Rio Secreto Tour. A River With A Secret.

One of the many things I wanted to do on my recent trip to Mexico was to swim in fresh water caves and cenotes. I knew of one company, Rio Secreto, that was known for their awesome tours of an underwater river. It was something new and something that probably wouldn't even be allowed to run in the United States. So I had to do it.

The tour started out with a 20 min bumpy and deathly hot van ride into the jungle. Once at the destination, you had to shower to rinse off any chemicals and oils that may damage the delicate cave once inside. Then we were suited up with water shoes, wetsuite, life vest, helmet and head lamp. Before the tour had started they asked if anyone was claustrophobic. I didn't realize what that meant exactly till I was fully in my wetsuite, life jacket and helmet and walking for 10 minutes through the hot jungle sweating my balls off and not able to take a deep breath for the life of me. My boobs and butt weren't even able to breathe! Now if you know me, I'm a creature of comfort to the 10th degree! This whole situation so far spelt trouble......and that I could never be a scuba diver.

Halfway through the jungle walk we stopped to get a blessing from a Mayan priest. It's Mayan tradition to ask permission before entering the cave, a cave that holds a portion of Mexico's drinking water. Imagine the importance of not upsetting mother earth. He chanted his prayers at the alter and then drifted the holy smoke on all of us with a feather. We were free to go in. I hate to use the word surreal but I think the word is fitting for what I'm about to experience.

Finally the entrance to the cave was in sight and all I wanted was in and to not think about my tight body hugging suite. The one big rule for all those on the tour was to NOT touch a single thing. But what they didn't tell you was how impossible that was. The floors were uneven and the only light you had was a tiny lamp on your helmet to see. So of course, on entering the cave we all touched the walls in order to not kill ourselves. And then inside I had one of those "I'm falling and I can't get up" moments and my legs got all kinds of limestone scratched. But it was just a scratch and I took it as a nice little souvenir to take home.

Besides the extremely funny gay guy in our group that thought his wet suite made him look fat, the best part of the whole tour was swimming in the clear blue freezing water and just bobbing up and down like ducks in life vests in it's depths. The cave was beautiful and we were miles underground swimming in it. The whole southern peninsula of Mexico is one giant layer of limestone and when it rains, the thin soil soaks it up and then lets it trickle into the caves below making for a symphony underground of water droplets. After years of this, stalactites and stalagmites are created and the water drops look like diamonds on the surface. When we were there it hadn't rained for a while so the water was lower and it was much quieter. We all sat in a semi circle, turned off our headlamps and sat in the most defining silence I've ever heard.

And of course, a tour in Mexico wouldn't be a tour in Mexico without a shot of tequila to warm us all up at the end. The tour lived up to it's name. Do I dare say surreal? Yes, I think I can.

(Photos 2 & 3 from Rio Secreto Facebook)

Las Marietas Islands Puerto Vallarta - Part 1

Here is a little photo essay of our gringo outing. I was thinking about doing some zip line adventures but I knew my back probably wouldn't handle it well. But on the other hand, I had gifted two of my good friends with entire snorkel sets for taking the time and money to come down to Puerto Vallarta, México. So I figured we need to put that equipment to use. Plus, what's a vacation to México without any ocean/beach activities?! So we started at the PV Marina and found a fisherman that was willing to take us out on his boat, feed us beer and let us use his equipment. There was no way this trip was going to be bad.

It was about 9 am and the beer was out. The party started early. We drank and drank on the 45 min boat ride before we hit our destination - Las Marietas Islands. Snorkeling and beer probably wasn't a good combo but who cares. After a short boat tour through some small caves, high waves and other small island, we jumped out into the cool blue waters. We had 4 people on this trip that had never snorkeled. One of them (Nicole) had never even seen the ocean! Nicole was the first to jump out of the boat and we all turned to hear screams of pure excitement.

After the trip was all said and done, we did some fishing on the way back to the mainland. Now, what I didn't come prepared for was the motion sickness. The boat had slowed way down and was weaving around so the fishing activities could be had. This was the one trip I actually thought I was really really going to have actualy barf. It literally was in my throat. Usually I could keep the feeling down in my stomach or just my head but this time I was hanging over the edge of the boat. The group finally felt sorry for me and decided to go home. Sorry Erika, no banana ride.

All together the trip was about $300 and that was a bargain! Trips likes these (with all that we were promised) usually cost around $800 - $1,000 All that for so little. It was amazing and topped everyones charts. My dad even got to do his dream fishing and caught a Mahi Mahi. We were all so pleased with the whole thing - even the boat caption (he kept the Mahi Mahi for a BBQ that night).

Next post about this trip- the hidden beach.
Read more on Las Marietas Islands Puerto Vallarta - Part 2

Photos by me.

Christmas At Tulum- Part 1

What better way to spend Christmas day then at one of the best beaches in Mexico. First thing we did, jumped on a boat to snorkel in front of the Tulum ruins. Snorkeling has quickly became J and I's favorite past-time.

Tips for Snorkeling at Tulum:

1. Bring your own gear if at all possible. The boat captions that take you out on their boats are not at all professional and only have a "take what fits and works" selection of snorkel gear on their boat. Plus, it could be your excuse to bargain and pay less.

2. Go on a day that isn't cloudy. Cloudy days make for cloudy water. Also bring a solution to apply to your mask so that it won't fog up and add to the mess.

3. Go ahead and bring the alcohol! Like I said, these boat caption are not professional and I'm sure will say "hell yeah" if you give them a taste of that sweet nectar.

4. Have a swim buddy. It's very easy to get disoriented as you're busy having that starring contest with that odd creature below the surface.

5. If you find yourself not seeing a whole lot of sea life in an area, go to a totally different area. Don't feel like you have to stay where you were dropped off. Tulum did have some less populated areas but other areas were awesome and included fish and coral of all shapes, colors and sizes. Just keep an eye out for other boats on the move.

6. Price wise - don't buy tickets at the entrance of Tulum. The person there will say a snorkel trip costs 600 pesos (approx $46) and if you are Mexican, 300 pesos. Instead, if you are comfortable, go straight to the snorkeling booth on the beach and make them a deal. We have gotten as low as 150 - 100 pesos ($11/$7)! Thats what I call a deal for a 2 hour trip.

Other snorkel trips: Belize, Las Marietas Islands 1, Las Marietas Islands 2, 

Changa! Fun Saver.

Now I have always been kinda leery of any type of water sport. Not sure why. Maybe it's the fear of really deep water, drowning, or maybe the creepy crawlers under my feet. Shoot I get kinda nervous swimming at the YMCA. But we were in Belize, the country with the 2nd largest barrier reef! (Australia is the first) I had to do it. I don't even think we planned on this. We were winging our entire trip.


We had stopped by a dive shop the day before and were told to come back at 9 am. We did exactly that and there was no one there! We had to talk to a guy working on the dock gas station for information. The whole thing was shady. But the gas station boy said "just go next door, they are alot better." So we hopped one dock south to Amigos del Mar. They were perfectly fine with us not having a reservation. We paid about $40 each and were fitted with fins. Right away we were boating off into the bright blue and green waters of Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley.

We boated out to our location and were told that the Coast Guard was out counting people on boats and guess what, we had too many people on our boat. Thank goodness I volunteered us to go to another boat. Turns out there were some British chicks on our 1st boat that were dissing on Americans and how rude they are. Ha well then. And on top of that, our new boat had the coolest tour guide - Changa Paz.

Compared to the other tour guide, this guy had tons of personality and seemed to absolutely love his job. Who wouldn't love swimming in the Caribbean everyday and showing off your country? As I slowly put my hair up, stripped down to my swimsuit, strapped on my camera, waddled over to the edge of the boat and looked down into the water - I decided to throw out any fear and jump in. My sister and I were always the ones in the group to do everything first. We were with a group of a few ladies that were more pansies than us.

We were warned to not touch any coral or even flick our flippers near any. Now thats hard to do when your have to adjust things like your MacGyver rigged face gear and hair thats always in your face. The first half of the tour was rough. I constantly had others fins and goosebumpped butts in my face. That and I hadn't gottin used to things, I was hyperventilating and my back was spazzing out and I thought "dang, I'm not going to last till the end." Then Changa came up to me and asked "you ok?" And I said "dude, my backs tired!" He replied "ohhh....just chill. Lay flat, keep your head in the water, and chill man." Andrea agreed b/c she was apparently chillin already.


I finally got the hang of it and it was awesome. Once you got into deeper waters it was much easier and you didn't have to worry about hitting precious coral. From that point on Changa decided to keep a close eye on Andrea and I and always made sure we were having fun. As we got closer to the barrier reef we swam into the deep deep canal. It was relaxing and you just floated and viewed the amazing activities underneath. Including fish bitting some chicks and them freaking out and Changa almost getting his fingers bit off by an eel. Then the large waves started to hit and I was then swallowing tons of water and Andrea was feeling the hardcore rip tide.

After that we headed off to Shark Rey Alley. It was too early in the morning so the sharks weren't there. Sharks? No thank you! Changa knew of a cooler spot that had a ton of Stingrays and a large Sea Turtle. That rocked.

Changa then started talking to us wanting to know what we had planned for tomorrow and that he would love to take us on another trip and we could all hang and not have to drag along pansies. As he put it, "I can't handle those crazy girls." Sounded like a great deal till he also wanted to show us around all the clubs that night. Andrea wasn't listening so I didn't have her to help me think of a reply. I think he even asked us to meet him at the dock that night at 6:30. His accent was too strong so I wasn't for sure what he said. I just said "we'll see" and did the thumps up thing.

He then dropped us back off at our first boat with the mean British girls and as he sped away he yelled "6:30! Be there!" Later Andrea and I were wishing we took him up on his deal. We were wanting to snorkel again so bad and he seemed like a cool cat. But you never know with two girls traveling alone, didn't want to chance it.

Changa, next time we're callin ya up!