A Lazy Afternoon

Our two dives on our second full day in Mexico were finished by 11:00 in the morning, so there was still plenty of day left to enjoy. We arrived back at the hotel to find my sister and niece having fun at the pool (it was "Pool Week," my niece cheerfully informed us), so we quickly joined them. This led to two alcohol-related firsts for me: ordering drinks from a swim-up bar, and being buzzed before noon. Very quickly, banana daiquiris became the go-to drink of the drink. (A tropical beach vacation requires a stereotypical tropical beach drink.)

An interesting thing about drinking in a swimming pool. Since the water is sloshing up and down anyway, I don't think it's possible to fully realize how much you've had to drink until you actually get out of the pool.

After lunch, we all went our separate ways for a while. My boyfriend and I decided to actually go wading/swimming in the ocean for a bit. While we were there, a topless woman came marching out of the water, covering herself with her hands for a moment or two until she made it back to her beach chair, where she proceeded to sunbathe topless. We then went for a walk up the beach for a while, making sure to walk by this woman twice so that we could describe to our friends -- in detail, if necessary -- exactly what they'd missed out on.

We went back to the room for a time to review some of the pictures and video from the day's dives, and then unfortunately my boyfriend dropped the camera. The camera and its waterproof case were fine, at least, but the snap-on red filter (to help color correct for the ocean depths) shattered into an unrecoverable number of pieces. From our remaining dives, our photos were going to be even bluer than they were already -- but better to lose a $15 piece of plastic than a fancy camera that we'd only just started using!

When dinner finally rolled around, we had a ridiculous run-in with the dress code enforcers at the buffet/theater hall. Two of us were turned away and told to go change -- my boyfriend in a tank top, and my friend's wife a perfectly reasonable top that just happened to tie over the shoulders with straps. In the time it took them to go back to their rooms and change, the rest of us watched as several other similarly dressed people were allowed in without objection. But at least when we did get in -- for "Mexican night" -- the food was pretty good for a buffet.

Also dining in the hall was the topless sunbather we'd seen earlier, so we were able to point out: "picture her, but topless; that's what you missed."

After we all went back to our rooms for the evening, my boyfriend and I decided we weren't quite ready for bed yet, so we went back down to the beach. It was long after sunset, so we basically had the whole place to ourselves, sitting on chairs and listening to the waves come in. It was a perfect, low-key end to a great day.