After a delicious breakfast, most of us put on swimsuits, skins, and wet suits for our first snorkeling trip. We piled into the skiff and went to a nearby reef. The water is only 68 degrees, and when you first went in, it was amazingly cold and breathtaking. Fortunately, within a couple of minutes it was warm. I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of skins (zip up long john things) and wet suits in all sizes. You couldn't swim/snorkel in this water without one. We came back to the ship in about an hour, put our shorts back on, hung out, and enjoyed the scenery as we sailed. Some folks got into the hot tub, others had the first beer or margarita of the day.
Lunch was a yummy vegetarian Mexican soup and salad, followed by Key lime pie. We ordered our supper – choice of grouper or pork tenderloin and sailed for a couple of hours towards Isla Partida.
About 2:30, we took the skiff ashore to hike across the narrow island. The hike was mostly on flat land, and interesting because we had the trail lined with mangroves (saltwater plants) on one side and cacti on the other. Although the side of the island where we anchored was very sandy and flat, the opposite side was a rocky cliff overlooking the bay.
After a couple of hours, we returned to the ship for warm chocolate chip cookies. We cleaned up for the cocktail hour (hummus and fresh pita bread), followed by dinner. The fish was especially good, but the chocolate cake was the highlight of the meal (for me).
Photo Gallery from Isla Partida
The next day we swam with sea lions.
