Akumal 2012 Day Eight last day in paradise

Our last few hours here at ABR, and it's been such a great trip. There are only a half dozen turtle nests left in front of the main buffet, but new ones laid last night in front of building 6. There's a huge one right under a palapa, and the turtle tracks leading to and from it are huge and have a kind of swirl pattern. I haven't seen that before, and wonder if it could be a leatherback.

Matt's favorite past time.

 Waiting for a Conga, the drink not the dance.

 Storm brewing on the horizon.  Wish we could stay to see it.

 Last Conga in paradise.  

There is a nest that appears to have hatched fairly early this morning, with little turtle tracks leading out to sea.

I've scored a palapa near the snack bar so we don't waste one minute walking today. It's funny, I was out here at 630 this morning and only one palapa was taken, but, by the time I headed back to our room there were people scampering all over grabbing up what was left. Palapa wars, too funny.

 I'm wearing one of my new prize possessions, a Wallacea t shirt.  There was a group of Aussies volunteering or something with CEA, and since the regular CEA shirts were all out, this was all there was to buy.  I actually love it. 

 Stopped by to get a pic and say goodbye to Shi.  She was busy teaching dance lessons, but, took a minute for us.  We're gonna miss that girl.

And of course we could absolutely not leave without saying goodbye to our sweet Marianne.  



We leave at 1230 for our 430 flight. Sigh, see you all on the flip side.

Oh and by the way, the weather is not even slightly rainy, looks like sunshine and smooth sailing.

Akumal 2012 Day Seven

Last full day here in paradise, so sad, but, it had to happen eventually. Spent most of the day chillin on the beach, and then wandered into town for the requisite souvenier and other stuff. Then Tim and I walked down to where the nest was from our first turtle walk, and it had been moved, probably because she laid her eggs so close to where the surf breaks. We think we found it, and I had Tim take a picrture of me next to it. I sponsored a nest for mother's day this year, so, I decided that would be my nest. 

Our romantic dinner last night was wonderful. The grilled shrimp diablo was as amazing as we remembered it, and worth every penny of the $15 US each. The stars were just barely out, so we couldn't see the bay very well, but, the surf was crashing a bit on the rocks by the cannon house. The breeze was blowing so no mossies and no sweating while we ate. The sand in the palapa Lol Ha set up for us was soft and cool, so we kicked off our flip flops and ate barefoot. I ordered the shrimp linguine, and Tim had the ancho chicken. Both were soooo delicioso. Mine was $16 and his was $24 roughly. Then for dessert Tim had the key lime pie and I had the coconut ice cream. Oh man, I've been waiting for that all year, and it did not disappoint. The whole evening was just what we needed.

We were still figuring this camera out, and it didn't pick up the lighting very well as it was candle lit.  The yellow glow was nearly accurate though.

The Grilled Shrimp Diablo appetizer.  We pre-ordered it through Lol Ha.  This was the appetizer we had on our vow renewal night, and we have been wanting to have it again ever since.  So, when we set up our romantic dinner for this trip, Laura from Lol Ha asked if there was anything from the previous menu we would like to have, she could make sure it was prepared for us.  The shrimp are huge, and are topped with deep fried onion rings, and placed on a diablo sauce that is to die for.

This is the shrimp linguine.  So delicious.  The shrimp were cooked perfectly. 

Tim had the Ancho chicken, he was lovin it.  

This is a shot of my coconut ice cream,  oooo I can just taste it now.  

Tim's Key Lime pie.  

Then it was a stroll back to ABR for the Miss Akumal contest. Matthew was in the bar watching his crush compete for the title, and she won. I wish he could speak Italian. She'll never know he was into her.

These banners are displayed in about 6 different spots along the beach in front of ABR.  On one side are turtle safe instructions in spanish and the other side in english.

 Sunrise.  Well as near to it as I'm gonna get.  It was about 7am. Not another soul on the beach.

Scored our palapa for one more day. Tim was supposed to go on the Robinson Crusoe tour, but, due to the high seas it was cancelled. He was disappointed, but, there's always next year.

The resort seems to be pretty full still. Lots of italians now, and a fair contingent of US and Canadians. Well, Matthew is waiting his turn on the laptop, so, will catch up again either before we leave or maybe Wednesday.

Akumal 2012 Days Five and Six

It's Sunday, and so far this trip has been amazing. We've had so much relaxation I think I'm on overload, and find myself thinking I should be doing something rather than just laying around in the palapa all day, and then I think Meh, what for. We've taken up residence in the last palapa at the north end of the property, largely due to me getting up at 7:30 every morning and staking our claim before the Spainiards snag it. Even then there are precious few palapas left, mostly at the far ends either way. Dang they get up early. 

Another great breakfast photo.  As you can see, it's a sausage day.  

I haven't been online too much, just don't want to take the time out of our trip to sit on the internet, but, today I have an excuse to sit in the main bar and chill for a while. We were leaving lunch at the buffet, when Wilberth was clearing our plates. His hand hit the top of one of the chairs and plates went smashing on the floor in front of me. I felt so bad for him, could tell he was concerned but, I just smiled and told him eh it happens, no worries. So we walked out and about the time I get to the steps to the bar I feel something running down my leg. Yep, I was sliced on my ankle, not too deep, but, it was bleeding pretty good, and had a few extra other cuts on my foot. We stopped the bleeding and made a hasty exit for the room so Wilberth wouldn't find out about it. He felt bad enough as it was.

So, here I sit letting it get good and healed before we make our stroll down the beach for our romantic dinner at Lol Ha. Yes, it was supposed to have been on Friday night, but, they forgot about it, so, we re-arranged it for tonight. It actually worked out better because the timing of the dinner will be at a more romantic hour.

This morning two of the nests in front of ABR nearly hatched out,but, didn't quite make it on their own, so, the staff scooped the babies out and held them in crates til the Policia came to take them to CEA. At least that is what I presumed they were going to do with them. We're hoping that means a release tonight, since there hasn't been one at all since we arrived. As Alex said, they've been releasing themselves. 

This little guy is actually blue, very pretty.  He hangs out next to the AC unit behind bldg 5.







The internet has been down some today, took me a while to just get logged in to type this part of the TR, so, I may forget what I wanted to add and have to type it in later. It'sbeen so slow I haven't been able to get any pics uploaded. I try, but, it times out, so, I've given up and will take care of that at home. It's sad too, cause I look amazing and never looked younger or thinner. I sure hope those pics don't get lost between here and home. You know how that goes, Only the pics that make you look old and out of shape seem to make it all the way home.

The weather has been wonderful. Right now the breeze is blowing pretty good, the sun is gleaming on the blue blue water. Tim and Matt are out playing volleyball with Shi and a very cute girl that Matt's been crunchin on since we got here. He's so funny, he had to go to the gym to get his arms pumped up so he would look studly before she saw him.

 

Last night we had dinner at Cueva Del Pescadore, yummy. Matt had the lobster tail, and Tim and I shared a seafood platter. Heaven, sheer heaven.  

 

The infamous seafood platter.  $30 USD for one person, $60 for two.  It was so delicious, had shrimp, mini lobster, fish fillet, and calamari. 

 

Matt had the lobster tail.  $24 USD I believe.  He loved it and had a hard time finishing it.

Then it was time to have second dinner at the buffet, what are we hobbits? Maybe just on vacation.

After dinner there was live music, mostly salsa and meringue, so much fun we wore out the dance floor. Maybe there'll be more dancing tonight. It's been pretty chill most nights, not much for dancing.

Snorkeling was perfect yesterday. The water was calm and warm, just like velvet. It was still a bit murky, but, better than it's been so far. Turtles everywhere. It was so hard to see them until you were practically on top of them, and at one point we were swimming along and suddenly there was one swimming alongside us. Tim dove down with him, so cool. Wish we had the camera that time, but, we hadn't really planned to be out very long, just grabbed our stuff and ran out. Oh, and be proud of me, I snorkeled without my huge life jacket, not far out of course, just in the shallows, and I'm a good swimmer, I just have a fear of deep water, but, I knew where we were and kept pretty close track. It was so cool to not have that big bulky thing on me and just glide along.

Still haven't gotten Matt to brave going out to see the turtles yet, maybe tomorrow while Tim is out on the Robinson Crusoe sail.



Well time for me to go check on my boys to see how much humiliation the girls have made them suffer.