Hey everyone,
Yesterday we got to swim with whale sharks! We went on a boat trip that took us to the sharks and two by two we were dropped in the water and got to swim right next to them! They’re huge docile things, but boy can they swim, 3 mph doesn’t sound fast, but in a very choppy sea we had to swim like crazy to keep up. We were really lucky in that we actually listened to what the guide was saying and got in the water fast, so we got right close to them, the guide also seemed to appreciate this, as other pairs weren’t listening and kept missing the jump, so on our second jump he let us stay on the water for much longer and the whale sharks were swimming right up to us, at one point we had a whale shark next to us and a manta ray right below is, it was like something out of a nature documentary! Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera on the second jump (which I’m still kicking myself over), as after waiting in the boat for ages for the other pairs to listen and jump right the choppy waters made me so sea sick and shaky.
The boat ride back was horrific, 6/10 of us on the boat were sick and curled up in fetal positions on the floor even one of the guides was struggling, at this point me and grace were also quite sun burnt as you’re not allowed to wear sunscreen before/while swimming with the sharks as it’s bad for them. So the 2 hour journey back was not fun.
We then arrived at a beach on the Isla Mujeresh, which was absolutely beautiful, we got to swim and have lunch and try a Mexican delicately called Ceviche, which is sea snail, cooked by being left in lemon juice, mixed with chopped onion, tomato and coriander. It was okay but I don’t think I’ll be including it in my pack lunch when I’m back in the UK. After lunch we got to do some snorkelling a bit further off the coast of Isla Mujeres which was good fun.
This morning we headed into Cancun town to watch Mexico play South Korea in the world cup, we found a bar full of locals who all claimed to know one of Mexico’s players as he was from Cancun and we then got a brief run down of his whole career, including his year in the UK, where we had to pretend to have heard of him. But it was a lot of fun, we were all thrilled when Mexico won, we got several handshakes and thanks for supporting Mexico. We had a look around Market 28, which was mostly full of tourist gifts and then made our way back to the hotel, after a brief traffic jam due to celebrations in the street. We’re having a little siesta round the pool (in the shade mind, still recovering from sunburn) and then heading to another open air food market where we were assured locals will be celebrating the win tonight.
Update you all soon.
Lots of love,
Alice x
