Mayan Riviera (Moon Palace Adventure)

I'll begin the snorkelling tales in Mexico as that is where the adventures started. Our very first venture to the Caribbean took us to Moon Palace just south of Cancun. They had just opened their second stage (massive now). The hotel was beautiful but the one thing it lacked off its beautiful beach was good snorkelling. Yes you could go down to the dock and see some fish there but more was wanted. At this time I wasn't really interested. All I could think about was meeting sharks and Ian kept trying to reassure me that that wasn't about to happen. I was convinced to go on a snorkelling tour. A boat took us to a snorkelling site which turned out to be a barge just off what might have been the Club Med Resort. We were taken on a tour following a rope. Although there were fish to see Ian wanted more. The snorkel leader offered another tour for experienced snorkellers out in the deep water. Ian, much to my surprise included us both in the tour. (It turned out I wasn't the only inexperienced snorkeller and her fear made me feel much more confident. Our guide was able to take us to see bigger fish and sea creatures.

Brittle Star

A few days later Ian went snorkelling at the dock and I walked along the beach. I spotted something thrashing around in the shallow water just a few feet away as did a couple of other people. One man, next to me began to film the scene (he was trying to film his son on a windsurfing board) and advised me that it was a shark. This information was relayed to the shore crew who at first thought it could not be a shark. Seconds later the crew were all out on jet skis plucking people off of sail boats and windsurf boards leaving the equipment behind. One fellow was trying to drive the shark off with his machine. They were taking the shark sighting seriously. So was I. My fear now was that Ian was in the water with the shark. As it turned out Ian did not get in the water before someone on the dock also spotted the shark. Protocol kept the beach off limits for three days! And Ian could no longer reassure me that I wouldn't see a shark while snorkelling.