all got sunburned again pretty good today. By the end of the day, Andan's eyes were so red from the chlorine in the water that everything looked blurry. He fell asleep at dinner and we had to carry him back.

We were in our swim suits almost the whole day and I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have a lot of photos. I did bring my camera to dinner though. We ate at Restaurant Laugh Out Loud...HA!

The cool breeze coming off the ocean felt great!

My Mero Tikin Xik: Platillo tradicional Yucateco con achiote servido sobre hoja de platano (fish dish served on a banana leaf) was SO delicious! The only thing that looked yummier...

...was the Camarones Scampi: Servidos en una cama de linguini con ajo, jitomate y cebollina; cocinados en una salsa de mantequilla, limon y alcaparras acompanado de pan con ajo (linguini shrimp dish) that my Dad got.

Kathy loved the Tampiquena: Corte de res Delgado servido con frijoles, guacamole, enchilada roya y tiras de poblano con crema acompanada de tortilla de maiz (beef dish) that she tried. We don’t know what “tiras de poblano con crema” are. They looked like green bean casserole and tasted really good!

Danny's Pollo en Chile Ancho: Pollo rostizado servido con mole de chile ancho con champinones, cebolla verde, papa chambray y jitomate cherry. Platillo unico de excitante sabor!! (chicken dish) was unbelievably good. That mole sauce gave it a very unique flavor.

The live fire made the preparation of the banana flambe very entertaining!

This sauce was to die for!