Mexican Sea Horses

Time: n/a
Distance: n/a

This afternoon Whit and I took a bus to Isla Mujeres for some snorkeling and more fun in the sun. We boarded the boat along with 80 or so other people and headed just off the coast the the world's second largest reef. By second largest, I might have misunderstood and Discovery Channel may have rated the reef the world's second best. Regardless, Whit and I snorkeled in either the world's second largest reef, or the second best reef (as rated by Discovery) this afternoon along with 80 of our closest friends. The fish were plentiful and the water was salty. I'm not the best snorkeler but by the end of the afternoon I was feeling pretty comfortable looking at a sting ray our guide somehow managed to find. Some people claimed to have seen a barracuda, but I'm not sure what one looks like so perhaps I saw it too. The fish were relatively colorful, but I had no idea what they were. Let's just say it was tuna, mackerel, salmon and Nemo because that is what I like in my sushi. I was trying to touch them most of the time but no matter how sneaky you were they would move just out of reach every time. Finally toward the end of our hour long snorkeling session I managed to slap one and it was a bit rigid, almost cut my hand and I decided to stop.

Once we got back on shore there were a few more activities that we could do:

• para sailing
• jet skiing
• speed boating
• horse back riding
• lounging

Whit and I felt like caballeros and went on an hour long horseback ride. I'm not really sure why because I'm not particularly fond of horses, it was ridiculously hot and I was already suncrisped. A small group of us rode into the mangroves where we were attacked by mosquitoes, but saw an alligator or crocodile at our turn around point which was a pond. I was riding on "Apache" and Whit was on "Calimbo" who was more interested in eating the leaves off the surrounding trees. After about an hour we returned to the stables and walked down to the beach where we were met by a Mexican Sea Horse. Each of us took turns riding a horse barebacked into the water for him to buck and swim around. The pictures made it look cooler than it actually was, but at least I get to say I swam with a horse. Some people swim with the dolphins, Luca Brasi swims with the fishes and I swim with the horses.