JAMES: Got up early (when you go to bed at 9, it goes without saying) to be ready to go out diving and snorkeling. We went to Hol Chan first and it was everything the guide books said it was! Hol Chan is Mayan for "small channel". It is a break in the reef that seems to be ideal for the critters that live there. They dropped us in a very shallow area. The snorkelers went with Geoffrey and Clay and I went with Manuel. I've never seen such abundant marine life in one area at one time. We saw Nurse Sharks, rays, enormous groupers, morays, crabs and schools of fish by the dozens. We were at the 35' maximum depth for 30 minutes and I barely burned 2000 lbs. of air. Take a look:
SUSAN: Today was our first day on the water. It was warm and the water was beautiful. As we were riding in he boat to our dive sight Clay yelled, "Look at that!" It was a Eagle Ray that had jumped from the water. I saw it just as it was going back into the ocean. The morning trip was absolutely gorgeous! The amount of marine life we saw underwater was more than I have ever seen in one location. We saw many different types of rays, sea turtles, nurse sharks, angel fish, parrot fish, crab. On the boat the water they provided for us was in plastic bags.
JAMES: Next we went to Shark/Ray Alley, a short boat ride away. Again, it's a very shallow area with huge friendly sharks and rays who come for the free snacks. They literally come right up to you for a handout. At one point Geoffrey scooped one up and wrapped himself in a ray. There were plenty of boats and lots of feeding frenzy. It was kind of a "petting zoo" but fun nonetheless.
The nice thing is the reef is quite close by, about a 10-minute boat ride. Being one long reef, there are endless diving possibilities! When we got back to Banana Beach and rinsed off, we decided to have lunch across the street at Robin's, a local jerk chicken place. It was right next to Harry's Hamburgers. Who says sex doesn't sell?
Like most places on the island, it was open air. You order and eat at picnic tables. The chicken is cooked on a grill in the driveway. It was very good and $6 a plate. There were several friendly iguanas hanging around looking for a handout. Maybe they're tomorrow's lunch?
JAMES: It was about this time that I began to not feel well. I had felt a chest cold coming on for a few days and it finally kicked in and kicked my butt. I ended up laying down for awhile. Later we decided to use our meal credit for dinner at El Divino, the in-house restaurant at Banana Beach. They have fabulous ceviche, but after eating that and some spinach artichoke dip along with half price run drinks, we were all pretty full and Clay (my hero) was the only one to finish his plate. I had a very good seared grouper in a grapefruit coulis with garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies. I hit the wall at that point and had go back to the room. We all fought sleep from a great day on the water and full bellies and then turned in.