It’s been awhile since I’ve written much here, but I’m back on the road. I tend to appreciate these reflections later on, so I’m going to try to write some more this year. I’m spending a month on the Yucatan Peninsula and I’m definitely stuck in the tourist circuit right now. There’s benefits to this, of course: good wifi, plenty of food options, safe pedestrian walkways, beautiful sights, etc. But there are also the downsides: never-ending asks on the street to drink tequila, go scuba diving, take a ferry; the endless hustle-bustle of noisy tourists; and a bit of price gouging. It’s all part of traveling, but I haven’t lived the backpacker life for a while, so I can feel my body and mind adjusting to life on the road again. This part of the trip was really about getting in the water and seeing cool marine life, so it’s mostly just photos of awesome underwater animals.

Puerto Morelos

All the guidebooks describe this as a sleepy, fishing town and that’s probably why I enjoyed it so much. The section of town near the ocean is tiny and can be walked from end to end in about an hour. It’s also right on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (the second largest barrier reef in the world) and I could snorkel right from the shore.

notable landmarks in Puerto Morales include Faro Inclinado (the leaning lighthouse), the fancy colored sign, and this lovely disheveled pier

Here are some highlights from a day of shore snorkeling and one boat trip to Parque Nacional Arrecife de Puerto Morelos (Puerto Morelos Reef National Park).

stoplight parrotfish, scattered pore rope sponge, rock beauty

Atlantic peacock flounder, brain coral, smooth trunkfish (this has to be one of my favorite fishes)

giant anemone, spaghetti worm, purple sea fans

Cozumel

One taxi ride and one ferry ride later, I was on the lovely island of Cozumel. I came for the snorkeling, but there’s also a really lovely bike loop that I wanted to ride. The loop is only 40 miles, but I added a 10 mile out-and-back trip to Punta Sur, the very bottom of the island.

the beach on the wild side (the east side) of the island, view from the top of the Punta Sur lighthouse, lovely palm tree

The rental bicycle wasn’t quite the right size, but the cyclopista is almost completely flat and is well-maintained. Punta Sur is a nature reserve and although one side is on the ocean, the other side is a brackish mangrove lagoon, which is home to several American alligators. I wasn’t sure if I should go, but I met some American bicyclists in the Rasta Bar and they convinced me my tires would be okay on the pothole-filled dirt road, so off I went.

black spiny-tailed iguana on the cyclopista, me next to Faro Celarain (lighthouse in Punta Sur), an American alligator in the nearby lagoon

There used to be a very nice reef on the ocean side of Punta Sur, but it has clearly seen better days. It took me awhile to realize that a buoy way offshore was the marker for the start of the old reef. Once I figured that out, I found a lot more underwater life.

snorkeling in Punta Sur: red cushion sea star (not red, definitely orange), queen conch (zoom in and you can see its eyes), Guilding’s sea star

I also took a boat tour out to El Cielo and the reefs we went to before it were just teeming with ctenophores. These comb jellies are incredibly difficult to photograph and all of the ones I saw were iridescent (not bioluminescent), but I only got clear colors in one photo.

ctenophore, yellow stingray, another ctenophore

netted barrel sponge (these are huge!), another red cushion sea star (definitely not red), and a brown encrusting octopus sponge (what a great name)

While snorkeling around at the Money Bar, I found this brassy drummer defending what seemed to be its territory (a float in the water). It was aggressively fighting off any fish that came near and was showing the black and white dotted pattern. It eventually swam away and slowly lost its coloration, turning back into a shiny fish. I’ve never seen anything like it and now I want to know everything about how fish skin changes colors. I’ve taught about cephalopods and chromatophores for years but I had no idea that fish could do the same thing.

brassy drummer (in various stages of coloration)

And here’s the food update section since folks ask what I’m eating. Honestly this whole section of Mexico is very vegan / vegetarian friendly. There’s even raw food places in almost every town. I’m really enjoying the fresh fruit juices for 30 pesos (less than $2/liter).

chilaquiles and fresh juice in Cozumel, view from the Rasta Bar on Cozumel, delicious vegan tacos from Veggie Veggie Street Food in Puerto Morelos