The past 3 weeks have once again melted into one long happy memory. Tom & Silke being with us, made it lots of fun, as we did things we wouldn’t necessarily have done otherwise. Like deep sea game fishing!!!!!

Tom has always wanted to catch a Marlin, or other similar game fish. I think landing our King Mackerel whetted his appetite.

So it was we hired a boat for 4 hours and went in search of big game!!! I went along primarily as photographer, but actually ended up catching one of the fish we had for dinner that evening.

Silke had decided to take herself off to Tulum for a little culture while we were fishing.

                                                                                       Roger was the first to get a bite and had hooked a decent sized barracuda, which was not going to come quietly, so Roger had quite a fight on his hands.

Eventually he landed it and posed proudly for his photo before letting it go.

Tom had a bite or two but unfortunately they took his bait and scarpered, leaving Tom somewhat disappointed.

I caught a fish, my first, a Grouper, but landed it by default.

I hooked it and almost got it to the surface but it got away, or at least that’s what I thought.

A minute later the skipper shouted and turned the boat towards my fish, which was floating on the surface, so we scooped it up in a bucket. Not quite as heroic as Roger, but it was very tasty at dinner that night.

We met up with Silke for the afternoon and took advantage of the Omni Hotel’s excellent facilities, enjoying sundowners in the Jacuzzi bar.

It’s a hard life but someone has to do it.

Now before you think it is all play and no work I’d like to put the record straight.

We had to leave the bar and get back to the boat before it got dark and also before people got too drunk….why? Because Tom had very kindly agreed to show Roger how to service the winch and it was lying in bits on the boat!!!!!

Tom, Roger & I decided to do some diving.

I have to say it was nice to get back into the water after such a long break and though it was only a shallow dive we saw new things like a small flotilla of swimming squid, which was real neat.

I also got the opportunity to try out the underwater camera Roger had bought me for my birthday last year.

We have also had some more great musical experiences and it seems to be a theme running through this trip.

We had dinner one night at Café Ole and they had a group called Culture Orphans on. They were brilliant!!!

The female singer was from Devon and she had a brilliant voice, a bit like Alison Moyet (though she was too young to remember her!!!!!)

Tom & Silke’s holiday came to an end and it was sad to say goodbye to them, they had been such good company.

As we had hired a car to take them back to Cancun, we decided to visit Coba which is another Mayan ruin.

The pyramid is spectacular. It is made more so by the fact that you can climb it…..which of course ‘The Dances did!!!! I think it was 120 steps, if you could call them that.

 I will admit to being a little apprehensive, but it was worth it.

To be continued…………………………..