Join Thor and me as our Playa trip continues with snorkeling outside the reef at La Posa. Another Geezer Adventure.
NOTE: This blog series started Nov. 26 as we returned once more to Playa Sonrisa (Beach of Smiles), our special place not only because we celebrated our Luna de Miel (Honeymoon) there, but because it’s remote from tourist frenzy. There are miles of nearly deserted beach where we can just step over the sand and swim out to the reef for snorkeling among colorful fish.
Thor and I decided the calm sea conditions were perfect for renting a boat (and pilot) to swim across the cut in the barrier reef and snorkel the deeper waters at La Posa. We would join Jose, the boat owner, at the harbor in Xcalak, the fishing village near our inn of Playa Sonrisa. This is the main street, which we drove through on our way to Playa Sonrisa:
This is the rutted “Jungle Road” we take from Xcalak to Playa Sonrisa, driving very slowly. Depending on the year and rains, the road can vary from rutted to ruinously cavernous or partially flooded. It’s always lovely, with birds flitting from branch to branch and iguanas running across the road.
Our escape from the world in our “members’ room” and private deck at Playa Sonrisa. We had joined the “Club Sonrisa” some years ago, which gave us priority to reserve this apartment in its separate building, among other perks.
But back to Xcalak, where we joined Jose for our trip to the cut at La Posa:
It’s nice to snorkel in some deeper water and be able to dive down.
In this YouTube video Thor made, we swim through the gap in the reef to the outside, which in most conditions and tides would be too dangerous. Usually the rough sea breaking on the reef, along with currents funneling you out to sea, would not be a pleasant experience. La Posa offers a straight drop on the outside of the reef to a deeper canyon where often large tarpin shelter. We had seen them in the past, but not this time. The last bit of the video shows a barracuda.
We returned to the inside of the reef to motor to another, shallower site, where we noticed several of these round objects with what looked like a circular mouth on top (at top of photo). Murph, our friend who owns Playa Sonrisa along with his wife Cindy, explained that these were coral reef restoration attempts. Bits of live coral were inserted into the tops, and many started growing. In other areas, grids of plastic rods hosted live coral implants.
I felt a bond with these restorations, as my recent neurosurgery for a cervical discectomy and fusion utilized a titanium spacer to replace the disc, and some bone marrow aspirated from my hip was injected into the space. New bone should grow around the titanium spacer to stabilize the fused joint. I am now a bionic woman!
Another YouTube video as Thor snorkeled over the shallower reef and coral outcrops. We enjoyed drifting along with the school of blue tangs.
Gracias once more to our tropic paradise!
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
