More From Cancun - the Jungle Tour (minus the Jungle)

After getting settled in to our room, we spent the first day exploring the grounds and yes, listening to the sales pitch in exchange for credits at the spa and for tours. It is actually a pretty good deal, in that you can reserve weeks in advance and as incentives the company throws in some extra free weeks. There is no doubt you end up saving money with the deal. We almost caved in but then the impending purchase of our new home continued to ground us in reality. I was so proud of us! We were able to walk away without purchasing the vacation package!!

Our first tour was the "Jungle Tour", although there wasn't really any jungle involved in it! We jumped on a bus to head to the hotel zone and from there we all had our own 2-seater speed-boat. The tour took us through the Mangrove channels and out into the ocean all the way down past our hotel. Probably about a mile offshore (I'm horrible at distances) we tied the boats together and went snorkeling. Having snorkeled in Hawaii, I was excited to be returning to the cool, peaceful feeling of being surrounded by the beautiful water and interesting fish.

Our guide was excellent and brought up a spider starfish for us to hold and a large conch shell. Devin was the first to spot a large stingray buried beneath a thin veil of sand. Being Devin, he dove down to get a close-up look. I was just slightly unnerved remembering the fate of Steve Irwin not too long ago. But the ray seemed completely oblivious if not slightly annoyed by his presence. I got distracted, probably a little too easily, by a barracuda-looking fish and ended up becoming separated from the rest of our group. There's nothing more unsettling than looking for your group amidst a dozen or more snorkelers, all looking remarkeably similar. Thankfully our guide was keeping a close eye and when he realized I had become separated from the group, he quickly waved me over.

The water was much warmer than Hawaii and I could have stayed in the water for hours. But before long, we were being lead back to our boats. Devin had fun going through the mangrove channels, trying to go as fast as he could around the corners. Our guide, an older gentleman, must have sensed his desire and allowed us a little play time, speeding around and circles across the bay. Back on shore, we thanked our guide with the appropriate gratuity and met up with the other hotel guests to make our way back to the hotel. As we were waiting for the other guests, I kept myself amused with the multiple iguanas roaming the property. (I wonder how easy it would be smuggle an iguana through customs?)