Barracuda

After a smoothie and bagel for breakfast, we headed out on a boat for a day of snorkelling. We cruised down the western side of the island and stopped to snorkel for about 30 minutes. It wasn't the greatest coral, but there were a lot of big fish and some really cool soft corals. We saw a few huge barracudas too. Just near a little lighthouse on a small rocky island, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary submerged under the sea, algae and corals growing on her gown. There were tons of fish just floating around her, like they were praying...very appropriate to find in Mexico.

From there we went to a cheesy hotel place where they have dolphin shows (we 'got' to view the dolphins in their cage pools from the boat) as well as a tiger shark in captivity. Further down the coast a bit, we docked near a restaurant and had about an hour to look around the turtle farm and guests could 'swim' with the 2 nurse sharks they have captive there, donation only. It was really sad because all of these tourists jumped into the water one at a time, the guide swam to the sandy bottom to bring the shark to the surface, then both would lift the shark out of the water to snap a photo (its gills convulsing as it took in air) and then repeat the whole thing with the next person. Some parents even put their small children on the shark as if it was a pony. We didn't stay there long to witness this, and walked along the water to the turtle farm. Here they protect and hatch seaturtles of about 3 species and release they are bigger and have a better chance of survival in the wild. The babies were so tiny and cute.

We headed back to the restaurant for a lunch of grilled fish tacos, then back in the boat and off to another site for more snorkelling. The coral was a bit better here, and we saw a massive 4 foot long barracuda. We were back in town just before the skies opened up and let out some rain, but this didn't deter us from getting a 6 pack of beer and going down to the beach again after using the internet. We stayed to watch the sunset, one of the most beautiful we've ever seen, then had some cheap tacos for dinner before heading off to bed.