Xcalak

So from the extremely basic living conditions in Mahahual to a little luxury.

John and Helen, two other expeditions members, and myself headed down to Xcalat. We stayed at the Flying Cloud Hotel, which was just amazing.

The rooms were spacious, clean and comfortable with a little kitchen and bathroom. The owners are lovely and could not have taken better care of us during out visit. After being confined with a basic veggie diet for such a long time the gift of cheese cake and a magnum ice cream was all to much and within 5 mins of eating it i passed out. Unfortunately it did not last long enough for a picture but it was delicious.

Back to the Leaky Palapa and they did not disappoint. The food was amazing, the service was brilliant and the wine was perfectly chilled.

On the Saturday they had a fishing competition, it was all very tense as fishermen carried enourmous dorado, grouper, baracuda and other fish up to the scales to be weighed.

The winners, on the left we have a barracuda and a snapper, then a dorado and Grouper and a Tarpon, i think.
The winning Grouper. Poor poor fish, but very tasky steamed with garlic and lemongrass!

Diving with XTC Divers we got out to the Atoll at Chinchurro. There is so much damage from the hurricane but it does not completely detract much from this amazing site. I hope that it recovers, it will take years if it can.

We saw two Nurse Shark a turtle and lots of other amazing fish and corals. There are some huge sponges there, many of them have been destroyed by the hurricane but there are still some good sized ones.

This shark came straight toward Helen and i, within about half a meter. I didn´t want to take the picture because it would have scared it off and we would have missed the moment, it was so cool!

This was the shark as it swam away.

Massive Tarpon, I took photos of these the first time we went to Xcalak but these are better because i can now use my camera properly! ( There is no photoshop on any of the underwater shots, it is all pure skill!)

Colpophyllia Natans one of the many corals that were ten times the size of the ones that we were surveying in Mahuhal. There is a tiny goby fish if you look closely.

There are lots and lots of amazing sponges, many different colours and sizes.

John and a sponge, just to highlight the size.

From Xcalak we took a short boat trip to Belize. It saved us a whole day of travel but felt totally illegal. We pulled into the port of San pedro and meanedered through the small streets to an immigration office. It was quick and easy and well worth the few extra dollars.

Helen, John and Sara on their trip through the mangroves to Belize.

So the next post will be from Belize and the trip to the Blue Hole, keep tuned in-

Love

Sara

xx

Weeks 4 and 5 in Mahuhal

There hasn´t been much happening because of a tropical storm moving in and we haven´t been able to dive much.

We did have a long weekend, which was much needed. Jo and i went to the nearest, biggest, town and checked into the most expensive hotel. Two double beds, big flat screen TV and cable, bathroom with running water and a pool outside the balcony door. A nice hot bath, Chinese,two bottles of wine, lots of chocolate and i felt like a new person!

After that we went to Xclat to meet up with Vicki and Heather, hoping to dive on the Atoll at Chinchuro. Unfortunately the weather was to bad so we dived locally, which was amazing. We saw about 300 Tarpon most of which were as big as me. The photos do not do them justice but if you look closely you will see Heathers fins in the backround. We dined luxuriously in the most amazing little restaurant. It is called Leaky Palapa. Incredible food, atmosphere and most importantly, WINE AND CHOCOLATE CAKE! If anyone finds themselves in Mexico it is well worth the trip to Xclat and the Leaky Palapa.

After the long weekend we got involved in a reef clean with the local people in Mahuhal. I didn´t actually manage to find any rubbish but it was a great dive, and nice to see it so clean.

We had another party night, jungle fever. Great night but a word of warning..... We went as jungle cat, wetsuits, tropical heat and alcohol are not a good combination for fancy dress.

Vicki, Sara and Andrea - Jungle cats

Sara, Andrea, Viv, Vicki and Jo

I am now a Rescue Diver. We finally completed the course, which was a lot of fun. Here are some photos of Vicki and i on our final rescue senario.

Had a very sad day last week. I was house sitting for one of the neighbours. This is a very exciting opportunity as they are American and even in the middle of nowhere they have managed to go totally over the top. Flat screen TV with Sky, Massive fridge and pantry stuffed full and a sofa!! Sadly one of their dogs was hit by a car by one of the other neighbours. We nursed the dog as much as we could but she later died. It was really very sad.

Enjoying the luxury of Steve´s house

I have found myself with a new skill. My friend Jo decided that she wanted to cut all her hair off! Trying desperatly to discourage her as she started to hack away with the scissors, i found myself styling away with a pair of scissors from the first aid kit, hmmmm..... Anyway, here is the after shot, there is a photo of her before the chop on the party pic.

Well that is about it, not very exciting. I have to say that i am looking forward to moving on to new countries now. Belize is next on the list and there appear to be a few people on the base that are heading that way to, the Blue Hole awaits.

Here are a few more pictures of the dolphins and the mating loggerhead turtles.

Here i am hard at it in the kitchen, trying to make chips for 25 people.

Hopefull off to snorkle with Whalesharks this weekend so should have some great photos if it all goes ahead.

lots of love

xx

Sara