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Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Club Oasis Akumal, 5/14-24/01, Part 3
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CLUB OASIS AKUMAL, 5/14-24/01, Part 3
Day 4, 5/17/01
Up a little before 6 a.m. and see there’s been a storm at sea during the night, kicking up the wave action. That’ll make for good fishing for the guys.
I was going to take another sunrise pic but discover my camera’s gone missing somewhere along the way. I was sure I had it when we left Lol Ha, so I’m thinking I left it in the cab. Of course, I didn’t have the cab number (probably couldn’t have remembered it anyway, considering). A little later, I tell the desk and the security guy. It turned out the driver had noticed the camera the night before and contacted the desk, but they didn’t know who it belonged to. After a series of calls, I got my camera back about 7 p.m.
Lionel and Steve fished with Jorge and his mate from about 8 a.m. to 10:30. Lionel caught a barracuda, and Steve caught a 25-pound dolphin fish (dorado, mahi mahi). Steve had hooked a billfish on the way out, but not well and it slipped away. Lionel had caught an even bigger dorado, which Steve helped him reel in after landing his fish. Unfortunately, the mate wasn’t quick enough with the gaff, the fish lunged, and the line broke. No one was happy with the mate!
Once back on the beach, the traditional round of Dos Eces (XX) was passed out and the fish expertly filleted by Jorge. We took both dorado fillets and gave Jorge the barracuda and the remains of the dorado. Jorge told me, “You were right!” The other morning, he had said the fishing hadn’t been very good lately. I told him he just needed to take Steve out. Sure enough, they caught fish.
I took the dorado up to the restaurant and made arrangements to have half of it prepared for the next night. We already had reservations for the Galera Restaurant this evening, since it was Spencer and Candi's last night. As we stopped by the bar to fill our mugs, Juan Jose taught me another Mayan phrase, “na’ hotch kai,” which is big fish. Na’ hotch kai, indeed!
We had lunch, relaxed on the beach, took a little snooze on our lounges. We only snorkeled a little bit, since the water was quite pushy today. Usual cleanup and head for the Akumal Bar, where we had a gift exchange. Traditionally, the Gringos exchange fun gifts, and we were included, although we hadn’t brought anything for the others. Spencer and Candi gave us a lovely candle in a light blue ceramic sea shell. Lionel and Shirley gave us a lot of fun things, including a cassette taped off their local Cajun radio station (which is just hysterical), a couple of water toys (squirting camera and squirting killer whale—the latter becomes significant later), Cajun recipes, caps, etc., etc. It was great fun!
Dinner at the Galera was excellent. Steve and I had the T-bones, which were much more tender than last year. (We took the leftovers for Jorge’s dog, Mitcha.) We all had the bananas flambé for dessert. Ricardo, our friend from last year, was our waiter. I had given him his pic earlier in the day.
Then off to the Akumal Bar for Gaby and Johnny. We had a blast. Steve and I danced several times, and I danced with the activities fellows, (Xavier, Daniel, and Miguel). Daniel said I danced very well, which is patently not true but made an old lady feel good. We eventually took a drink off to the room, where we watched the hermit crabs from our balcony and then went to bed.
A couple of notes here:
Last year, when we became friendly with Jorge and his dog, we thought her name was “Mishka.” We found out it is really “Mitcha” because Jorge found her as a lost and bedraggled puppy after Hurricane Mitch. She is a sweet dog and often sat under our lounges on the beach.
For a couple of days we have been watching a family, obviously Hispanic, on the beach. It turned out they were from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The family consisted of the mother and father (whose English was quite good), two daughters and their husbands, and the little boy of one of the couples. One fellow and his wife have been in Houston for 10 months for his job, so obviously his English was good, too. The rest still lived in Buenos Aires. The Argentinian contingent had gone up to Houston for a few days, then they all came down to Akumal. We so much enjoyed watching this loving, close-knit family! At the bar after dinner on Friday, I told the father of the little boy, in Spanish, that if they wanted one or two photos of their whole group to ask me in the morning. He beamed and thanked me very much.
Day 5, 5/18/01
Up at 6:15 a.m. Balcony sitting and note updating. There were many grackles about this morning, and I fed them some pound cake I had taken from breakfast yesterday. The clouds were spackly, and the water still looked a bit rough.
We went through our usual routine, but Steve only snorkeled once and I not at all. I missed saying goodbye to Spencer and Candi, but Steve did manage to get to the lobby in time to see them off.
For dinner, Lionel and Shirley and Steve and I had half of our dorado, which was beautifully presented on a large platter with lettuce and tomatoes, a wonderful garlic sauce on the side. We stuffed ourselves, shared some with a couple from Colorado, and gave the last few pieces to Francisco. It was outstanding!
Mexican night tonight, so we had a Mariachi band in the restaurant, with whom our group sang “La Cucaracha.” The entertainment at the Akumal Bar was different Mexican dances and songs, quite enjoyable. We drifted off to the room for our balcony routine about 11 p.m., well fed and sleepy.
Day 6, 5/19/01
Up before 6 a.m., usual routine of balcony sitting. Fed some grackles more of the pound cake. Ensued the usual routine of breakfast, beach, and bar.
I kept an eye out for the Argentinian family, and when I saw they were all assembled, I went over and took a couple of group photos of them. The gal married to the guy working in Houston had a drop-dead Minolta with a huge lens, so I think they’ll have a couple of nice photos to remember their trip.
Around a quarter after 4, our friends from Pennsylvania, Dennis and Audrey Miller, show up on the beach. We have actually met them in person, not just on the Internet, in Aruba in 1999. We talked for a while, then went off to get ready for the evening. This time, the shower had no hot water. We told Lies, who immediately dispatched someone to fix it. (The problem remained for a couple of days, at which point Lies accused me of ticking off the “alushas” (sp?), or gremlins. It did get fixed and I was back to my nice hot showers by Monday.) An amusing note: As we were getting ready, a fiddler crab emerged from under the bed, scuttled across the floor, and disappeared behind the dresser!
We stopped by the Akumal Bar, where we introduced our friends to each other. I saw the father of the little boy and gave him the Shamu squirt toy for his kid. It is amazing how big a smile one can receive for an unexpected gift, no matter how small. They are leaving tomorrow, and we will miss watching them.
Off we went to another excellent dinner of dorado, this time with a lovely lemon-butter sauce. There were NO leftovers. Back to the Akumal Bar for Gaby and Johnny. Lionel and Shirley retired fairly early, then Dennis and Audrey. We wafted off to our room balcony routine about 11:40 p.m.
Day 7, 5/20/01
Up at 6 a.m. The water looks perfect today! Waved at Dennis and Audrey walking down the beach and caught up my notes.
The usual breakfast and beach routine. As I was walking back from “el baño” (a frequent trip for me, it goes hand in hand with “mas cerveza”!), Lionel calls my name and I turn my head just in time to bust the bejesus out of my middle right toe on a big piece of coral in the sand. I don’t know if I broke it or just jammed it thoroughly, but it hurt for a couple of weeks. As I stand there grinning through my agony, Lionel introduces me to Sam and Lisa from Columbus, OH. Hi, how do you do, gimp back to lounge.
Today was a big snorkeling day. I finally made it out to “Fish Group C” and schooled with them for a while. I think they recognized me—they all clapped their little fins when they saw me :-). I was so happy when I came back to shore!
Dennis saw a stingray, and he and Audrey and I went back out to look for it, but no such luck. At one point, we were out close to “FGC” again, so I visited with them for a while longer. While Steve shelled in the shallows next to shore, he saw a glass fish, a clown fish, and a little black fish with a sucker mouth that neither of us had seen before.
Back on the beach, I wished the nice Argentinian family “Vaya con Dios,” and they did the same. Somewhere in here, we refill the mugs and socialize for a while. We met Tommy and Sharon from Witchita Falls.
Back out to snorkel again. This time I cruised out and to the left, inward to the pier, and back to in front of our lounges. “Fish Group B” and “A” were still in their respective places. I kept seeing tons of spiny black sea urchins, some of them absolutely huge. Note: Treatment du jour of too-close encounters with these beasties is soaking the affected limb in hot vinegar. It seems to work pretty well.)
On my last snorkel of the afternoon, I got a snootful of seawater, and my nose ran like a tap for the rest of the evening. Very graceful...
We took a little nap on the beach and then went up to prepare for the evening. Cold shower again, argh! Supposedly fixed, but I guess I really ticked those little gremlins off.
Akumal Bar and dinner, which I really enjoyed. They had pizza, which is one of my basic food groups. (I took some back to the room and noshed on it the next morning.) The little desserts shaped like swans were very tasty also. Back to the Akumal Bar, but we pooped out early, bed before 9:30 p.m.! I guess all that snorkling wore me out.
Submitted by: D. Stevens -- dragon5@fullnet.net
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