An Unexpected Excursion

Since our trip has not costed as much as our professors anticipated, we were left with a chunk of change that our professors decided to use to take us on another excursion yesterday (Sunday). I had no idea what we were suppose to be doing because I had been on my trip to the Blue Hole the entire day before. All I knew was that we needed to be at the dock by 8:45am.

Aboard the SEAduced I

We got picked up by the SEAduced I around 9. We met our 3 guides, Luis, Rafa, and the last one I can't remember his name and finally got an idea of what we would be doing. We were going to two snorkel spots and going up to the most northern part of the island (about 45 minutes from Mexico) where the reef actually runs into the beach and having a BBQ.







First, we had to go down to the dive shop so everyone could get their gear. Then we rode for about 20 minutes until we got to our first snorkel spot. Honestly, I wasn't too excited. Don't get me wrong, I love snorkeling, but I knew nothing could even begin to compare to what I saw the day before. We snorkeled around for about 40 minutes. The coral was actually pretty cool. I saw some kinds that I hadn't seen before. I saw 5 sting rays and a bunch of fish. I also saw this really crazy looking fish that I hadn't seen before. It looked kind of like a puffer fish, except he was colored with a weird honey comb mixed with leopard spots and had a round mouth and two protruding horn things over his eyes. When I got back on the boat and started describing him, Luis told me that he was called a trunk fish.

Kelli and her pineapple she carried from the boat

Then we rode all the way up to the northern most part of the island. It took us a while to get there, especially since the last 20 minutes we had to go super slow and weave through all of the coral. We got there around 11. There was no dock. Luis anchored our boat about 50 feet from the shore and we had to carry our stuff to the beach.

Our guides brought a volleyball and a net that we set up and a bunch of us started playing. It was a lot of fun and a great way to pass the time in the sun while we waited for our lunch to be cooked. Luis warned us that it was going to take a while because everything was being cooked from scratch. After about an hour of volleyball, Lisa, Julia, and I went exploring. We found a sweet tree house and hung out up there for a while. Then Luis brought out some fishing poles. We walked out in the water near where our boat was anchored and fished for bone fish. We used conch for bait. Everyone who tried caught a fish! I caught a big one!

Lisa and Julia going up to the tree house

Hammock in the tree house

Julia, me, and Lisa in the tree house

Lunch in the tree house!

Me with my bone fish!

The buffet

Not long after I caught my fish, lunch was ready. We had curried rice, chicken curry, fish curry, potatoes, pasta salad, grilled plantains, and tortillas. Everything was fantastic. Most of us ate together up in the tree house.

After lunch, we hung out some more on the beach and went for a swim. Then Kelli and Taylor got us all together to play a game called straddle ball. It was so much fun. I really love when all of us get together. It's been hard to do things together on the island since we are such a big group. I had a really good time and was sad when Rafa told us it was time to go.

On the way back, we stopped at one more spot to snorkel. We did a drift snorkel. The boat dropped us off at one spot and we rode the current to another spot where the boat met us and picked us up. It was another fun snorkel. I saw some lobsters and lots of pretty fish. The current was super strong though, I was exhausted by the time I made it back on the boat.

We got back to the dock around 5. What perfect end to an amazing weekend: snorkeling, a BBQ on the beach, and lots of fun in the sun with all of my friends. I can't believe I will be leaving San Pedro in one week.....