Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Club Oasis Akumal, 5/14-24/01, Part 2

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CLUB OASIS AKUMAL, 5/14-24/01, Part 2

Day 2, 5/15/01

I popped out of bed at 6:11 a.m. and sat on our balcony to update my notes and watch the sunrise. It was absolutely gorgeous. I treasure these quiet moments in the morning when it is just me and the beach and the ocean. I waved at one of the ever-present security guys and got a nice smile in return.

I went down for a little walkabout along the shore--the water felt soooo good. A little after 7 I got a cup of coffee to go from Francisco in the Tucanes Restaurant. I also grabbed one of those little quesadillas I nearly turned into last year, and sat on the ledge by the restaurant to watch the place wake up.

I see a familiar figure walking down the beach, and, sure enough, it’s Jorge, our fishing guide. I hollered out to him and he came running over, big smile and firm handshake. I told him Steve and Lionel would probably want to go fishing Thursday, which was fine with him.

When I returned to the room, Steve was up and ready for breakfast. I grabbed the photos I had brought for Jorge (he keeps a rather impressive photo album of his various fishing trips), and we went to give them to him and talked briefly. Yes, Thursday fishing. Had breakfast in the Tucanes Restaurant—omelet, moletas (toasted bread with beans and cheese), and bacon (a little more done than last year, but still not that great; I think they cure it differently down there).

Then ensued what was pretty much a routine for the entire trip. We had put our towels on “our” lounges, right next to the condo pool, on the way to breakfast. After changing and grabbing our air mattresses, we took our stuff down. I got our resort towels and deposited the air mattresses with the activities guys for them to blow up, then we snorkeled some, drank some beer, snorkeled some more, relaxed. We saw “the usual suspects” snorkeling—various wrasse, sergeant majors, night sergeants, gray snapper, etc. I even saw a fairy basslet and a shy hamlet. It is amazing how many fish you can see very close to shore and in shallow water.

At some point I retrieved the mattresses and had one heck of a time giving the guys $5 for their effort. I finally managed to get them to accept the money and we installed ourselves much more comfortably (those plastic lounges are killers!).

Steve was still in the water when I went off at 11 to see Ana, the tour rep, about our return. She was a pleasant girl, informing me of the various tours. Our pickup was scheduled for noon on the 24th, and she said if there was any change, we would be notified. I cashed a $20 Travelers Cheque at the front desk—the exchange rate was not great, 8.95 (it fluctuated between that and 8.50 the rest of the time). I gave Lies her photo Tom had sent me, and a couple to the activities guys. When I returned to our lounges, Steve was taking a little snooze. He didn’t even realize I’d been gone an hour!

For lunch, Steve had a steak. I just ate an avocado and some delicious vanilla ice cream, not being very hungry because of the rather big breakfast. We filled up our big mugs again and digested, snorkeled, relaxed. Is there a pattern here? At one point, a 3-1/2 foot Nassau grouper cruised past me, twice! Of course, I didn’t have the camera. I never snorkeled without it again and, naturally, never saw the grouper again either.

A big dark cloud came up about 3:30, and we thought it might rain. However, it never did. In fact, it didn’t rain the whole time we were there. Cozumel, which is out of sight just over the horizon, got rain several times.

Eventually, we went to clean up for the evening. I actually had warm water all the way through my shower, which was a delightful change from last year. We hung out at the Akumal Bar with Lionel and Shirley and Spencer and Candi, then went to dinner. I found a tasty toasted bread thing with beans and cheese (I think), not the same as the moletas. Everyone enjoyed their dinner. (Note: While Steve was still not impressed with the food, I actually thought it was better than last year.)

Off to the Akumal Bar (pattern?) for the evening entertainment. It was Caribbean night, with a troupe of quite talented and energetic dancers, whom I believe we saw last year. Steve went off to bed about 9:30 and I stayed and chatted with the gang. When they left, I was just going to finish my drink and retire also, but Daniel, one of the activities guys, came over and we chatted for some time in a mixture of Spanish and English. I finally got to our room about 11, finished a beer and watched the hermit crabs from the balcony, and went to bed.

Day 3, 5/16/01

I got up at 5 a.m., not having slept well from about 1 a.m. on. My elbows hurt (touch of arthritis?) and my side was bothering me (I believe from a severely pulled muscle or a cracked rib from all our dead tree felling and burning activities prior to the trip). So finally I just got up and sat on the balcony. It was lovely and quiet out there, just a slight breeze and the sound of the surf rolling over the reef and kissing the beach. Between 5:30 and 6, I took a series of sunrise pics, then caught up my notes again.

I went walkabout again, down to the end of the pier to see if I could see some fish, then back south along the beach to the start of the next massive series of hotels. The beach really sucks there, rocky along the water’s edge and much more wave action. I took a photo of a dead doctorfish I saw on the beach, then walked back to get a cup of coffee from Francisco and sit on our lounges.

I had no sooner sat down than Steve appeared. He went back to the room to get the video camera and taped all up and down the beach, including all the crab tracks from the previous night. For breakfast, I had another couple of those tasty quesadillas, a banana, and some delicious strawberry yogurt. Steve just had a couple of fried eggs, which the cook had overcooked. I told Steve I would get his eggs for him the rest of our stay, which I did, and was much more successful at since I could say “dos huevos fritos, por favor.”

We spent the morning on the beach, relaxing, drinking beer, and snorkeling (the “routine”). I went to get cleaned up around 2 p.m. for the Lol Ha party. Steve opted to stay a “water baby,” he was enjoying his snorkeling so much.

So, the five of us, Lionel and Shirley, Spencer and Candi, and me, went to the lobby to get a cab. They didn’t want more than four people in the cab, but the security guy managed to find us a station wagon that would take all of us. I sat in the front; Lionel, Shirley, and Candi sat in the back seat; and we folded Spencer up in the rear (he’s rather tall!). Off we went to take our goodies to Hekab Be Library in Akumal. Once again, we missed seeing Brenda, who had had to go to Playa for some reason. We dropped off the donations, signed the guest book, and took pics of some of the kids, who were very engaging.

We then moseyed over to the Super Chomak, where I got a battery for Steve’s camera and three T-shirts for the neighbors at home. After that, it was the bar at Lol Ha and the first ever Los Gringos Oasis Akumal annual meeting and Kazoo Band performance, led by El Wazoo Grande (i.e., Lionel). We met Kay from the LocoGringo board (Gary unfortunately could not make it), and Lionel gave her a kazoo to join in.

We all ordered libations (I had four, count them, four Bohemias) and some chips and salsa. The salsa was made with Chapotle chilies and was darn hot! I ended up salving my tongue with some butter. On our kazoos, much to the amusement of other customers and the wait staff, we performed stirring renditions of “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Jambalaya,” “Oklahoma,” Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (my solo), and various other tunes. We then spilled somewhat uncoordinatedly into a cab, whose driver didn’t seem to mind there were five of us, for the return to COA.

We all had dinner (what, I forget--I wonder why?) and I had another great dessert, chocolate again, but not the same as the other night. Off to the Akumal Bar, where the entertainment was a Cuban group. The lead guitar and drummer were excellent, and the lady had a very good voice. The only objection we had to them was that they didn’t end their tunes soon enough, just kept on and on and on. I gave them the photo (from Tom) of their little boy, and they were most appreciative.

Steve and I went off to bed early. He was rather annoyed with me because I was feeling no pain whatsoever. That was until about 2 a.m., when my side started hurting like hell and caused me a couple of sleepless hours. The aspirin finally kicked in and I slept for a while.

Submitted by: D. Stevens -- dragon5@fullnet.net
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