Isla Mujeres random site seeing pictures

Che, yep we are close to Cuba

Iron Shore

Pero Bravo! Viva Mexican dogs

Great shopping if you are in the market for just about anything made in Mexico

Always good to know where this building is, it's not always very obvious

Gringo on the beach

Just some random pictures I took when exploring the island.

Rust never sleeps

Next stop Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Exiting the jetty at El Cid Marina

What are the plans are for the 2014 sailing season? Where is the boat was going to be put up for the next hurricane season?  We really did not have a plan,  Doug just kept tossing out names of islands and I would thumb through the many pounds of guide books I brought along.  A few days ago he finally said Granada -via- Cuba, it's out of the hurricane latitudes, my reaction was gulp!  It's over 2000 miles from here and it is already the middle of April.   So after MUCH discussion we decided to head back to the USA, Savannah, Georgia to be more precise.  It's time to regroup.

That's the Caribbean Ocean back there, blue water sailing

Isla Mujeres!

Not really the quiet little fishing village any longer

Chichenitza

 We took a bus tour service to Chichenitza. 

Don't forget which bus you need to get back on!

It was a very delightful bus trip, full service!  I could get used to these full service trips!  

I think we picked a perfect day to go as the weather on the coast was blowing up to 50 knots with rain and inland it was cloudy, cool and breezy.  

We had a guide that walked with us all around the inner city, it was pretty interesting.

Wow, not sure what he was "splaining" here but it must have been good!

You can no longer climb to the top

 

Sweet older woman selling napkins

We took a short hike to the older ruins as well, this was an observatory

Restless natives

It was pretty much all the beer you could drink until the next stop!

  When we got back on the bus they handed us a cold, wet hand towel and an icy cold beer! 

The second stop on the trip was a Mexican buffet lunch at a restaurant in an old colonial city.  Very pretty town and very yummy food, I ate so much I did not need dinner.  Many of the building here where built by re purposing the stones from the Mayan ruins.

Flowers worn on the left means this woman is married

Really?! In Mexico

 I saw a real stop light with the pedestrian signal.  I think this is the first one I have ever seen in Mexico.  I asked the guide about it.  He said that people respect the sign.

  The third stop on the tour was a cenote.  It was really not a very good cenote as it was in a city and it looked polluted.  I would not have swam in it.  It was interesting and apparently it is a sacred site.

I hope they did not throw virgins into this cenote

Tulum and Dos Ojos Cenote

Tulum by the Sea!

 We rented a car and took a rode trip to Tulum.  It was incredibly hot and windy.  Must have been spectacular when it was a working city.  

Ruins at Tulum

They Mayans are very small people, I had to watch my head!

And we're done.  Hot, windy and now really thirsty!

Swinging in the beach bar breeze

What is this? Mexican crafted beer!  It was really, really good and really, really cold

Une Ojo

Amazing cenote

Sprinkled throughout the Yucatan are Cenotes.  They are really amazing crystal clear fresh water.  They are of course all sacred but for a price they will let you swim and dive in them.  The water at Dos Ojos Cenote is so clear I could see the diver below us heading into the labyrinth of caves following a yellow rope.  It was really amazing.  We also ventured into a cave filled with bats, it wasn't until we came out that I saw a sign that said you needed a guide to enter.

Back to the boat

The calm after the stormy seas of 5 days before

The crew

The boat ready already 500 miles into the 2014 season

 I arrived here in Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo Mexico, it is now April 5, 2014.  Well into the 2014 cruising season. This is my first trip to the boat in 10 months.   I had a very anxious moment when I arrived at the marina and saw the ocean through the entrance at the breakwater, I just about stopped in my tracks.   From the entrance all I could see was white caps dancing in the wind.  Doug had already sailed the boat over 500 miles without me on board thanks to friends and family who helped him get this far.  But where to now?  Realistically....

A note on being seasick

The only cure for seasickness is to sit on the shady side of an old brick church in the country.
- ENGLISH SAILORS PROVERB

I have tried many a potion, pill and gimmick.  I think these are words to live by.

First Voyage of 2014

The SVAquadesaic was put up on the hard at RAM Marina on the Rio Dulce in June 2013 (the start of hurricane season) for some rudder repair, bottom paint and a new 2014 survey for insurance. The first leg of our 2014 sailing season starts with a trip down the Rio Dulce, Guatemala to Roatan, Honduras. As you follow the track you might notice that they, the captain and crew, sailed almost the entire way.  This was due to the failure of the saltwater impeller.  A small part that is a critical item needed to run the engine.  I was not on board for this portion of the trip and the data is slow to come in so I don't know what happened to the spare impeller.  I do know that so far this sailing season I have not been seasick, due to the fact I'm sitting on my lovely deck overlooking the river in our back yard.  Its off to a good start I would say.
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