Ixtapa: Tuesday/Wednesday

Peter and I had arranged to meet at 9:30 for some breakfast before heading off to try out the sailing. Even though there was barely any wind we decided to give it a try. At first we just sat there with the sail limp, so I hopped off and pushed the catermaran out beyond a rocky point. We caught a bit of a breeze at that point, but for the next 40 minutes it was a case of trying to find a breeze that would take us anywhere! We decided to head back in and try again later in the day if the wind picked up.

We met back up with Heidi and Raymie. All the kids were at the club, and Heidi and I discovered we were dog tired, so we decided to have a siesta... very decadent, seeing as it was only noon! If you had to sleep on these rock-hard matresses, you'd need the extra rest too.

We woke up in time to grab the last of the lunch, and then grabbed Tasha and headed back down to the beach for some more sailing. The wind had picked up considerably, so after a short wait for a boat to come back in we headed out quickly into the bay.

Much better this time! The breeze had grown considerably, and there was no problem getting going in any direction we wanted, and turns were much easier as the sail whipped around quickly. Tasha's first time on a sailboat: "I loved it!"

Mexican theme at dinner tonight: Lots of fajitas, echiladas, refried beans, mexican rice, and especially churros, a sugared deep-fried pastry.

Heidi and Raymie stayed up late partying a la piña colada, while the guys sacked out early.

Wednesday

Today we seemed to be running about 30 minutes late for everything: a rush to catch breakfast before it ended, and the same for lunch. We spent most of the morning at the beach: playing in the ocean, relaxing on the sand. Tasha seems to really enjoy jumping over the waves, and is fascinated by the way the waves "come out of nowhere".


We'd been eyeing the banana boat for a few days, and decided to try it out:


...it was a lot of fun: not too scary, but still a bit bouncy, particularly when you cross over a speedboat's wake. After the banana boat, I had another spin on the jetski while Heidi and Tasha went back to the room. I'm glad Heidi didn't see what I was getting up to on the jetski. On one jump I must have got at least 10 feet in the air: I counted to three before hitting the water again :-D


After another enormous lunch, we hopped in a taxi for an excursion that we had booked: swimming with dolphins. There's a large aquarium right in the heart of Ixtapa that seems to exist solely for giving tourists the opportunity to spend some time in the water with some playful and friendly dolphins.

Having Tasha along meant that we couldn't do the more adventurous things such as hitching a ride on a dorsal fin, but we still had a really great time:



Ironically, once you're in the water with the dolphins, you don't get nearly as good a view of them as when you're standing on the side of the pool: they're designed to be camoflaged, and when you've only got your head above the water all you can see are reflections, until a long nose lifts up out of the water and slips past you. As they glide past, they were happy to let you stroke their stomachs or gently feel their fins.

We were in a tank with a mother and her two-year-old baby; they were both extremely comfortable with people, even nudging us out of the way if the wanted to get between us. They were very gentle, barely moving their tails as the slipped through the crowd of people floating in their tank, but you could tell that even the baby was very strong and could easily break your leg with its tail if it wanted to.

The combination of all the people, a very deep pool, and some vigorous dolphins squeaking and surfacing unexpectedly was too much for Tasha: she clung to us and was very reluctant to get anywhere near them. "Too big!" She did touch them a few times as they slid past, but after a couple of minutes of terror she needed to get out of the tank.

I can sympathize: I've heard the phrase "being in another animal's domain", but it wasn't until I was in the water with the dolphins that I truly understood what it meant. We were virtually helpless as the dolphins played with us. A sobering thought when you realize that there are other animals equally at home in the water as dolphins but not nearly as benign. Specifically: if a shark wants you, there's nothing you can do about it and you won't see it coming.

Dinner tonight was fittingly a seafood theme: octopus salad, tilapia, mahi mahi, etc. Tomorrow we've got planned another excursion involving animals that are even bigger, but for now I'll leave you with another Mexican sunset.