Julio, checkin agent, dock master, chef extraordinaire. I love the vibrancy of the decor at the marina - Mexican colour.

Each Thursday night the Marina did a BBQ of fresh fish (Red Snapper), chicken and pork ribs accompanied by lots of salads, refried beans, guacamole, tortillas and bread. Wonderful food and all cooked by the staff.

We went to lunch a couple of times at local cafes which provided good cheap mexican food - yum. We both had haircuts and John ended up with a number 1, so had to wear a hat in the sun for a week or more to prevent scalp sunburn.

Sunset taken from the Bahia Tortuga Restaurant. They had local bands playing Wednesday through Sunday nights and because our slip in the marina was just across from the restaurant we had live music. This is a good thing if the band was OK, but there were several nights each week when the quality of the music wasn’t the best - fairly off key to say the least.

This is how far we were from the live music (Five Islands is the middle catamaran)

In our last week on the island it was time to do a little explore - Golf Cart time. Our neighbours Michael and Julia from “Larimar” (the catamaran on our right in the photo above) shared a golf cart with us for the day. After picking it up we made it about 1km down the road when it became apparent we had a dud. We were thinking of making a u-turn and heading back when this guy on a motor bike tells us to pull over and he organises for another one to be sent out to us. This is his job, to ride around and rescue the tourists that have troublesome carts.

Stuck on the main road waiting for another cart. The guy in in the blue helmet is the breakdown alert vehicle.

Boats and whale sharks are the major attactrations of this island.

One of the upmarket resorts found on the channel side of the island. Infinity pool looking out to the aqua water.

 The inside lagoon where several marinas are located but is also the area many boats come to anchor to take shelter from bad weather.

This creature was swimming, crawling along the shallow water in the lagoon. Hard shell and a bit similar to a Morton Bay Bug.

 

The flowery round shapes are Calliope jellyfish. They hang upside-down on the bottom with their tentacles facing up. Some have thicker purple protrusions as well. They just covered the bottom and we initially thought they were plants.

A snorkelling ‘Park’ on the south west side of the island. There is a guide rope for people to pull themselves along. They all are given snorkel and mask, some have fins and all must wear life jackets. We saw a large barracuda cruising around the end of the jetty. There was also a 3 run zip line out over the water.

Looking across the channel toward Cancun.

The remains of the Maya temple at the south end of the island.

Overlooking the temple and the channel to the south this is a nice spot to enjoy a drink.

 

Crystal clear water to the seaward side of the island. Times are good.

Julia and Michael from Munster in Germany.

Rocky shoreline, clear aqua water and colourful houses - so Mexico. The water was so clear we watched schools of parrot fish feeding just off shore.

Colour and shape - lots of each make up the architecture on Isla Mujeres.

As in all of the Central American countries we have visited, the churches are located in the best positions, this one on a rise overlooking the ocean.

Playa Norte (North Beach) on Isla Mujeres has the reputation of being one of the nicest beaches in the Caribbean. White sand, warm water, mucho sol (much sun) and a Pina Colada - a pleasant couple of hours. Note all the boats out the front. There is a row of floats separating the anchoring area and the swimming area. Each boat has its sound system full blast so they can tell everyone else what a good time they are having and the large ones have the crew to do the anchoring, look after all the toys (floats, lilo’s, jet skis etc) and make the cocktails. Wish that happened on our boat.

Talking about having a good time, tourist catamarans like this one go up and down the boat channel all day every day and generally the music is loud and the yahoos are plentiful. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing when this cat went past with tourists who were not going to let the rain and lightning get in the way of a good time - Note the Captain has all the wet weather gear on at the helm and the crew are under the bimini at the back of the boat.

And another sunset to finish this blog entry. We leave on Saturday 21st May for Key West, Florida