Ahhh… awake on Isla! Slept well, but interrupted by noisy kids leaving La Pena at all hours – note: ask front desk about A/C. An odd but familiar sound awakens me…. What is it??? Tim’s sound asleep, I don’t want to bother him. Sounds like pigeons cooing – but from where?? I go out on the terrace to try to find the source, but see nothing. Hmmmm… hit the bathroom & the sound is THERE…. But where? I look out the little window in the bathroom, but being barely five feet tall, see nothing. Oh well, we’ll figure it out later. It’s 7:45 and I made plans via the board with Leo & Trisha to meet at Captain Tony’s at 8:30 to see about a trip to Contoy – I’m really hungry and need to get some breakfast, so I dress & give Tim a kiss on the forehead and tell him my plans – he says be careful as usual and drifts back to dreamland.

Armed with camera, I head up Guerrero and snap a picture of La Pena, the carousel behind the Zocalo and then the turtle statue at M&J’s.

Sit down, snap some photos of the water & Pedro delivers the menu. Decisions, decisions….. I decide on the Chaya, OJ & Carrot juice combo – pretty gross looking, but damn good! For breakfast, the Ranchero Cazuela – very, very good!

Finish up, very satisfied – ask Pedro for La Cuenta, and stop back at the room. Tell Tim I’m going to Tony's to meet Leo.

Tony is outside & I introduce myself and tell him that I’m supposed to be meeting some people from the board – he points to the curb on the corner and there’s Leo & Trisha! We say our hellos and ask Tony what the weather gods have decided for today – too rough for Contoy, but snorkeling nearby o.k. – cool, I’m good with that! Tell Trish & Leo that I’ve got to go rouse Tim & find Roy, Tony tells me to be back no later than 9:15 – no problem! Trek back to the room, wake Tim up. The pigeon sound is there again…. I ask Tim if he hears it – he does. I go out on the terrace, he goes in the bathroom and says “there’s 2 of them in a nest on top of the air conditioner!” Just then, he must have spooked them because one of them took off straight for my head! I let out a scream that could have wakened the dead and almost pooped myself! Laugh for the day! Change into swimsuits, grab snorkeling gear and go. Stop at front desk re: A/C – no problemo, we’ll check it while you’re gone.

Tip for traveling with other people staying elsewhere…. We brought cheap walkie-talkies with us, Roy had one, we had the other….tried to wake Roy up, no dice. My maternal instincts say he either got lucky or he’s in jail. Being the cusp Scorpio/Sagittarian that I am, I have to have a cause, so to worry about Roy is my mission for today!

Back at Tony’s, we have 8 people at $15 each for a snorkeling trip! Cool! Tramp down to the beach with Tony & Mario… it’s us, Trisha & Leo, Steve & Leann and Scott & Jill. Scott brings a cooler full of beer & very generously offers to all of us….. o.k. I’ve had breakfast and it’s noon somewhere, so POP!

We get to the lighthouse and Trisha starts fretting about seeing barracudas – we all do our best to keep her calm, but evidently there’s a full blown phobia happening here! The girls remove their jewelry thus the cuda’s don’t think we’re lures & we hop in! Water’s a little chilly but get used to it in no time & we’re seeing sergeant majors, HUGE parrot fish, pretty blue angels and BARRACUDAS!!!! Saw eight schooling together and I let out an underwater scream! Made our way to the underwater statue of the Blessed Virgin that I remembered from our trip 3 years ago.

Back to the boat & we’re heading out to the water near Garrafon & Punta Sur. We stop for gas & a bano break along the way… walk into the bathroom & there’s the tiniest baby gecko I’ve ever seen on the floor! Of course, I have to pick it up – he’s sooooo cute! Couldn’t have been more than two inches long! The girls & I coo over him a bit & he decides he’s had enough human bonding for today & jumps off.

Once again, back on the boat & onto open seas! Tony points out the Cuban restaurant that’s been talked about on the board & tells us to try it – mental note – we never got there, but will try in June. O.K., here’s our spot – LOTS of boatfuls of daytrippers – Tony tries to stay a distance from them. Scott’s got granola bars to attract the fish & gives one to Tim, who loses it when he jumps in the water! Tony tells us later that he saw it floating & fished it out & ate it! Don’t know if it’s true or not, but it was funny!

The water’s not very calm here, thanks to the Norte that’s still blowing. Scott busts out his granola bar for a fabulous feeding frenzy with the fish. Look up every once in a while only to see a swell and not able to find the group – kinda scary! After about another ½ hour, Tony’s calling us to get back on the boat.

Hop back on and we get a slow, relaxing tour of the southern shoreline – Punta Sur, Garrafon, Villa Rolandi. We stop on the way back and Mario breaks out a package of saltines & starts to feed the seagulls. What a sight!

A couple of crackers fell into the water and then it was birds vs. fish!

Tony ever so graciously offers to take our picture with all our individual cameras... he's admiring my new digital and asking questions about it, quite impressed with Tim's choice!

We get back to shore & thanks to the cervesas from Scott, we need a bano!! Leo & Trisha invite us to have a drink & grab lunch, but our bladders are saying RAINCHECK!!! We head up Matamoros to the room and I spot a very pretty lady sitting in a golfcart curbside. She looks familiar to me – much like Sophia Loren, when it dawns on me – it’s Carmita, Big Jim’s new bride! I look to the sidewalk & there’s a huge man with his back to me, engaged in conversation with another gentleman. I yell out BIG JIM!!!! He turns around, I tell him who I am & get a hug that almost broke my back! He asks if we’ll be around tomorrow – duh! Of course!! Give Carmita a hug & run to the room, doing the p-p dance the whole way!

That done, we take our “beach walk” again from behind Francis Arlene, passing Casa Maya, Avalon, Na Balam, Nautibeach to Sergio’s. I’m starving and order a mixto Ceviche – very, very good! Hits the spot, grab some beers and along comes Angelica with her necklaces and bracelets, little Maria on her hip.

I pull out some pretty hair things from my beach bag for Maria & buy a couple of things from Angelica. I later found out that Angelica’s husband died earlier this year & she’s supporting her four children by selling her wares on the beach…. Sooo sad! More on this later….

Along comes Roy! Phew, I can stop worrying! Turns out he hit La Pena last night and ended up sleeping on their stairs for much of the night! We see a couple with a pretty green parrot sitting at a table… introductions, it’s Kevin & Robin, with Pepper, their parrot. They sailed here from West Virginia and are moored out in Sac Bajo. Have some fun conversation, I persuade Pepper to “step up” onto my arm. Interesting people with some fun stories!

We decide to walk around a bit, hit the ATM, walk Hidalgo to the north end & see a “Rib Man” cooking on his grill. He says $10 US for 1 ½ kilos of ribs with all the fixin’s… we say ok, we’re starving & they smell sooooo good! We walk down to the wall in front of Jax and enjoy – NOTE: carry napkins & plastic forks – not provided by rib man! They were soooooo Goddang good! Finish up & hop over to Jax to see what’s going on with the Jets/Steelers game…. Small TV, crowded bar, so we head out to find Jammin’. DUHHHH right down Guerrero from our room!

We settle in with a couple of Cervesas and during bar conversation meet a man from our home town! What a small world! Leo & Trisha stop by on their way to find dinner, we promise to meet up again before they leave.

Stay till the end of the game, Roy decides to head off for yet another adventure! Tim & I decide to just walk…. Hand in hand, Guerrero gets quieter, we turn (don’t remember right or left) and are walking through a colonia – very quiet, very dark. The lights of televisions through open doors are the only thing lighting our way. We finally end up along side the naval base and head back up toward the Zocalo. Watch some local basketball, pass out bubbles and hair pretties, walk up Merida, buy some cervesas for the room. Stop by the merry go round to enjoy the faces of the kids…Up to the room, cervesas chillin’, back to Hidalgo to see what’s going on…. Stop at the Tequila bar (Adelita’s) and see Kevin, Robin & Pepper again!

They invite us to join them & introduce us to Tim & Natalie from the U.K., Jerry from Florida & Bert from Rhode Island. Good time!! We stay awhile (who knows how long, we’re on Isla time!) snap some memories,

and decide it’s time for bed. We say our goodnights & thanks for the good company then trek out to our room.

Stop at front desk, turns out the problem with our A/C was the fact that we needed to turn the breaker on at the wall DUHHHH!!! Shower off the day’s salt & sand, hit the terrace with the radio tuned to the local “classic rock” station. (We brought a CD player/radio with us). Totally exhausted, it’s time for ni-nite… goodnight my love, goodnight my honey-baby, goodnight Isla… it’s so good to be here! Stay tuned, my friends!