Cruise Day 3: Calica, Mexico

Today we arrived in Calica, Mexico and David and I went on our first excursion on this cruise.

It was called ATV, Cavern, and Snorkel.  It was incredible! 

It started by taking a short bus ride to a small haciendia.

There we were provided with an ATV, bandana, helmet, and goggles. 

This was a serious expedition!

And we were off down the trails.  It was immediately apparent what purpose the bandanas served.

That ride was rough!  I jiggled and jostled in places I didn't know could jiggle or jostle.  I almost fell off a couple of times.  And there was once that I thought I was going to flip.  It's doubly hard driving an ATV on those rocky paths and video taping at the same time. 

David looks really tough doesn't he?  Almost like a bandit!

Soon we arrived at some caverns.

And we went exploring.

There were some really tight spots in those caves.

And bats!  But they were just fruit bats.

I'm glad we had our helmets on.  I knocked my noggin more than once on the ceiling.

This was our exit.

Then we hiked back to our ATVs and continued on.

Our next stop was this cenote (see-NO-tay).

It was quite stunning.

And oh so refreshing.  Yes, we hopped right in without a second thought.  It was hot outside!

In this part of Mexico, all the rivers are underground.  This is where the stream entered the pool.

You'd never guess that 10 feet below there was a little cave with fresh water rushing in.  We asked our guide if you could swim up it and he said no.  He tried it before and almost drowned because there are no air pockets to be found.

The cenote was quite large and so serene. 

Like a little piece of hidden paradise.

It was one of my favorite parts of the excursion.

After a while, we dried off and headed back to our ATVs.

Then we rode to a sparkling beach.

See the bubbling water?  That's another underground river feeding into the ocean.  We snorkeled the whole cove area.  All around the water is salty but around the bubbles was pure fresh water.  It was the neatest thing.  David and I forced our heads down to see what it looked like and it was like a deep, dark tunnel.  I've never seen anything like it.

The whole beach area was gorgeous.

Like a picture from a postcard.  We snorkeled for a really long time.  And swam the entire cove.  It was exhausting, but exhilirating as well.  We saw some amazing fish.  A sting ray as big as David.  Angel fish in abundance.  A baracuda.  A box fish - I only know it was a box fish because, well, it looked like a box.  And my friend Cas used to have one in his aquarium.  We saw so many other amazingly colorful and interesting fish that I'm sorry I don't know what to call them.  It was one of the best snorkeling adventures we've been on.

Afterwards, we were pretty tired. 

But we hopped back onto the ATVs to head back to the hacienda.  And our bus.  Along the way we saw this coconut tree.

It's a pretty famous tree.  Do you recognize it?

It's been used in two different Corona commercials.  It looks just like a postcard.  Or a commercial.

Then we headed back to the cruise port.

There were vendors and shops all along the port.

But we didn't buy anything.

We headed back to the ship and ate some sushi.

And watched the sun set.   We had an awesome day.  Our excursion was intense, exhilirating, and unlike anything we'd ever done before.  And I would do it again in an instant.  I loved every moment of it.