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Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Club Oasis Akumal, 2000, Part 2b
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OUR AKUMAL ADVENTURE 2b
We finally got into swimsuits and went down to the beach about 2. No trouble getting a palapa, as there were not many people about. We snorkeled several times. We swam with a whole school of sergeant majors in what I came to refer to as Fish Group A. Apparently, many people feed the fish just in front of the Crab Bar, so the fish just kind of hang out there. We also saw doctorfish, surgeonfish, various wrasses, damselfish, and some big black spiny sea urchins. Both Steve and I also looked for shells, which we found in abundance. The first time I came out of the water I told Steve, “Honey, my vacation is complete. I just saw a slippery dick.” Now, before anyone gets all excited, that’s a type of wrasse that is ubiquitous in the Caribbean. Anyway, here we were in no more than 3 feet of water seeing an abundance of sealife and collecting some really neat shells, having an absolute blast!
There was another snorkeler doing as we were, hanging about in the shallows looking for shells. Steve had a rather lengthy conversation with him and came back to our palapa. He started to tell me that the fellow owned the condo below us and a light bulb went off in my head. This had been one of my three missions for this trip, to say hi to Bob from Lionel Prejean, who had e-mailed me before we left. I ran up to his patio and asked, “Do you know Lionel?” Well, of course, it WAS Bob!. We chatted a bit, and he asked if we’d heard the huge thunderstorm last night. Uh, no. Apparently it had rained cats and dogs with a great wind about 3 or 4 a.m. We never heard a thing.
We turned in our towels at 5 and sat watching the ocean some more. I never tire of that. I always take a book or magazine to read, but it never makes it to the beach. No matter where I am at the seashore, the ocean fascinates me. I can watch it for hours.
We went up to our room to get ready for dinner. A note: We never really got a hot shower at COA. It would start out fine and then, poof, no hot water. This was not the case for everyone we talked to, but it was somewhat annoying. We figured they had a really small water heater for that unit that did not recover quickly. I suppose we could have said something at the front desk, but for some reason we never got around to it.
On our way to dinner, we passed by the Crab Bar and gave Raul the pics from Sue and Norm. These were .jpg files I had run off on my color printer. Raul was delighted and put them in the storage room behind the bar for the rest of the fellows to look at. Mission #2 completed.
Dinner at Tucanes was seafood night. The pargo was delicious. It was a bit noisy and crowded, but again, the waiters were efficient.
We then wandered over to the Akumal Bar for the evening’s entertainment. The Akumal Bar was a refreshing change, since you can get your drinks in real glasses there. As it turned out, the entertainment was the same couple we had seen at lunch, Gabriella and Johnny Ross. On their break, they came and sat with us, and we chatted like old friends, which we soon came to be. Gaby is originally from Mexico City, Johnny from Dublin, Ireland. A mutual friend introduced them when they were both in Mexico City on separate gigs, and the rest, as they say, is history. Gaby said my Spanish pronunciation was very good, with only a trace of accent, which pleased me very much. We were to see them often over the next 2 weeks.
I must say that not only are Gaby and Johnny excellent singers and performers, they are absolutely amazing in switching from one language to another in an instant. They spoke English, Spanish, and German fluently, and I believe Italian as well.
I got to use my one Mayan word, maló, with Carlos, the bartender. I learned another one, “chuch” (sp?), meaning bat, because a bat flew through the lobby and bar! Brian, one of the “animation team,” told me a phrase that means “where are you going?” but I couldn’t remember it until later. (By the way, Brian is not Mayan. He’s a tall, handsome lad, whom, if he didn’t open his mouth, I would have mistaken for being Dutch. We found out later that his mother was indeed Dutch!)
After the entertainment, we got a couple of beers in plastic cups to take back to the room. We sat on the balcony a while, listening to the waves breaking over the reef and kissing the shore. With our wonderful first full day behind us, we settled into a deep, refreshing sleep.
Submitted by: D. Stevens -- dragon5@fullnet.net
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