Day 5 had a fairly full agenda. We had reserved a rental car in the lobby. I asked Brent if he would drive and take Ashley, Travis and Mackenzie with him. Denise's brother already had a car and we would go with them. The itinerary was to go to Akumal to swim with Sea Turtles. Following Akumal, we were to drive further south to the archeological park of Tulum. Once we visited there, the goal was to be back to our resort by 2 and recline around and enjoy the resorts accommodations.
After getting the rental car, we were off to Akumal by 10 AM. It was about a 40 minute drive to Akumal and easy to find. You pay 5 to 70 pesos to park and then you walk a small bit into a public beach. There was lots of little shops and smaller resorts along this beach. But they had an area buoyed off out into the ocean where the Sea Turtles came to feed. I kind of wanted to go outside that area to see what else there was to see. But we chose not to. After getting our snorkeling gear on, we all started off swimming looking for turtles. And we were not let down. There were quite a few of lhese critters feeding on the grass on the sea floor. The water was probably only 10 feet deep and the visibility was clearer the farther out you swam. The roped off section allowed you to swim about. 200 yards off shore. Anyway, in one of the more shallower areas, a turtle was feeding. Brent not knowing that accidentally hit the turtle with his feet as he was vertical in the water. It startled the turtle and off it went quickly. But I continue to tease Brent and ask him 'Why would you kick a turtle?'. Anyway, Brent's food consumption caught up with him today and el bano was his friend all day. I think many were not feeling well today. Anyway, we say some good schools of fish, quite a few rays on the bottom hanging out and a goodly number of turtles of various sizes. It was a great snorkel stop and it was free to do.
After Akumal, we got back in our cars and headed south to Tulum. Again, this was easy to find. Tulum is an archaelogical park that sits right on the sea. It is quite pretty to see from the ocean and they offer guided tours in a boat to get that view. But honestly, the sea was so rough there today. It would not have made sense. They believe the ruins date back to the 1500's. They look older than that to me. Upon entering the park, there was a guy with a BYU hat on selling guided tours. He was actually primed to give us a Mormon version of the tour ( for a price of course). I thanked him and declined the tour. We walked around the park for about 45 minutes or so taking lots of pictures and such. But again, Brent's stomach and Denise's knees drove us out a bit quicker than we would have normally stayed. But we saw the greater portion of it.
After the Tulum visit, we headed back to the resort, which took about an hour . You hear lots of things about Mexican police stopping rental cars. I think we saw one police car the entire day. We were back on the resort by 2;30 PM feeding ourselves and lounging by the pool. Later on, Dustin and Kerri and all their friends found us and we all headed down to a volleyball court set amongst the palm trees on the beach. After watching a group play a 3 set match, they finally gave up the court and our group played volleyball. They had a lot of fun competing against each other. Good times...good memories. I headed back to my room a bit early as I needed to make our reservation for flights back to the US and figure out how to get to the Cancun Airport, which is an hour's drive away. Rather than use a shuttle, we're going to grab a cab and go to Playa Del Carment bus terminal and grab a bus there. It is about $9 per person versus $30 per person on the shuttle. And it will be a new adventure. We'll leave at about 10 AM from the resort hoping to get on the 10:30 AM bus. Our flight is at 2:50 PM so that should get us there in plenty of time.
In the evening, we packe, showered and met up with Ashley, Brent, Travis and Mackenzie for dinner in the buffet. We had not eaten in the evening buffet yet so we chose to do that. Dustin and others went to the Japanese restaurant. They said it was really good too. The main buffet here has crazy good stuff on it. They had a shirmp dish that was really, really good. I've eaten my weight in shrimp. And just look at me...that is a lot!!!
Well, our trip is coming to a close once again. It has been wonderful with the highlight being that Dustin and Kerri's vow exchange was a great success. It came out yesterday to everyone that Dustin and Kerri were legally married the weekend we went with them to Lava Hot Springs. We went to the court house in Ogden where a judge held a small, very nice, ceremony. Denise and I were real good about not telling anyone per their request. But it came out yesterday somehow. Dustin was surprised that no one knew. So they are indeed a legally married couple. Anyway, I think Kerri is so pleased on how here special day down here turned out....and that was the most important aspect of the trip. But all the side adventures, seeing and being with Michael and Josh and having some of our children with with us has made this be quite the memory, one that we will not forget for a long time.
Wish us all luck on our trip home!
Snorkeling with turtles at Akumal....
A few shots while at Tulum......
There were a goodly number of these critters out sunning themselves at Tulum...
A life saver for Denise as the walk to and from our car from the Tulum entrance was far. But fortunately, for $1, you could ride their 'train'...a make shift tractor pulling a trailer.
An intense volleyball game on the beach.....
Some nice fruit artwork at the buffet....
Our resort palace.....
The blogger intensely at work in his hotel room....
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