Snorkeling!

Looking south
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So today we explored further afield than the beach and Walmart and went to a lovely little seaside town called Akumal.  It was about 40 minutes south of Playa.  Oscar, from the school,  picked us up just after 8 and off we went.  Oscar is lovely and was telling us all about Playa and the attractions that we passed.

Looking good!
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Arrived at Akumal and tried on our snorkels, life jackets and flippers – oh yes, we were looking good! (see pictures).  We’d been told that if you don’t see any turtles you get your money back, it’s one of the few places where turtles live all year long as the reef there protects them.  Got into the lovely, clear blue, Caribbean Sea and followed Oscar, the expert snorkeler.  The current was quite strong in places so to avoid being swept away we ended up holding hands, thus insuring that if one of us got carried away, so did the other!

The beach at Akumal
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Well, we did in fact see sea turtles, quite a few of them!  We saw a baby one, about the size of a dinner plate, up to one about a metre and a half in length, they were awesome!  They had little friends that followed them around too, cleaning their shells for them.  We watched the turtles eat and swim gracefully along the sea bed, as well as come up to the surface and dive back down.

Looking north
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As we moved further out, we began to sea more fish and Gemma spotted a ray!  Approaching the reef, the fish became more varied and colourful, with anything ranging from camouflaged as sand to bright yellows, blues and oranges!  The most colourful was the parrot fish which were not only huge but looked a different colour from every angle.  We also came across a shoal of cuttlefish which swam in formation and changed from black to white in a flash.

Out to sea at Akumal
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After almost 2 hours, we decided to come back to dry land and went to the café there for some much needed refreshments.  We had amazing Nachos, the most delicious so far, and a good chat about plans, teaching and travelling.

On the way back, we had a history lesson about the Mayans from Oscar, and he showed us a beautiful gated community called Playacar where we now want to live!