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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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We could feel the tranquil atmosphere of Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) almost before we reached its shore. A short ferry ride from the jet-set life of Cancún - Mexico's most affluent resort, seemed to have put us in another world. Instead of endless gigantic modern hotels, seemingly seeded in the sands, the island's white homes could be barely seen above the waterline. Instead of beaches lashed by fierce waves and crowded with humanity, we could see in the distance almost empty palm-lined sands, lapped by gentle blue waters. As we disembarked in the island's only town, known simply as `el Pueblo' (the Town), it was apparent that we had left Cancún's hectic life behind. Isla Mujeres, just 13 km (8 mi) across the Bahia de Mujeres (Bay of Women) from Cancún's hotel strip, is a fish shaped speck of land, barely 8 km (5 mi) long and less than half a km wide. The entire island is edged by sparkling sandy beaches, splashed by transparent crystalline waters. The best swimming is on the west and north where the sands are edged by protected waters. On the east, facing the Caribbean, swimming is hazardous due to the strong undercurrent. Once an important abode for Mayan female goddesses and then later for pirates, Isla Mujeres is today a reminder of the leisurely pace in Mexican resorts before modern tourism. It offers some visitors an alternative to roaring Cancún and to others a quiet no-frill vacation. Amid the whistling of breezes and the gentle sway of palms, one can find relaxation, explore the dramatic underwater life of mystical lagoons or just laze or stroll the beach. Francisco Hermandez de Córdoba, the first Spaniard to set foot in Mexico, arrived in 1517 and named it Isla Mujeres after the statues of hundreds of female goddesses - bare breasted in the manner of the Mayan Indians - he found on the Island. In later centuries it became a pirate refuge - a place where these outlaws, roaming the seas for victims, would leave their women for safety. Leaving the pier, one of the two on the island, we walked the streets of this small bustling fishing village of the some 15,000 inhabitants and a downtown area of just four by six blocks. The cobblestone avenues, sidewalk cafes, colourful handicraft shops and friendly people gave it an appealing aura which has for years inspired poets and other literary artists. In the shadows of nearby Cancún, el Pueblo remains a restful and quaint retreat. It still retains its charm and tranquil atmosphere. As you stroll the streets in the evening you will see families gathered together in Caribbean styled homes, tucked between stores and restaurants, mending their fishing nets and relaxing. This in spite of the island being discovered by a good number of tourists who come from Cancún to shop, swim and snorkel. We lingered awhile in its main square, enjoying the colourful life around us. From here, it was only a 10 minute stroll to Playa los Cocas, edging the town on the north shore. The topmost beach on the island, it is a long stretch of powdery white sand, gently washed by shallow turquoise waters with no undertow. Yet, its sands have gained some notoriety. It is the only topless beach near Cancún - said to be a concession to the Mayan goddesses who exposed their upper torsos to the world. After romping in its soothing sea and warm-soft sands, we walked on Avenida Rueda Medina, the main street of town, leading to the only paved road which runs the whole length of the island. Stopping a taxi, I asked in my broken Spanish, "How much to rent your taxi for two hours?" "Only $50.," as he waved us to enter. "$50.!," I feigned anger. After a few minutes of give and take we agreed to a price of $15. for a two hour exploration of the island. Our first stop was Playa Lancheros, noted for its turtle pen, where a few of these sea creatures are still kept. Once one of Isla Mujeres' principal products, the sea-turtles are now on the verge of extinction. A few are kept in a water enclosure with a number of de- toothed sharks solely for the pleasure of tourists. After romping with these sea creature for awhile, we walked on a path to the ruins of Mundaca's hacienda - a reminder of the island's turbulent past. One of the last of the Caribbean pirates to call Isla Mujeres home, Fermin Mundaca de Marechaja fell in love with an 18 year island beauty and, to marry her, promised to give up his wicked way. As a mark of his devotion he built a magnificent hacienda which was entered through gates carved with her name. However, his wooing was in vain. After he found out that she had married a young islander, he slowly went mad and eventually died broken hearted. Today, the ruins of Mundaca's hacienda, a grandiose example of `love's labour lost', is one of the most important tourist sites on Isla Mujeres. A few minutes drive and we were in El Garrafón, an underwater park and beach area on the southern tip of the island. Here, tour boats from Cancún anchor in order for tourists to snorkel in a once picturesque coral field amid tropical fish, a mere half dozen feet from shore. In the last few decades, there have been so many visitors that the corals are now mostly quite dead. Tourist dollars are much in demand and little has been done to protect the fields. A short distance away on our return trip, we stopped to examine the ruins of the Mayan temple Ix-Chel, partially destroyed by hurricane Gilbert in 1988, but did not tarry long. When compared to the many Mayan ruins in the Yucatán Peninsula, those of Ix-Chel appeared insignificant. Back in El Pueblo, we left the taxi near the piers where most of the town activities take place. We priced the hotels, eating places and the handmade goods in shops, finding the prices much more reasonable than those in Cancún. After a fine meal in one of the peoples' restaurants, we bought our souvenirs at half the mainland prices. It was a satisfying end to our one-day visit to Cancún's rustic isle where village life still sets the pace and time passes slowly, making one's dream vacation a reality. IF YOU GO How to get to Isla Mujeres: >>From Cancún, there are various ways to reach Isla Mujeres. Excursions are offered to the island. They include a full day of sightseeing, snorkeling and all the food one can consume. However, to savor the island, a visitor should take a peoples' ferry from Puerto Juárez - the port a 50 cents bus or $4. taxi ride from Cancún city. Express boats leave every half hour. The crossing takes about 15 minutes and the fare is US$3.50. The slower 'People Ferry' boats taking approx. 45 minutes cost US$1. When you arrive on Isla there is a taxi stand at the pier and 'tricycles' waiting to help you with your luggage and escort you to the hotel Two Good Places to Stay on Isla Mujeres: There are more than 600 hotel rooms on Isla Mujeres - mostly in the budget class. My favorites are Hotel Cabañas María del Mar on Cocos Beach - beautified with Moorish arcades and Hotel Na-Balam, Located on Playa Norte and offering an excellent view of sea and sand. A Good Place to Eat: El Bucanero - a large reasonably priced outdoor cafe which serves good seafood and Yucatán specialities. Cost of meal about US$15., but peoples' eating places across from the ferry dock - serve seafood and Yucatán specialities at about half the price. For further Information and Prices, Contact: Office of Tourism Isla Mujeres: Tel: 877-0307 and 877-0767. Fax: 877- 0307. E-mail: infoisla@prodigy.net.mx
Trip 6/00 I must tell you about our summer vacation this past year to the Riu Palace right outside of Playa del Carmen, Mexico in the Riveria Maya. I have been to several all inclusive resorts but never have I been to an all-inclusive like this! The food was excellent, the drinks were cold, the service was excellent (the waiters/bartenders/desk clerks, etc.), and the appearance of the resort was impeccable. It truly was a palace, with fountains, gardens, and we were made to feel like royalty. Huge chandeliers, marble and tile throughout, and the way the personnel attended to your every need...it was paradise. It is the mother hotel to the Riu Yucatan and Riu Tequila where you could visit those resorts, but the vacationers at those were not allowed to visit the Riu Palace. The Riu Palace was brand new, that could account for it's appearance. On our first full day, we went to our room after breakfast to retrieve our forgotten camera, and the staff were literally on their hands and knees scrubbing the floors, with the furniture moved, scrubbing underneath the bed! This was their daily room clean up procedure! (We saw this daily as they would be cleaning other rooms as we walked by). This was not only limited to the rooms, which were very spacious and beautiful anyway (with a minibar that was stocked daily), they scrubbed all floors, walkways, etc. daily in the early morning hours when most people are sleeping. This resort is not for the party-going type. It is very quiet, with one piano bar, and a bar on the beach, a bar at the pool, but they did offer nightly entertainment on the very large patio (I wouldn't even call it a patio, maybe a courtyard) with a bar. This vacation is perfect for anyone who just wants to get away from it all and be pampered. The beach was immaculate. There were hammocks in the palms for the days you needed shade, there were enough beach chairs for everyone on the huge beach which was very clean, raked every morning, and no rocks. There are two pools with waterfalls. They were also beautiful with large flower motifs in tile on the bottom floor of the pool. There was a jacuzzi, but wouldn't recommend it, the water was tepid at best, but in the middle of summer, sitting in a jacuzzi isn't high on my priority list. I know to most this may sound uneventful, but you could also rent a scooter and venture out, or walk or take a cab to the town Playa del Carmen, where you could get the ferry to Cozumel should you need adventure. The doorman at the Riu Palace would order up a taxi to you as soon as you walked out of the "Palace". To have the Riu Palace wristband on in town, you were treated with a special prestige, it seemed, to get a return taxi. The taxi drivers would say "AAAH Riu Palace come with me please". We were actually singled out among other vacationers for a taxi first in the town of Playa del Carmen! I cannot say enough about this resort, just visit it. It was the best vacation I have ever had.
Villa Serenity on St. John" INTRODUCTION - This is a trip report of our stay at Villa Serenity on St. John in November 2000. This was our fifth stay on St. John, and we have gleaned lots of useful information from the experiences of others as posted to Internet bulletin boards, so this report is, in part, a payback attempt to share our experiences with others, and, in part, a reference for our next visit. ST. JOHN - We first visited St. John in 1996 to celebrate Sandy’s 50th birthday. The reasons we keep returning are that St. John is beautiful, laid-back, uncrowded, and offers beautiful beaches and great snorkeling. Because 2/3 of St. John is National Park, the population is only about 3500 people on 21 square miles, and most of the people and houses are concentrated in the Cruz Bay area. I’ve seen questions posted to the effect "Please list the five best and five worst places on St. John so that I can maximize my vacation time there." If you want to maximize your vacation time, I suggest you go to go to Orlando and visit Disneyworld instead of St. John. Once you get off the ferry in Cruz Bay, time takes on an entirely different concept, particularly if you are staying in a villa. A couple of times when we were in Cruz Bay lounging around the ferry dock, we’d see the cruise ship folks clutching their matching snorkel bags being herded onto the taxi fleet for their two-hour snorkeling experience at Cinnamon Bay, and we felt sorry for them cause you can’t really experience St. John on a tight timetable. VILLA SERENITY - The three outstanding features of Villa Serenity are its location, its location, and its location. The first location advantage of Villa Serenity is its proximity to the beach. On our first three visits to St. John, we had stayed in villas on Gifft Hill, overlooking Cruz Bay. This is a nice location for first-timers, since it is close to town, centrally located, and provides a great view of St. Thomas. However, whenever we wanted to go to the beach, we always had a 15 - 30 minute jeep ride. Prior to our fourth visit we discovered Villa Serenity, which is located at Mary Point which is at the end of the North Shore Road, and is about a 5 minute/ ¼ mile walk to the beach at Francis Bay, which had become one of our favorite beaches - it is large ( about 100 feet long) , uncrowded (since its the farthest beach on the North Shore - about a 30 minute ride from town) and offers beautiful snorkeling along its northern edge. We often walked to Francis Bay at 8:00 am and would be the only ones there for an hour or two. At most there would be a dozen people there all day (except when Caneel Bay would set up a picnic lunch at one end of the beach.) The second location advantage of Villa Serenity is that it is located in a cluster of three houses on a little driveway above the road to Francis Bay. However, because of the vegetation, you can not see either the road nor the other houses from the deck that extends the full length of Villa Serenity. The nearest houses you can see looking eastward are on Tortola, BVI, looking westward, on St. Thomas, and there are no houses to the north on Mary Point. Since no one can see you, the only things you need wear on the deck at Villa Serenity are a smile, suntan lotion, and a hat (unless you’re bald its really tough to rub suntan lotion onto your scalp!) The third location advantage of Villa Serenity is that it is about a 15 - 20 minute walk to the Maho Bay Campground. The Campground offers its own little store, restaurant, and activities center, and, most importantly, it offers a shuttle into town every two hours from 8 AM to 8 PM for $4. On our first three trips to St. John, we had rented a jeep for about $400 /week including gas. The proximity of Villa Serenity meant that we could do without a rental car. Now if you haven’t been to St. John before, a rental car is a definite must, cause it can take you to beaches you might otherwise miss. However, if you use the rental car funds for sailboat rides instead (as we did), you’ll go to beaches that are inaccessible by car. The Maho Bay Shuttle will drop you off at any beach on the North Shore, and pick you up on any return trip. In addition, Maho Bay activities has scheduled group taxi rides to other St. John activities, such as Salt Pond beach, the National Park Service Reef Bay Trail hike, and various restaurants Villa Serenity itself is a four bed-room, three bath house, with an enormous deck. (It is a lot more house than the two of us need, but the rental price depends on the number of occupants.) We rented Villa Serenity from Terry Witham (see REFERENCES section for her phone number and e-mail). We found renting from Terry (who lives on St. John) to be a big advantage over renting from a realty company. After our first visit, we had from suggestions for some improvements, and Terry was very accommodating in implementing the suggestions prior to our return. Furthermore, Terry must know every resident of St. John, so if you have any questions about snorkeling, or beaches, or what boats to rent, Terry either knows or can find out. WHAT TO PACK - Every trip to St. John, we’ve packed fewer clothes and more support supplies. For clothing at Villa Serenity you’ll need suntan lotion (lots of it - we packed 5 tubes of #30 this time), and bug repellent. When we were there in May, we had no problem with the no-see-ums, but on this trip, Sandy left looking like she had chicken pox. We found Avon Skin So Soft to be completely ineffective, and instead used deep woods from Walmart. (Earlier I mentioned that you need a hat on the deck - there are straw hats on top of the refrigerator.) To go to the beach, you’ll need a swimsuit, sandals, a colorful coverup, a hat, suntan lotion, bug repellent, and snorkel gear (Villa Serenity provides snorkel gear, but I think you’re more likely to get a better fit by bringing your own.) (The purpose of the colorful cover-up is to hang from a tree on the beach so that it serves as a beacon so that when you go snorkeling you know whereto return to.) You’ll also want to pack along some water bottles (we brought 4 bicycle bottles with us), as well as some granola bars or other snacks. We also brought some underwater cameras that we bought at Walmart for about $8 each. (You can bring beach chairs down from the Villa.) To go to town (or anywhere else on St. John) you’ll also need shorts and a tee-shirt, and tennis shoes if you’re going hiking. And of course a fanny pack, or back pack, to carry your water bottles, suntan lotion, and bug repellent. Don’t leave the villa without them! If you pack any more clothes than these, you’ll probably bring them home unworn. You can’t pack too few clothes or too much sun tan lotion! Most of our luggage was food, because we ate most of our meals at Villa Serenity. We bought a soft sided 20 can cooler at Walmart for $10.00, filled it with 5 lb. frozen shrimp, frozen steaks, frozen scallops, and other frozen foods and carried it with us on the plane. We also brought dry food like spaghetti, rice, oatmeal, dry milk, seasonings, etc. In previous visits, the largest grocery on St. John, the Starfish market, was about the size of a 7/11 and offered a very limited selection. However Starfish has opened a new much larger market, so we’ll probably buy more of our food on island during our next visit. WHAT TO DO - Your first day, walk up to the Activities Desk at Maho Bay Campground to see what they have scheduled for the week and when. Activities vary quite a bit from week to week. On Monday and Thursday, the NPS offers a guided Reef Bay Trail hike, with boat return to Cruz Bay, and Maho Bay has a shuttle to the trail head. This fills up fast, but we found it to be a day well spent.. On Wednesday, Sadie Sea does a round St. John snorkeling tour. This is still on our "To Do" list for the next trip, Most mornings we’d wake at first light (about 6:00 am) and have breakfast on the gazebo while we watched the sun rise. Then we’d head for Francis Bay around 8:00 am for some snorkeling. Around noon, we’d head back to the deck of Villa Serenity to get an all over tan and to drink some rum punch. While there is a hammock on the deck large enough for two, we found the very sturdy lounge chairs to be much more comfortable for sunning and whatever. Afterwards we’d head into the shade or inside to get out of the mid-afternoon sun. Around 3 or 4 we’d walk back to Francis Bay for more snorkeling, and around sunset (5:45 p.m.) have dinner. The PBS station in St. Thomas is the only TV at Villa Serenity, so in the evening we’d usually read or do crossword puzzles. Usually we were nodding off to sleep by 8 p.m. or so. SNORKELING - Our favorite beach snorkeling location is the north shore of Francis Bay - from the dead tree out to the point. If Francis Bay is choppy (due to the wind) try Mary Creek instead. At the base of the driveway, turn right and walk about 100 yards, to a little path leading down to Mary Creek. You can snorkel among the Mangrove roots there, or go out to the coral reefs at Anna Point. Alternatively continue down the road towards Annaberg ruins. Just past the tee in the road you’ll find another path to Mary Creek. If you continue down the road, past the Annaberg ruins, it turns into a rocky trail along the beach which leads to Waterlemon Cay. Snorkeling there is supposed to be fantastic, but we didn’t find it worth the 45 minute walk vs. the 5 minute walk to Francis Bay. If you don’t take the Maho Bay excursion to Salt Pond (which is on the south east side of St. John), you can catch the shuttle into Cruz Bay, and the VI Tran bus to Salt Pond for $1. It runs every two hours or so (when its running). Or you could just ride Frett’s Maho Bay shuttle to any of the North Shore beaches. On previous trips we found Jumbie Bay to have really good snorkeling. I’d avoid Hawksnest, Cinnamon, and Trunk Bays cause they get overrun with day-trippers off of the cruise ships. BOATS - As I said earlier, the money we saved on car rental, we spent on day sails. The best day sail was with Captain Phil on the Wayward Sailor out of Cruz Bay. (Terry had recommended this as the one trip to take). Although Wayward Sailor will take six, Sandy and I were the only ones with Captain Phil the day we went. We sailed to two snorkeling spots near the St. James islands between St. John and St. Thomas. Capt. Phil actually went snorkeling with us and took us on a guided tour of the reefs. We’d be surface snorkeling when Capt. Phil would suddenly dive down 20 feet or so and bring up something interesting he had spotted. He is very knowledgeable about sailing, snorkeling, and sea life - it was like a personal tour with Jacque Cousteau. A daysail on Wayward Sailor costs $85 per person, while some of the other boats are as low as $50, but we believe that it is worth it! Our other good day sail was with Capt. Lisa on the Pepper out of Maho Bay Campground Activities Desk. Pepper is much smaller than Wayward Sailor - about 23 ft - although it also carries 6 - so the ride was a little more exciting (i.e. bouncier and leaninger). Pepper took us to Caneel Bay and also to Whistling Cay off of Mary Point, both of which had great snorkeling. Once again Terry had recommended Pepper. On previous trips we had ridden on bigger power boats to Jost Van Dyke and to Virgin Gorda, and we found the small sailboats to be much more exciting. DINING Our favorite place to eat was the deck of Villa Serenity! The villa has a nice gas grill on the deck which we used to grill steaks, shrimp, and scallops. Other nights we had steamed shrimp, with and without pasta. The view of the sunset over St. Thomas was better than any restaurant, and besides we didn’t have to dress for dinner (at all!) I understand there are really elegant restaurants in St. John, where you can easily spend $100 per person. We didn’t eat at any of these, but didn’t spend more than $10 for a meal at any of the following places. (We preferred to spend our money on great day sails instead). Now Terry also happens to be the lunchtime cook at Miss Lucy’s, a locally famous restaurant on the way to Salt Pond, so we stopped there on our way back from Salt Pond. The Conch Chowder alone is worth the trip to Miss Lucy’s. Also on Saturday night Maho Bay Campground ran two taxis there for a Full Moon Party, where they roasted two entire pigs, and had a live band for entertainment. Evidently the Full Moon Parties are a local St. John tradition, as most of the attendees seemed to be St. John residents. Our favorite place for breakfast is JJs Tex Mex, located at the ferry dock in Cruz Bay. They have great cheese omelets. Sandy’s favorite place was Uncle Joe’s for barbecued ribs. Uncle Joe’s is so well known that they don’t even have a sign out front - just the barbecue grill. They are located right across the street from the Post Office in Cruz Bay. RECOMMENDATIONS: A vacation on St. John is not for everyone. Its a bit of a hassle to get to, and there’s no night life to speak of, but if you enjoy sun, snorkeling, and uncrowded beaches, then its for you. Similarly, staying in a villa is not for everyone. If you like being waited on, and being entertained then you’re probably better off on a cruise ship or staying at Caneel Bay. If its your first time to St. John, you’re probably better of renting Cloud Nine (www.cloudnine.com) and renting a jeep, as we did on our first two times. However, if you’re adventurous. If you look at receiving only PBS on TV as not a bad thing. If you can look on the necessity to conserve cistern water as an opportunity to shower together (outdoors!), if you enjoy the absolute freedom of basking in the sun in complete privacy, if you enjoy walking to an uncrowded beach, if you enjoy snorkeling, then send Terry Witham an e-mail and ask about renting Villa Serenity. We plan to return, probably in the spring, once the winter rates are over, and when its too dry for the no-see-ums. We fly on frequent flyer miles, so its usually a hassle to get to St. John. For example although we rented Villa Serenity Sunday to Sunday, we had to fly down on Saturday and back on Tuesday. Saturday night we stayed at The Inn at Tamarind Court in Cruz Bay. Its inexpensive ($84 night), and is sort of like staying at a Motel 6 or a Super 8 - it provides a place to sleep. Since we got to St. John about 8 p.m., that’s all we needed. If you’d like to see any pictures of our trip they may be found at: http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/dwdudic?d&.flabel=fld6&.src=ph http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/dwdudic?d&.flabel=fld11&.src=bc REFERENCES: Villa Serenity - Terry Witham - e-mail TerryRoberts@worldnet.att.net phone (340) 776-6342 Inn at Tamarind Court - (340) 776-6378 Maho Bay Campground - (340) 776-6226 Wayward Sailor - (340) 693-8555 Sadie Sea - (340) 776-6421 Weather - (340) 774-4786
Trip 11/00 Just returned from a week of diving with Club Med TurKuoise in Provo. This report will compare Club Med Columbus Island to the one In Provo in terms of diving and accommodations. Club Med overall provides an good value for money, it is easy to get too( we drive from DC to NY and catch the charter).Club Med offers a good combination of Beach + Diving + Snorkeling + All inclusive. Club Med is ideal for mixed couples ( One dives...). Both club Meds are situated on a great beach. We enjoyed our stay at both locations, and will places go again. Provo has several other resorts to choose from such as Allegro and Beaches. Occupancy rate at Club Med Turkoise was 86% this Thanksgiving week while Columbus Island was half empty 3. Turkouis was 50% couples ( Canadians, Europe and US) and 50% singles (mostly New York ). The rooms in Turkuoise compare to college dorms, the food was so so, and the shows were very lame ( were O.K with the Crazy Signs). Because of Rain, and outdoor show was canceled and they repeated the same show twice during our stay. Columbus Island is definitely one class above Turkiose as far as rooms, food and service go. The big attraction of Turkoise is the atmosphere. Turkuise was on Valium the week we were there ( which is OK with us). During the week there was lot of staff turn over ( Chief the Village, Scuba director, shows director). The GO were practicing for the X-mas show every night from 11:00 PM to 1:00, so their was less than usual GM GO interaction. The bottom line both are good but Columbus Island provides a better value. Now to the diving, diving overall was good ( not great). Provo provides the following locations of diving : Wall (130 feet)on Northwest Point ( Sites called the Crack, hole in the wall, amphitheater, Club Med One hour boat rids), Grace Bay ( 40-50 feet 10 minute boat rides), and Pine Cay ( 30 minute boat ride) . The wall diving is very similar to Columbus Island ( less big stuff). The snorkeling in Provo is better than Columbus Island ( which has Algee on the shallow reefs). The visibility was not very good due to rain. Water temperature was 80,and I used a 3 MM suit (I was getting cold in a skin). This was my second trip to T&C, the first I dived Grand Turk & West Caicos which (IMHO) are better diving than Provo, but are also more remote and require more effort ( money..) getting to. There was not an abundant of fish or big stuff. We saw: Many lobster, several Caribbean Crabs two of them fighting for territory (should be called Bush & Gore), a pair of Eagle rays (at Pine Cay), Grouper, puffer fish (at Piranha Cove site), Sting Ray ( cathedral), several Eel, and many Barracuda that live on Club Med Buoys. Most of the days we were the only dive boat to be seen ( this is not Cayman Or Cozumel). Now to the best part of the week: 1. White house shore snorkel (near Beaches) - Guaranteed turtles who feed on the grass ( saw 3 of them). This could be a great shore dive. On other snorkel trips saw several Nurse sharks. 2. On our way out diving in Northwest point, one day, we encountered a whale that performed for us, Jumping around the boat. Then we were surrounded by a pod of fifteen Dolphins, that swam and jumped around the dive boat for 40 minutes. 3. On pour last day ( out gas day), we came back from the snorkel Trip from "White House" JOJO the Dolphin was waiting for us at the Pier. We snorkeled with him for an hour. JOJO is very playful and likes when you follow him and snorkel with him. After over an hour of swimming I was exhausted and we went to get lunch. At 3:00 we were on the afternoon snorkel trip and JOJO showed up at the Pier, I abandoned the snorkel trip and had JOJO to my self for an hour ( from 3:30 - 4;30 PM).
The official The Caribbean Travel Roundup World Wide Web site is http://caribtravelnews.com. The CTR is also available on America Online. Contact: Paul Graveline, 9 Stirling St., Andover, MA 01810- 1408 USA :Home (Voice or Fax) 978-470-1971. E-mail via editor@caribtravelnews.com or CTREDITOR@aol.com