COZUMEL--June 2011 Part Dos.

Arriving- the Caribbean sea welcomes us "home".

Lunch at La Hach. Beef Fajitas and fish-n-fries. As the island grows...it is attracting some great chefs and unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the couple of "chi-chi" meals (with great presentations) that we had.

Our hotel...with lots of dive air tanks and scooters which you see everywhere you go.

The Dos Equis beer guys are here...and that's a good thing since we drank up all they had.

Villa Blanca...restaurant on the left. They keep the grounds beautiful and rooms extra clean. A flamboyan tree on the right. These trees are everywhere on the island and one of my favorites.

This place is next door to our hotel and the owner lives there.

Flamboyan tree pods. I harvested a couple of pods and broke them open and smuggled the seeds home. We had grown 7 of these trees from seed years ago but they froze. Ours got 7 feet tall but Toby's lasted the longest. I'm trying again.

A picture of the "flaming tree" I got off the internet. The leaves look like a mimosa.

ViVilla Blanca Hotel with La Hach in the background. They have live music there 3 nights a week so I was glad our room was farther in the back area away from the noise. They cut their hibiscus bushes into hedges etc...amazing. Mine here in Del Rio are so puny in comparison. We liked the quiet, gentle sound of all the palm trees a-blowin' in the breeze.

Jamey, Bruce and Gene & I's rooms were behind this wall of ficus by the pool.

Bruce, Jamey and I at Punta Morena on the undeveloped east side. This place is pretty but too crowded with tour buses. Things on Cozumel get more expensive every year of course, but at this place they charged as much for a bottle of water as they did for a bottle of beer. There is no electricity on the east side so it closes down at dusk. There are about a dozen beach clubs over there. The east side is where the sea turtles come every night during the summer to lay their eggs. The turtles are 30 to 35 years old when they lay eggs and always return to where THEY hatched to lay their eggs...that's COOL! The beaches over there are patrolled all night by military guys with machine guns. Do NOT disturb the turtles and they are looking for drugs washing ashore. No one is allowed over there after dark.

Buccano's Beach Bar & Grill at CCC. Geno and Bruce are going snorkeling. It was a rainy day.