Turtle Montage video

Here is the long awaited turtle video.  It is a compilation of 4 videos I took. It culminates in the turtle mating scene!

Last day

Just checked out :(

But I made pretty good use of my last hours here. I got up for an early morning swim and dip in the hot tub. Then, I had breakfast when I got hungry. No mimosas on my last day :( 

Then I went swimming again, both in the pool and the ocean.  I thought that was going to be it but the wind picked up and I saw Windsurfer Larry out on the water. That means good wind = I can take out the catamaran! It was one last glorious trip.  I was zipping back and forth like a pro.  Erwin the boat guy even complimented me on my pulling in skills. Catamaran sailor - check!

Day 5 - the day of 9! turtles!!

Wow, 9 turtles? I'm impressed.
First dive was Cedral Wall. We saw 4 turtles and a nurse shark. The sun kept ducking in and out of the clouds but everytime it showed through the colors were amazing!
Second dive was la Francesa again.  This is where we saw 5 turtles. The last 2 were large turtles that were doing a dance with each other. I couldn't tell if they were planning to battle or mate (I'd like to think the latter) but it was amazingly cool. The divemaster said he's never seen that before. Video to come.
I took the catamaran out again today. I was 10 times better today. I went super fast and it was super exhilarating.
For dinner tonight we're going to a little seafood place 2 doors down. Should be good according to some of the time share people here. Yes, this resort is a time share, but we didn't get tricked into taking the tour.

Last day in Mexico :(

Day 4

Yes, I went on a night dive last night and it was cool. No, I don't have pics yet. Maybe later today. On the night dive we saw a nurse sharks, tons of crabs and lobsters, and one fine octopus! it was at Ceder Point again. I still think night dives are mostly overrated but where else can you see an octopus?

This morning we went on 2 dives - Punta Sur and Punta Delila.  Punta Sur was very far south and at the point of descent we saw 3 black tipped sharks! Not very big ones but still super cool. The rest of the dive was pretty chill with some cool swim throughs.

Between dives, we stopped at a sandy area where we saw a small flounder and a cool starfish.

On the second dive we saw a little cute turtle and lots of arrow crabs. There were some cool swim throughs, one where the divemaster tried to go down a dead end and had to redirect.

Later today, I took the catamaran out, by myself, and brought it back by myself too!! No need for a rescue tow! I was pretty proud of me. That was super fun.

Oh and one of my rainy day activities yesterday was painting one of their pre-made pottery. Photos to follow. Came out pretty well I think!

Adding to list of favorite things: getting in hot tub after diving in the rain - fantastic!
Also, blogging on the beach!

Midday - on a rainy day

I just got back from 2 swims with a catamaran ride in between. Now, I'm chilling with my freshly made mojito. Nice!

The catamaran guy was nervous to let me take one out. Apparently just yesterday someone got stranded out there and he had to tug the guy back. Understandable. But he took me out and I showed him my great navigational skills and he's willing to let me go out by myself next time. Score!

Day 3 - day off (likely night dive though)

Last night dinner was at their "especiale" Mexican restaurant. It wasn't very special but I did have lime soup which I love. The weird thing was that there was a clown making balloon animals. I got a balloon bracelet.

I find that at least here everything's better with a little lime :)

Mimosas for breakfast - ah - the life!

Diving - day 2

2 morning dive - fantastic!!
First dive - Santa Rosa Wall. There were some great swimthroughs. We saw a spendid toadfish - the kind that's only found in Cozumel. We saw a turtle also. I kept having issues with my mask so was annoyed during this dive.

The second dive was absolutely amazing!! We went to Ceder Point. There were large schools of fish just hanging out. We did an awesome swim through - the best one by far. The we saw nurse sharks (3 sightings, unclear how many different ones), a turtle, 2 yellow stingrays, and incredible large lobsters that made us all hungry!!

Now for some chillaxing on the beach! Maybe a night dive tomorrow?

Diving - day 1

We went on our first dives today. We couldn't go on the deep one so we had to do our dives in the afternoon - quite novel
Our first dive was at Palancar Gardens where we traversed some nice shallow caves and saw a turtle and a huge crab.  Our second dive was at La Francesa which where we saw 2! turtles. All the turtles were quite small. Actually, on the beach this morning a little baby turtle got lost and almost came ashore. That was super cool.

After dinner today, we went to the night's entertainment - show de fuego, yup, actually what it was called. It was by the same group we saw in town last night but tonight they brought their A game, or at least their paying audience show.  It was quite impressive. Watching a fire show on the beach seemed like the perfect way to end the day and a perfect venue for fire.

Sunny Mexico!!

Yay for Mexico!! Did nothing but nap on the beach this afternoon - it was glorious!
I went for a little swim in the ocean - the water was great!
I am now in the downtown area enjoying some authentic Mexican food - tacos of tongue, cheek and pork, yum!

Oh also see picture of an adorable chihuahua we saw along the road.
Fyi - my hotel doesn't have free wifi so my blogging will be intermittent at best. Sorry. I'll do my best but the updates may have to come at the end of the trip.

Made it!

Yay, made it on plane for Cozumel!! With time to spare for shopping duty free!

Flying to Mexico - will I make it?

Yay for vacation!!

Unfortunately, I have a super tight connection and I'm on the only flight of the day to Cozumel.  Fingers crossed!

Don't ever check bags

I ended up having to check my bags due to solid honey, grr.  It took forever to get my bags. It also took forever to get through immigration at jfk, grr again.

Reflections on trip

This was an odd composite vacation devoid of most touristy things, except compulsive picture taking at times.  There was definitely an enormous amout of pork consumed, which was kind of the point.  Pork day was awesome of course with piggy snacking while learning about the making of piggy products.  I loved being able to participate in the sausage making.  The best pork feasting, however, may have been the one in Trieste with the selection of assorted piggy parts with an addition of feet. Everything there was soft, succulent, and perfectly seasoned. But then again, that was the beginning of the celebration of pork that was this week.

Cities -
Trieste was a quaint little city perched on a steeply sloped hill forming an amphitheater around the sea.  The view was magnificent as the sea blends into the sky in the distance.  It was a small city with a village feel which is probably a good thing.  The musical group we encountered on one street corner was a lovely little gift to the experience.
Ljubjana - well, I had no preconceived notion of what this Slovenian city would be like.  I suppose the fact that it looked like any other bustling European city was impressive enough as it was not so long ago part of the Soviet block.  It was clean and modern with shop lined streets comprable to the major European cities.  The castle on the hill and the winding river in the center of the city gives it just the right amount of charm. I imagine it's a nice place to live.
Salzburg was actually a lot smaller and provincial than I expected but maybe this is because I mainly saw the old city, though I got this feeling from our B&B also.  The narrow little pedestrian streets were charming and the grand yet stark ambience of the main squares tended to make one feel very small. It's an odd contrast.  Austrians seemed really nice (with the exception of that mean Furst lady) with warm hospitality.
Munich - didn't see much of Munich but the streets we walked along for drinks and dinner were very impressive in terms of being ultra sleek and modern.  Dachau, well, that was depressing as expected.

Driving. I was fortunate in not having done any of the driving but instead was free to fully enjoy the drive and the views.  The mountains of Austria was definitely the most impressive.  Particularly, the drive back from Munich through Austria in the snow with little hilltop castles dotting the countrysaide was magnificent.  I was impressed by Austrian road plowing. When we headed towarrds Salzburg there was a recent snowfall of probably at least 6 inches but the roads were impeccably clean and not just with snow pushed into mounds along the highway but actually removed, possibly blown over the sides.  There were also some great views of water - through the Veneto region and by Trieste.

Flights - The A380 Air France flight was as impressive as the 767 Delta flight is disappointing.  The A380 was spacious and clean and the people polite and the meal enjoyable with personal tvs with a wide selection of entertainment. The 767 was crowded with less nice staff and an edible meal with in-aisle small monitors showing some unimpressive movie. I had thought all transatlantic flights included alcoholic drinks but I guess Delta doesn't believe that. 

All in all, I had a great trip with great food, great conversation, and fun exploration. Not quite as relaxing but my next trip shall be a beachy one to compensate.

En route back to US

I am currently in the Amsterdam airport which obviously has free wifi which is awesome.  I quite like this airport. Less walking than Paris. Immigration lines were fast. There are tons of stores here but they look more like a mall than an airport. There is this casual but yet efficient feel to the place.

I had to check my bag in Italy because my jars of completely solid honey was of course considered a liquid.  But it's ok because not having a bag to drag around has been nice. We'll see how I feel when they a)l lose my bag or b) I have to wait forever to claim my bag.

Last night, I went out to a little Italian restaurant for dinner and it was excellent, and aesthetically pleasing. Pictures below.

Pork day part 2

We had a classic Italian breakfast with coffee and pastry.

The following picture is of really tiny pizzas - how cute is that!!

Today we continued onto part two of Pork day. We made sausages, salami, ciccioli, boiled head, and other assorted sausages. Of course, we ate more piggy parts :) We ate more grilled pork, liver, pancreas; tasted the salami and sauage meats; tasted the boiled head; and ate homemade desserts.

Grilled yumminess
Prosciutto
Making of ciccioli - grind fat, boil fat until all the pieces are reduced to mostly liquid, collect the remaining bits and strain until all the liquid fat is removed, then eat ciccioli! :)




honey or pork fat?

The making of sausage and salami.