dinsdag 28 augustus 2007

Sea turtels

Hey all,

Yesterday I had my last two dives. they where ocean ones. First dive we went down to 26m or for you US people who still use the outdated imperial system 81ft. A lot of current, but we saw some nice fishies... Not much special...

But then on the second dive of the morning we went to 20m and we saw tons of big sea turtels munching on coral or sponges... They really look big from up close and personal. The size of a small coffee table... We also saw two long muray eels... an ugly green colour... with big snapping jaws... I had the luminous idea of pulling ones tail, since he was lying under an arched rock and his tail was sticking out on the other side... But after thinking a few seconds I decided it propably wasn't a sound idea... They have viscious looking teeth... So I left it in peace... Must have thought... stupid tourists again... lol... For the rest we saw some shrimp, tiny lobsters, sea spiders, things with big needles sticking out ( can't remenber the name...), and tons of fish, all sizes and colours.

Well that's it for today... Bunny out...

zondag 26 augustus 2007

cave diving

Hey all,

Yesterday I went diving in a cenote. that's a limestone well. So it's more or less concidered a cave... It was just erie... far off... if you ever happen to end up in this area - it's the only area in the world that has cenote's - it's a must do.
The water was pretty cold compared to the ocean and the fact that you had rocks and levels all over was a bit overwhelming for the first dive, i did 2. It's hard getting a scence of direction, so more since there is no light. The chance of getting lost is pretty real so no diving aloud without a trained instructor who know's the cave. But there is also a line that leads out... If you can find it at the bottom. It's a light yellow, but due to the 'thermocline' - the layer between sweet and salt water at around 11meters distorts the view, like a haze on a highway when it's hot. But once you get bellow that line, it really is a line, you can see it clearly. It gets a lot warmer and the water gets clear once more.

The rest of the day we spend on the beach working on our tan...

michael

vrijdag 24 augustus 2007

Tulum and Cenote

Just a short message about what we did today... Pictures to follow later...

We went to snorkel in a cenote aka a big lime stone pit, some parts still covered, tunnels. Awesome... I got two cenote (cave) dives lined up for tomorow morning.

The rest of the day we spent in Tulum, some great Mayan ruins on a cliff over looking the sea... Magnificient... And the fun part is that all over the place there are iguana's. Ranging from small to absolutely big badass beasts... Better not pester/tease them... NOT... They eat chicken's so I figured they'll goble down a bunny aswell, so I tried to behave as much as I can for as long as I could... Euhm... That lasted like 10 minutes... But I didn't got eaten... They are pretty fast... Such a good life they have, getting fed by all the tourists who ignore the big signs forbidding them to do this and for the rest just lying in the sun backing...

Well I'm off again...

Bunny vs Dolphins

Yesterday we went to ''Swim with Dolphins''. We looked at all the places who offered it, but in the end it's all exactely the same big tourist rip off. same price, same program, etc, etc... But it was fun to do anyway's... And who can say he kissed madonna... lol... I can... Madonna was one of our dolphines name, the other dolphin was Ariel... She smelled a bit fishy, but I had garlic for lunch so that made up... lol...

It was fun to do, we where like 8 people in the water with the 2 dolphines doing foot pushes, back rides, rubs, etc, etc,... The only down side was that it started raining so it got pretty cold in the water. But hey it was only for like the last 15 minutes anyway.

Got to go... Got some other things lined up instead of sitting infront of a computer screen...

Back in Playa del Carmen

Back in Playa del Carmen. The huricane didn't wreck to much havoc. Here it was more like just a tropical storm then the real huricane impact, so I guess I had better stayed... Lol... But you never know. But anyway we drove 2.200km through mexico in 4 days so that's an interesting adventure. and I got to see tons of interesting and funny stuff and to top it all of I delivered the car more or less in the way I got it... Tires are a bit used after some emergency break's...

Here some fun episodes on the way back from Palenque.
Well first of all we still encountered these enormous speed bumps... You can't take them any faster then 10km/h and that's still pushing it. I took on at like 40... so at one point we where airborn... Funny afterwards but not the moment itself... But who puts speed bumps in the middle of the freaking highway!!!!!
At one point we where deviated from the highway cause of road works so we ended up in the jungle or something like it... That was interesting... we had to continously watch out for potholes, some the size of a bathtub... And the most funny part was that everyone just followed me... and I had no clue where I was driving... There are no signs what so ever, not even the name of the villages we drove through... But there aren't many roads so not to difficult and we ended up back on the highway like 25km from where we had left it. And we only needed 1,5 hours and 40km to do that ( This is what we figured ).
Then out of the blue in one of the tiny villages, if that's what you can call them, our entire coulum of cars (like 15 of them) got held up buy a group of local maffia... This being the kids from town who had blocked the road with a big rope streched across it. Tried to look angry to get passed... But that had little effect... So I just payed them the small change they asked, what's 10cent's anyway... But the Germans in the car behind us tried to give them a ball point pen... But they refused that and he had to let go of the pen and like 2 dollars... lol... So who are the savages here... lol... I think those kids made a killing that day cause of the deviation... Or maybe they staged, thinking back on that afterwards... Hmmmm...

Onlong the road we saw some huricane damage around the village of Chetumal, but it was less worse then expected by everyone, cause of the good preparation. So that's good news.

Well after driving 10 hours straight today, I'm pretty beat so I'm off to bed... Later...

dinsdag 21 augustus 2007

Panlenque



After a good and hearty breakfast we hit the road in a drizzle to head down to Palenque a good two hours more south and with some off the tourist track Mayan Ruins.

The two hours ended up being 3 hours in a pooring rain with another crazy ADO bus trying to pass me. This with trucks with 2 rigs comming from every where... Amazingly few cars... Hummm... But anyway ended up safe ans sound in Palenque en found a great comfy hotel with palm thatched roofs... Really cute... Lol...

Went to squeze in a super visit to the ruins in a light drizzle. But to do that we went to buy poncho's. It was a funny sight seeing us ruinning around the site in a yellow and a red poncho. Just like a commercial with a banana and a cherry.
But to say the least, the site was vast and in the jungle... Just to good to be true... and almost no other tourists... had the place to ourselfs. Pictures will follow, internet is to slow here.

Well of to bed now, am beat... Later...

Blocked in Ciudad del Carmen

On our escaped south we ended up visiting Ciudad del Carmen on the Gulf of Mexico... The most gorgous beaches and desolate stretches of land. Once in Cd del Carmen, we had some exquisit fish in a local tavern looking out on the beach, with nobody there... hmmmm...

But then... Trying to get back out on the highway to go further south was an adventure all by itself... Everyone was stocking up on gasoline - and of course my tank was almost empty aswell - out of fear for a shortage due to ''Dean''. So all the gas stations where crowded like an anthill and the roads leading to the station, where just a big jam. Chaos and mayhem all around. I managed to get in and out in under 12 minutes... Just cut in line... Pretending to be the stupid tourist ''Sorry, No hablo Espagnol''... Lol...

After fuelling up the real fun started, trying to get out of the center of town avoiding all the blocked roads due to the gas crisis (which there wasn't.. dooh). I took me a frustrating 60 minutes to find the bridge out of Cd del Carmen - which actually is an island reachable only by two bridges leading on and off - and in the process running some red lights... But who could figure the Mexicans put their red lights on the other side of the street high up... How can I know... Now I know why they were looking at me like...

After an exhilarating drive we ended up in Villahermosa, intersting city in the Tabasco region, and NO this is not where they invented the ''Tabasco'' sauce. That's actually in Louisiana or Tennesee. Now the big fun started, finding a hotel... Apperently more people had the same idea as me and did come south. so all was booked. But after calling and going from hotel to hotel. We maneged to find a nice room in the sweltering part of town. And the funny part is, the hotel ze ended up in we called before and they said they were full, but when we risked it in a last ditch effort they had rooms anyways... ???? Go figure...

So after an exciting day of roadraces with a bus, getting stuck and following mexican news broadcasts on the radio, sacking out in a coñfy bed with english spoken tv channels was like heaven...

What will the next day bring ??? Going more south...

Bunny chased by '' Dean '' (Huricane)

As you all will know by now there's a huricane on the path to Mexico, Yucatan area... As it happen just where I am... So as to avoid harm to the bunny we decided to get out of the path of ''Dean'' heading south doing a roadtrip through Yucatan. And we need to head south for like 10 hours or more to avoid ''Dean'' who is a class 5 or avoid ending up in Belize.

Mexican road rules : There are none... Not even for buses... I got overhauled on a rainy stretch doing 80 by a bus doing at least 90 km/h on a narrow highway, and that wasn't all, the bus overhauled 4 cars/trucks in one go... But this wasn't a one time occurence... I imagine all bus drivers here think they are Schumacher. Yesterday when driving down from Campeche to Ciudad del Carmen, I had a race going on between me and an ADO bus (ADO = 1st class busline)

To be honest driving in Mexico is loads of fun... No rules and all the speeding you can do... And if you get caught by a mexican traffic cop... Well ''propina'' is the word or bribe in common english. But trying to outrun a trafic cop, that's a big nono... They drive big supercharged V6, Dodge Chargers putting out 300+ BHp... That's just to cool in my book... In Belgium they just drive small Opel Corsa's (90 BHp) or the like... Go Mexico...

zondag 19 augustus 2007

Certified Diver Bunny !!!

Flipper watch out the bunny is now even certified to roam and hop around under water... Lol... I had my last two dives (2 times 35 minutes at 10m aka 33ft) and exam yesterday, passed with flying colours, 100% (Not that I wanne brag... Lol... Yes I do... Lol...) So I got my PADI Open Water License... Yihaa...
I still have one dive (Only needed 4 to complete my course instead of 5) I can use on this holliday, but I'll have to wait till huricane ''Dean'' passes. And I hope to do one 'Cenote' (cave) dive aswell.

This afternoon we're going to drive down south, make a stop in 'Chitzen Itza' on the way. This to avoid ''Dean'' who should touch land by tuesday morning here... And they expect it to be a class 5... Just for a reference ''Wilma'' was a class 4...

But for now... Going to the beach and work on my tan... Lol... especially now that I have my own swedish masseuse to put sunscreen on my back...Lol... ( Susie arrived yesterday afternoon...)

Well the sun is calling, mojito's and margarita's waiting...

Later...

zaterdag 18 augustus 2007

First official dive

Hey all, yesterday I had my first official dives in the ocean. First dive 35 minutes second 15 minutes at 12 meters. Fun, I saw tons of fish, blow fish, sea-spiders and a tiny lobster. Got sick on the boat though, but I guess I had to much cerveza the day before and to much greasy taco's...

I also went to the Blue Parrot bar... Gosh... So many cute people...

Another interesting note... We have an official huricane warning... They are boarding down everything... Hummmmm... It's supposed to arrive straight at the south of Cancun... Guess where I am??? But we'll see... It should arrive on monday... So if no news from the bunny after monday I'll probably be blown away... lol...

Well got to go, have my next pool session and ocean dives...

Bunny out

donderdag 16 augustus 2007

First day in Mexico

Hey you all, I survived my first day of dive course... So much fun, playing turtle in a pool waist deep... But hey the bunny is alowed to go diving in the sea already tomoroz, must meam that I'm doing something right... We're only 2 in the class, the other guy is a dutch guy... To funny...

But first things first. Yesterday was a long day: I left my bed at 5.30am and I got to bed at like 3 am taking in acount the diffference in time zone etc... And on the long leg of the trip (Paris to Miami) of course I had to sit in front of a screaming 5 year old that kept kicking my seat...
But then on the flight to Cancun I met 2 nice and cute french girls that we're going to Playa del Carmen as well. But they hadn't booked any hotel... So as the good samaritan I am... (Euhmmm...) I offered them to share my room... So now I have 2 french girls staying with me for the next 3 nights...

Well got to leave you kids, going to ''study'' a bit for my diving test tomorow... Going to put myself in the sun on the terace with a nice cerveça and watching some people...

(For all my single friends and some none single ones... This is the place to come to if you wanne see some gorgeous, skimpy clad girls from all over the globe... I wanne move here... lol...)

Bunny out

maandag 6 augustus 2007

9 days to Mexico

Only 9 more days left till I'm going to Mexico, yucatan area... Diving and site seeing... Cerveza's here I come... lol... Counting the days till I leave, the weather is no good here anyway, raining all the time... grrrrrrrrrr....