West: May 2012

In April we took our annual warm weather/beach trip. This year's choice was Cozumel. We enjoyed Cancun so much we thought we would give it a try. Flights were great, actually got exit rows the whole way.

If anyone has been to an airport in Mexico you know how crazy it can be with all the taxi drivers and guys trying to sell you stuff once you get through customs. Well we had already rented a car but couldn't find the right window and of course this guy was more than happy to help us but ended up conning us into a time share presentation in exchange for a 1/2 price rental car. I knew better than to fall for this and we still did! It ended up working out okay and saved some money but lesson learned :) We checked into our all inclusive, adult only resort, the Sabor. We went with an upgraded section of the resort and glad we did. Our room was large and you could step into a pool right off your patio and take a waterslide down to the main pool. Pretty unique!

Most of our days were filled by sitting at the pool while reading and enjoying yummy frozen drinks-virgin of course :)

We also enjoyed the resort's fancy dinners. The food was always very pretty but just so-so on taste. It was fun though to get "beach dressy" each night :)

We spent one afternoon snorkeling right in front of our resort.

I can't get over how clear the water is in Mexico and usually pretty comfortable as far a water temperature. There were quite a few fish to see, lots of schools, and even a stingray!

Not as good as Xelha on the mainland but not bad. There was better snorkeling though at the Chankanaab Park which was just a few miles from our hotel.

I had some trouble with my masks leaking this trip and that was frustrating but we tried to make the best of it.

We were drooling over this lagoon at the park! If only we could snorkel there!

The real reason we went to Chankanaap though was to...SWIM WITH MANATEES!!!

I just happened to find out about this one night while internet searching at work a few weeks before our trip and was immediately sold on the idea as was Ryan. We really enjoyed the sea lion encounter in the Bahamas and couldn't turn down the manatees :) So after a few hours of snorkeling at the park we met our group for the manatee encounter (the group was us and a family from Utah, small world huh?). The trainers got us right in the water and petting the manatees.

It's a little intimidating at first but you can't help but love them.

We really like them because they remind us of Baby our mastiff. Same grey wrinkly face, whiskers, and just plain big and sweet :) We have been calling them "water mastiffs" and Baby our "land manatee." I think what I enjoyed most about this was seeing Ryan truly and genuinly happy. I have never seen him smile bigger and laugh more than when we've done these animal encounters. It warms my heart :) I laughed when he turned to me in the water and said "add manatees to our farm list." I told him we would have to move the farm to Florida but he seems to think he will just build a big pool for them :) Anyway, we spent about an hour in the water petting, kissing, and hugging them then proceeded to the gift shop where we bought a stuffed manatee and these overpriced pictures. But really, how could have we left without them?

This was such a great experience and we just fell in love with these big guys! Sadly, in the wild they are often injured by boats. Man, would we LOVE to rescue them! If you need cheering up or just to giggle, google manatee pictures and try not to smile :) Unfortunatley it came time to leave so we had to say goodbye to our new friends and the Chankanaap Park...

Afterwards we drove around almost the whole island and planned to stop at some Mayan Ruins on our way back but apparently they close at 3:45pm...weird. Anyway so we just headed back to the hotel for another fancy dinner. This one was a dinner right on the beach. They moved all the tables and buffet to the beach where we could watch the sunset. Very nice!

The next day was our last full day so we spent the morning by the pool, enjoyed an afternoon massage, then spent the rest of the daylight lounging on the beach. It was fun to wade through the warm water, walk the beach, and just sit and watch the sun go down.

One neat thing about this resort was how they sculpted the shrubs. There was all sorts of different animals and shapes.

Another cool thing was the animals on the resort. There were lots of iguannas and this cute tiny lizard who lived in a seashell outside our room.

Our last day was spent by the pool when this little guy came along with his owner. Awww!

I'll end our trip with a funny story. Remember those waterslides I talked about? Well when Ryan would go down he got NO momentum and would have to push himself the whole way down.

As for myself, I didn't have a problem...until trying the 3rd slide. I was going pretty fast and you know how sometimes you go up on the side on a slide? Well I did and thought "there's no way I'll go over" and then did just that! Went right up over the side and onto the ground with my feet still hanging in the slide! It startled me more than anything but I looked up and the people at the pool had their mouths covered like "oh no" and then I gave a thumbs up and Ryan pulled me back onto the slide and we laughed it off. Thankfully I only scraped up my wrist because it wasn't more than a 2 or 3 foot fall but sure made me leary about any more waterslides!

Sadly, our trip came to an end and we had to return home and back to real life but had a great time and are already looking forward to the next one!

In March we were able to go back to Utah for another visit. I admit they are all kind of blending in at this point after 5 years and 10+ trips but we always enjoy seeing everyone and doing fun stuff. Some highlights of this trip were... Meeting our new niece Miss Ella Ann