Akumal: Snorkeling with the Turtles

On Wednesday, the hubs and I took my brother on his first Mexican bus ride to Akumal.  The "bus" is really a small van called the Collectivo.  After a short, but crowded ride, we arrived a short walk from Akumal beach.  Patrick had never seen manta rays and sea turtles in the wild, so he was pretty excited to get started.  After a quick lunch, and waiting the recommended 30 minutes before snorkeling, we headed to the water.  Right away we saw tortugas.  We snorkeled for about 2 hours, and decided to take a break, get a snack, and a drink.  We rested, reapplied sunscreen, and headed back out.  This time we saw at least 7 tortugas and 5 manta rayas.  AND... we have the photos to prove it!

Big turtle

Fishies getting a ride from the turtle, AND something else too...

He was HUGE!

Jade getting in close.  The turtles were really relaxed and let us get super close to them.

Patrick swimming down to see the turtles.

Fun times in the water.

The boys had a great time playing.  The photographer (me) is always behind the camera.

Manta rayas!  These manta rays were really fast.  We tried for a photo shoot with these guys, but they were shy.

Patrick got in close!

And so did Jade!

Self-portrait

More manta rays

My brother needs to eat a cookie!

Baby sea turtle

He was so cute!

The baby and his family!

After this little trip, Patrick was excited to get started on his diving.  Yesterday, he began his book work, and hopefully, next week he will be ready to get in the water.  What a little dare devil!