I figured that my scuba diving pictures were enough, but then I was going through my snorkling pictures and I found some that showed some fish that I didn't see scuba diving so I decided to make yet another post about Cozumel... Here are some pics (and bear with me... i can never stop with the pictures...): This may be may be my favorite picture (can you tell why?): If you are dying to know then scroll down to the bottom of the post. Otherwise, just think about it... I snorkled with Kj, which was completely awesome. We had so much fun. Even though we couldn't talk we kept bursting up laughing and having to come up for more air just to get the laughs out. We saw tons of amazing fish and it only made me want to go out again and again to keep seeing more. Thankfully, that was completely possible because of where we were staying! Woot! Not the most flattering pictures and you may not even be able to tell, but I was swimming with a whole school of fish here... This was too cool to see in real life. We loved it! And can you tell this fish (above and below) are different? They look so similar... So many of these aren't that colorful... I just liked them because the fish are so camoflauged. When Kj went to lay out more I did get back in the ocean and continued to snorkle for a while. It was pretty spactacular. I loved seeing the fish eat off the rocks - like this little white fish doing here: Any idea what this leopard type fish is? I am very curious... I loved seeing how some areas, by the reef - were pretty rocky, others were complete, perfect sand without a rock even, and some was all plant. It was very neat. And the reason why I love the top photo so much! The camoflauged fish! I saw one of these when I went scuba diving but I wasn't quick enough to catch a picture before it got scared and swam away. I didn't even know I got a picture of this one until just tonight when I was going through my pictures. LOVE IT! You can double-click to see the picture larger - but I thought it was totally awesome. Snorkling in Cozumel = 2 thumbs way way up!
One of the things that I was most excited for when looking forward to Cozumel was the 'Dolphin Royal Swim' that we had signed up for at Chankanaab Nation Park. There were supposed to be 10 people per group with 2 dolphins, but we went when the cruise ships weren't docked so the tourists were at a minimum - it was just us 3 with the 2 dolphins! I was so stoked! This made it possible for us to get extra time with the dolphins. We even got to do the dorsal tow and the foot push twice! Woot! (This is what the Foot Push looks like but since we didn't pay for the professional pictures... ours don't quit look like this. Same thing though...) So to begin, we walked over to where our dolphins were: Simba and Chuck. Not sure which was male and which was female, but there was one of each. We walked a little further and saw a mommy dolphin who had just had a baby like 1.5 months ago. As soon as we got to her area she swam over and stuck her head out of the water and was greeting us. The guide started talking about the baby and we were like, "Oh we want to see the baby... Where is he?" The mama dolphin swam away and came back with her baby. She stuck her head out of the water once again, as if she was ready for some photos. I loved it. It was totally amazing, like she totally understood us. After we got into the water with Chuck and Simba and started swimming with dolphins. We didn't take pictures since we were all in there playing with them but we got to have a water fight with the dolphins which was fun and we danced with them (spinning circles). It really was fun being able to touch them and spend time swimming and playing with them, seeing how gentle and how smart they are.
As part of the dolphin royal swim we were able to: Kiss the dolphins (and then they kiss us): Hug the dolphins: Have free time swimming with the dolphins: We got them to sing for us - which was awesome to watch how it all comes from the blow hole on the top of their head. (I didn't record their Dolphins Songs... got distracted I guess but it was neat.) Dolphins also breathe using the blow hole. They swim for about an hour and then surface again to take a breath. We got to go on a couple Dorsal Tows where the dolphins swam up to the side of us and we grabbed on to the dorsal fins on their backs and got towed through the water.
Oh! We shook "hands" (fins) with them: We fed them: And we learned about them. *Did you know... Dolphins don't use their teeth to eat. They just swallow the fish whole. Their ears are tiny tiny on the sides of their heads. They grow a new layer of skin every hour. This is why they are so soft. The old layer can be rubbed off like Elmer's Glue but doesn't come off unless you rub it. Their tails and their dorsal fins are like our finger prints in that no two are exactly alike. They have scratches on their body because they play rough, especially when mating. Dolphins can swim 35 mph They grow to be 8-12 feet long and can live to be 40 years old Also as part of the Dolphin Royal Swim we got to do a Foot Push. This had to be the most awesome of everything we did with them. We got to do this a couple of times to which again, was TOTALLY AWESOME! We floated in the water on our stomachs and the dolphins swam over to us, caught our feet with their noses, took our feet under water and started swimming. Our upper bodies were raised out of the water with their force and they swam while we stood on their noses. The still pictures are from the first time that we did it and the videos are from the second:
sigh. TOTALLY AMAZING right? It really was. I loved it and I think that I wouldn't mind being a dolphin trainer so I could swim with the dolphins all day every day. Saying goodbye to us by waving with their tails and with their fins:
