PS added 05.19 ...... I added a picture of the plastic island house and the snorkeling course to the lighthouse when I was able to get relevant pictures after the fact.
It was fun to see the shorebirds and the swimmers from the perspective of the sea. We anchored outside the bouy line in 3-4 feet water depth near several other commercial and private boats and were invited to get out and swim for 15 minutes. No problem. Very nice air and water temperature allowed for a pleasant bit of aerobic exercise for me.
Back at the dock I expressed my gratitude to Skipper in my adequate Spanish:
I like the water.
I grew up in Michigan where the inland lakes are plentiful and Lake Michigan is a summertime destination and a winter wonderland.
As a child, my family spent every summer holiday, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day at Townline Lake, a church owned family camp where I learned to water ski and developed the love of rowing a 12 foot fishing boat and jumping out to swim in deep water because I could, and because I did not enjoy walking on the mucky lake bottom.
My family also went camping at Muskegon and Ludington State Parks where I enjoyed body surfing and swimming in the sandy and salt free Lake Michigan.
When Mike and I began our journey together, water was a big part of our recreational focus - a trip to Lake Michigan as an early date, and a move to the west coast to discover the mighty Pacific Ocean together. We adopted the philosophy of always taking the path "closest to the water" when given a choice during travel by foot, bike or motor.
Given this bit of biographical history, it should be no big surprise that my first move after arriving in Cancun on this trip was to travel by boat to an island. Or that my first recreational activity once aboard Isla Mujeres was a bike ride around the perimeter of the island to enjoy the rocky shore, surf and sand scenery.
So what is left but a boat ride to get out on the water itself?
My boat journey started the day before my trip by researching the various dive and snorkel outfitters in town. I have no experience with scuba diving and am not interested in taking up that learning curve and expense right now. My goal was simply to get out on the water for a tour from the sea, and a little snorkeling would be a refreshing bit of exercise as a bonus.
The first outfitter I visited was in an air conditioned office with an English speaking Caucasian woman behind the counter. Her outfit was geared toward American tourists and was offering snorkel gear and a three hour cruise to the underwater sculpture dive spot for $45.
Next, while walking through town to the beach, I passed a small storefront that looked like many others offering snorkel excursions.
I went inside and spoke Spanish with the local man who turned his fan to point at me while he explained in great detail about the two stops for snorkeling, the gear included and the stop for fish lunch but no drinks included all for $25. Better, I thought.
Later that evening while looking for a place for dinner, I was hailed by a vendor who had a snorkel excursion booth on the street. Looking for info, I stopped to hear his pitch. He had much the same offer as the 2nd place, but his price was $35. Hmmmm.....
So I returned to the lowest bidder, confirmed his offer and placed a 200 peso deposit for a seat on his boat tomorrow at 10:30AM.
Next day, bought my breakfast from a local woman selling cut up fruit on the street.
I bought a mango and was really glad I crossed paths with her since our excursion lunch came much later than noon. That one mango made a big difference!
I arrived at the rental spot at 10:30 as directed and met a French Canadian couple who also spoke English and Spanish. We followed a young local man a 1/4 mile or so to a second storefront near the docks area where we were instructed to wait fifteen minutes, so I backtracked a short distance to a Farmacia to buy some sunscreen. When I returned we were led to the dock area on the beach and instructed to wait some more.
By now I figured out that the place I rented from was not the actual boat owner but part of a large funnel system used to fill one of many excursion boats each day.
After a shorter than advertised wait, we were introduced to Skipper and his first mate who I'll call Miguel in honor of my Mike and the super swimmer Michael Phelps. They invited my group of three and another group of five locals who were waiting for us under a nearby tree to come aboard. Eight passengers total on a relatively small boat. Perfect, I thought with no idea about the actual business plan.
I enjoyed the next move. Skipper drove the boat slowly along the public beach area - La Playa Norte -that I had been enjoying from shore since my arrival on the island three days earlier.
It was fun to see the shorebirds and the swimmers from the perspective of the sea. We anchored outside the bouy line in 3-4 feet water depth near several other commercial and private boats and were invited to get out and swim for 15 minutes. No problem. Very nice air and water temperature allowed for a pleasant bit of aerobic exercise for me. When Skipper hollered "vamos" we all got back in the boat and he motored slowly back to where we started and picked up 7 more people. A couple from Germany with English but no Spanish, another couple I never talked to and parents with an elementary aged daughter who looked like vacationers from the mainland. Now we were 15 plus two crew and I was the only native English speaker on the boat.
I grabbed the large empty sunbathing spot in the bow of the boat since it was available because the others chose the cooler bench seats in the shade. From my perch at the front of the boat I was not crowded, could see both the island shore sights and across the 3 mile channel to Cancun, and avoided some of the spray sent by the bow into the rear of the boat by motoring into the wind on a gently rolling sea.
The one disadvantage of my deluxe bow seat on the boat was that I could not hear Skipper's tour guide narrative. Since he was speaking native Spanish and I caught only some of the words anyway, I elected to relax and enjoy the view, picking up tourist clues with my eyes, and following the other passengers moves.
When the boat left the dock for the second time, fully loaded now, Skipper motored slowly moving southward along the western shore of the island which offered up a nice view of a part of the island I have not been covering by foot.
Skipper slowed and idled for five minutes or so outside the "Swim with the Dolphins" tourist attraction. Here was a football sized fenced in area of water along the shore with perimeter sidewalks attached to the inside of the fence where the paid guests could walk and stand waist high in the water while watching the staff reward the Dolphins for doing jump tricks and giving short bareback rides to willing guests. Note to self for visiting the island. Skip the Disneyland sized entrance fee and view the dolphins for a minute from a snorkeling boat!
Dolphin discovery completed, Skipper motored on through a sheltered lagoon where he pointed out the handiwork of a frugal and environmentally minded resident ( Google Richart Sowa) who has created an island using recycled plastic bottles as base floats. He built a house and is growing plants on top. Tour books suggest you can go aboard his island, but my current Google search and our drive by today suggest this too is best viewed from a boat. The island is his private residence, after all!
Continuing on through the lagoon back out onto the 3 mile wide open water channel between Isla Mujeres and Cancun, we soon arrived at another oat dock where Skipper suggested we make a pit stop and get something to drink during this 15 minute stop. It was really hot on shore, and I was not 100% sure of our purpose on this stop, so I kept my eyes on the boat and when I saw others going aboard, I joined them.
When Skipper took off, we were five people short. I discussed this fact with the Canadians, but took no action to recover the missing passengers - we were off toward the snorkeling destination in growing swells. Skipper offered life jackets.
My camera went deep in the bag and Skipper offered to put my bag under his helm to protect it from sea spray, so much of the remaining trip is a photo in my mind. I'm hoping you will create your own picture from my words.
After about 10 minutes of travel into the swells at the maximum speed Skipper could manage without completely soaking his passengers, we approached the downwind end point of our upcoming snorkel adventure - a narrow reef island about 30 yards long with a small lighthouse sitting on top. The instructions started coming at us fast and furious in Spanish. We would be taken upwind to where the bones of a metal ship were stuck in the shallow water.
We were to jump out of the boat, explore the sunken ship reef, then follow Miguel along the bouy line back to the lighthouse island where Skipper would be waiting with the boat to pick us up. See small reef islands in the distance in the picture above.
Snorkel gear and old-school orange life jackets (meant to be warn around the neck but for this activity were simply tied around the waist) were distributed. The water was clear and warm. The bones of the sunken ship offered shelter for plenty of several species of fish. So far so good.
After 10 minutes or so, Miguel shouted "vamos" and started across the open water toward the yellow bouy lines with his orange life saver ring tied to his waist. All 10 of us followed, I think, but it was hard to identify who was in our group because there were three other boats in the area with their passengers snorkeling the same area. I swam along the surface with my goggles and air tube (did I mention we were not issued flippers?) And enjoyed the fish and the sandy bottom sights.
Miguel led us to the first small reef island along the path to return to the lighthouse island. I was going along just fine until I realized there was a strong tidal current pushing me away from Miguel. He saw me and several others being swept down current away from him and started waving his arm and shouting "el otro lado" (the other side) of the reef, presumably because the snorkeling was better on el otro lado. I tried to follow his lead, but el curriento was muy fuerte and in the end even Miguel went with the current to get around the down current side of this small reef island and continue on the journey back toward the lighthouse island.
Once clear of this exciting reef obstacle, I swam upstream in a more gentle current to grab hold of the yellow bouy line that connects the entire snorkel area and has a couple large "rest stop" bouys to hold on to along the way. I let the tide current push me downstream along the bouy line all the way back to where Skipper was waiting with the boat. Only five of us climbed back in to the boat at this point
because the others had already surrendered to the current and been picked up by Skipper along the way. We got applause when boarding. I can't help wondering if Skipper had a good head count and picked up everyone he started with!
The final snorkel adventure was different. This one was in open deeper water with no bouy lines for security. This time I checked in with the Canadian for his Spanish translation, but after he gave it, he shrugged his shoulders as if to say "I guess that was what Skipper said"
We were invited to go with no life jackets because this attraction was a neighborhood of underwater sculptures on the sea floor 15 feet below, and the life jackets would keep us from being able to dive down for a closer look. Based on our last experience and the rolling surface, everyone chose a life jacket!
The swells were not breaking whitecaps, but they were definitely exciting. I could see the sculptures fine from above at the water line. They sculptures were several groups of different sized pieces consisting of a square foundation for lifesized humans in varied poses. The art was commissioned in 2009 to form a complex reef structure for marine life to colonize and inhabit. (Google www.musamexico.org for more info).
Miguel also led us to a nearby sunken VWBug - reminds me of what I once tried by accident to do to MY blue bug in a the NID ditch at Dollies house. This bug, however, was now colorless and covered with sea life. There I watched scuba divers swim along close to the bottom, and saw Miguel dive down deep with no scuba gear just because he could.
After this second dive Skipper took us back to the same dock where we lost the group of 5 earlier in the day. We were all reunited at a long table in an outdoor but shaded food court area where they served us a tasty fresh fish lunch with rice, side salad with veges and tortillas. I ate the whole thing!
During the meal I befriended one of the missing five passengers. Speaking in Spanish I learned they were from Cancun, out to the island for the day, had been there before and had not paid for the snorkeling leg of the journey. All is well after all with these five.
Skipper and Miguel acted as our food servers during mealtime. When we are all fed, Skipper called "vamos a la bota". Fully loaded now, the return trip to the original dock was peaceful as we were headed downwind. Skipper did a good job of surfing the boat over the swells we were riding so nobody got wet from spray. Some passengers looked a bit seasick anyway, but I enjoyed the ride thoroughly.
Gracias por no perder a nadie!
(Thanks for not losing anybody).
He laughed.
No comments:
Post a Comment