Puerto Rico - Day 4

Day four was a really early morning wake-up to get to our half-day snorkeling adventure.  Another beautiful drive, this time up the eastern side of the island, to Fajardo.  The tour itself was so much fun.  Maybe 25 people on the boat, and the crew did a great job!  We first went to the reef for some snorkeling.  I was really worried that Mase would have trouble with snorkeling, but he jumped right in and was head-down the majority of the time.  We saw a ton of fish, plants, and coral!  They fed us a delicious lunch after snorkeling, and then took us over to Icacos Beach for some swimming.

Once we got to Icacos Beach, they opened up the bar (free local rum drinks!), inflated the water slide, and showed people the jumping platform.  Talk about a hit!  I stayed in the water for the whole two hours, just people watching and taking pic/videos of the family.  Definitely a workout treading water for that long, but it was the best time.

After we got back to mainland...is it still considered "mainland" if it's an island...we drove about 20 minutes to a town called Luquillo.  Luquillo is known for their food kiosks - think 60+ food trucks, but in brick and mortar format, like a strip mall.  SO.MUCH.FOOD.  The smells were incredible, the music and dancing were all local...like a big party!  We got some really good food, and I helped myself to a pina colada IN a pineapple.  It was spendy but so worth it.  More souvenir shops here, too, so we poked around for a little bit, and then made the drive back to the house.  

Tulum Adventures - pt 3

Wednesday was also a big day! First, it was my birthday. The big 4-1! We started off this day grabbing a taxi that was on-site at our place 24-hours a day. Score! We took the taxi to Akumal, which is about 20 minutes outside of Tulum. We immediately found our tour guide for snorkeling with the turtles. This was the adventure I was most nervous about, because of the kids. I did not know how they would take to snorkeling. I didn't give them any information about snorkeling, as I wanted them to form their own experience, authentically. They have both used the snorkeling equipment at the pool at their dad's house, so they were semi-familiar with how to use it. Snorkeling in the ocean, however, is different than a small pool. They immediately acclimated to the equipment and we dove right in, following our guide around to see turtles, rays, and so many fish. The kids absolutely loved it! We got to Akumal first thing in the morning, which was the perfect time as the beach wasn't yet crowded and we got out of the water just as a bunch of tours were getting in. We could not have timed it better. After the snorkeling was over, we decided to just hang on the beach for a while and have lunch. We didn't have to be to the next adventure for a few hours. 

After a delicious lunch, we grabbed another taxi and made our way to Bahia Principe Hotel for swimming with the dolphins! This was such a cool experience. I had heard that the photo/video options were stupid expensive, so I decided to let Dana and the kids do the dolphin experience while I stayed in the visitor area to do our own pictures. 

After the dolphin adventure, which took place at a private resort, we were able to "crash" the private beach. I am not entirely sure we were even supposed to be there, but we were already inside the resort, so we totally took advantage of more beach time!

After everyone was thoroughly pooped from swimming and swimming and swimming all day long, we headed back to Tulum. We visited a local bike rental place and rented bikes for the rest of the week. We ended up finding an amazing restaurant for my birthday dinner, El Acadero, and rode our bikes to/from. It was such a great birthday!