Las Maritas

This morning we boarded a boat to take us to the Las Maritas Islands, about an hour boat ride away.
The crew was a little bit crazy and broke out into song and dance as entertainment. This was very unexpected on an Eco Tour. I wasn't sure if I should cheer or laugh, but they were pretty serious about their entertainment.

Las Maritas Islands used to be used by the Mexican Military as a bomb testing ground. One of the bombs created a hidden beach, that is only accessible through a cave. The Islands are now protected and uninhabited, but for those swimmers who think (key word "think." There were many tourists who had no business swimming in that current) they are strong enough, you can swim through the cave and onto the beach.

The tour guides had the swimming through the cave down to a science, but it was still imprecise. They only let 10 people go at a time because the cave is narrow. The tide while we were there was on the high side and there was probably only about 6 inches between our heads in the water and the rock. I saw two women, who thought they were strong enough swimmers, get worked in the waves and have to be dragged to shore. I also saw an older Abuela come to shore with a huge gash on her head. She was bleeding everywhere. This made me really thankful for the swimming lessons that I hated when I was a kid. Water safety is so important!

When I was safely standing on the hidden beach, I realized swimming in was the easy part. The current was sucking the water so far back that you couldn't see through the cave. I was really nervous to get stuck during a big swell. I didn't want to waist any time, so Syd and I volunteered to go in the first group. We made it past the first breakwater and then had to wait for a wave to pass with both sides of the cave blocked with water. We were in a little air pocket. As soon as we could see out the guides started yelling and waving their arms "rapido, rapido!!" I swam as fast as I could and was soooo happy to be in the clear and head back towards the boat.

Once everyone made it back safely (it took awhile, since we were first), we went to the next island over to snorkel. The water was really nice to swim in, but we saw more fish and had better visibility at Los Archos a few days ago. The coolest things we saw were a big eel, and Syd saw an octopus, but the most bizarre thing to see while snorkeling is people with their iPhones out in the middle of the ocean. They have all kinds of protective screens and water proof cases, but it just looks goofy seeing someone text while snorkeling. I should have taken a picture for the "shot on an iPhone" ad campaign going on on billboards in the states.

The trip took most of the day and when we got back to the hotel we were salty and wiped out! Both of us napped and now I am ready for some dinner.