Vacation Day 5

Please forgive the long interval between the last vacation post and this one. It's really too bad that work has to get in the way of vacations and sharing them with everyone. But that is the world we live in, and so, back to Cancun, Day 5.

We awoke Thursday morning with plans to travel to Isla Mujeras, which is translated as the Island of Woman. We caught the bus up to the ferry site, though we got off a couple of exits too soon, and had to do a bit of walking. But once aboard, we started the 30 minute trip to the island. The weather was nice, and the waves were fairly small. Once we got there, it was a quick taxi trip up to the end of the island, on the easternmost side.

Being in the warm tropical regions, there are an abundance of lizards of all types and sizes. Here is one friend who we encountered as we were walking around.
A real looker, isn't he? We saw quite a few of them, especially as the day went on and the temperature got warmer. But for the morning, while it was still a little cool, we simply walked around to see the sights of the island. One part of the walk took us right alongside the ocean, where we got to see some other friends, such as this nice looking crab.
We also saw what were either some kind of small shellfish, but looked like fossils in the rock.
At the midpoint of the walk, we came to the edge of the island, the eastern side. As it happens, the east side of the island is the easternmost point in all of Mexico. As you can read here, if you stood at this spot as the sun rose, you would be the first person in Mexico to greet the new day!
After walking around and taking some pictures, it was time to get to having some real fun. We had paid to have a kayak, and so we donned our life jackets, got into the kayak, and started paddling around the reef area. The wavers presented a few interesting challenges, but as the day went by, we saw that we definitely weren't the most inexperienced people at it. Then, after a nice lunch, we had the opportunity to do a little snorkeling. I am one of those people who love to get into the water and just swim and swim, and so I try to see everything. If you stick with it, at the end of this post, I have put a few pictures that I took from the underwater camera that we took along.

Once all the walking, kayaking, and snorkeling were done, it was time to have a drink (included in the cost of the day trip), and to relax before the ferry took us back. There were some hammocks nearby, so we took advantage of the opportunity for a bit of shut eye.
Looks really comfy, doesn't it?

As we were waiting to board the ferry back to the main area of Cancun, we passed the area where they let tourists swim with dolphins. While that wasn't part of our package, Carrie took a moment to take a picture of one we saw jumping out of the water. In the far background, you can see some of the hotels on the north end of the "7" of the island part of Cancun.
Now, to the part that you have been waiting for. The underwater camera pictures. On the south side of Isla Mujeras is a small reef. While we couldn't actually swim in the reef, we could swim around it.

As I was snorkeling, I came across a real treasure. A real, live BARRACUDA! I actually got within about 5-6 feet of him, but I didn't want to draw any extra attention. Here is a picture of him.
He's a really nice looking guy, isn't he? Later on, he got pretty close to the water's edge, where everyone standing on the shore could see him. It was really cool.

Finally, here is a picture of the reef. You can see some of the colorful fish, as well as an underwater sea fan. It's not the clearest picture, but you can see it. The fish in the upper right hand corner looked a lot like Dora from the Nemo movie.
Finally, what is a day of snorkeling without a good self portrait?

Now you understand the hammock picture a little bit more. I was quite worn out, from chasing barracudas, taking pictures, and watching dolphins (oh yeah, Carrie was along too!). Needless to say, we got back to our hotel and were ready for a good night of sleep.