Yesterday we had wanted to go to Cazumel, but we figured that the ferry wouldn't be running with the holiday and all. The wierd thing is that the 24th is when the Mexicans celebrate as opposed to the 25th. Today, everyone was out and busy, trying to make a buck. We caught the ferry to Cazumel at 10am and had made arrangements to go snorkeling at 11am. The ferry ride is about 30 minutes, and I recommend going with the company that has the yellow one (I can't remember what the name of the outfit was). I recommend it because you get to sit outside, as opposed to sitting inside a non-airconditioned cabin.

Once arriving in Cazumel, I was shocked at the devistation from the hurricane. Things are still a mess over there. In fact, I know the ferry and Cazumel only opened to tourists a few weeks ago and was closed at Thanksgiving. Anyways, we got off the ferry, grabbed a quick snack and met up with Alfredo (Freddy!) to go snorkeling. The boat we were on also had a glass bottom so if you didn't want to snorkel you could still enjoy the reef. we were going out with two other groups. One was a family of 4 from Virginia who were extremely nice. The other two were from Europe and were on their honey moon. Mom and Andy decided not to go snorkeling, but I was all for it. Unfortunately, the mask I got was apparently not tight enough and I got a lot of salt water on our first outing.

Freddy's plan was to take us to 2 different reefs, but after the first one, I didn't feel so well from all the salt water I "drank". The water was extremely warm; beautiful colors, it was amazing. Some of the other people we were with got stung by jelly fish, and I saw a few. I fortunately did not get stung, although it wouldn't have been too bad since they were pretty small. The coolest thing I saw was a ray, it looked like it was flying, literally. They are such awesome creatures, and their movements are so fluid. Freddy decided that since it was Christmas he would "break the rules" and take us to a third reef for no charge, which was very nice of him.

The most disappointing thing with the snorkeling however was the lack of coral, fish and well... everything. Unfortunately, the hurricane devistated most of the reefs, washing most of it away. One of the guys on with us had snorkeled in Cazumel about 10 years ago and he said this was like a desert in comparison; it's a shame. For anyone going to this area just for the diving or snorkeling, prepare to be disappointed. While it is beautiful, I wouldn't plan a trip out here for that reason, at least not for a few years. I guess it will take about 20-30 years though before the reefs are back to the way they were before the hurricane, which is sad.

Since most of Cazumel is closed and being rebuilt, there was not much to do. We decided to head back over to the main land. We had the misfortune of not catching the yellow ferry, so we were stuck in the sardine can, ugh. By the time we docked in Playa again, I felt like I was going to get sick. Perhaps I shouldn't have had a few beers before we left! That or they could have actually had some air in that thing, oh well. We decided to pick up some more gifts for the few people that we had left to buy things for and then to dinner. While we were out and about, we met a guy named Noe who owns a nice little shop. We asked him about getting to Tulum, since we wanted to get the opinion of a local, and not someone trying to sell us something. He told us the Ado (bus) or the Collectivo was the best and cheapest way to go. Upon leaving Noe, we went back to Don Emilliones at my request which used to be an Italiano restruante, but is now all Mexican food. It is one of my favorite places to eat and the margaritas are very good.

After dinner we made a few calls at an internet cafe across from Ado (bus station) on Juarez between 5th Street and 10th Street (cheapest place I've found to make an international call). Then we headed home early to drink the bottle of tequilla we had since we can't take an open bottle back to the states with us. Hopefully tomorrow we won't be too hung over so we can get up early.