Gimnasio en el océano: Snorkeling at the Marietas Islands in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
The Friday we were in Puerto Vallarta, Kris, Cara, Jake and I took a day trip to the Marietas Islands through Vallarta Adventures (you must pronounce this as “Vayarta Avenchurs”).
What are Las Marietas? I’ll let the Vayarta Avenchurs website esplain:
Just offshore, inside Banderas Bay, rests a group of small, volcanic islands known as the Marietas Islands. These islands, made famous by oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, provide the perfect environment for an entertaining eco-adventure.
On the way to the islands, our boat made about 11,000 stops to watch whales swim around and be whales. Humpback whales come to Puerto Vallarta every winter to get it on and make whale babies. They travel thousands of miles to do this, and people pay to get on a boat and go watch them swim around. This is fun for 15 minutes. Here is a summary of every whale watching experience in history:
OMFG A WHALE! WE DON’T HAVE WHALES IN KANSAS!
WTF IS HUUUUUUGE AND THERE ARE FIVE OF THEM! THEY ARE WHALE FRIENDS!
THEY ARE SWIMMING TOGETHER! AND HAVE BLOWHOLES! AND SOMETIMES JUMP!
Come on whales JUMP! Make a NOSIE like a WHALE!
Ugh. Just some more whales swimming. Move it, whales.
Drinking makes it more fun after the first dozen stops.
Kris, Jake and I are all “OMG WHALE WATCHING IS SUCH A BLAST.”
This is a humpback whale. This is the extent of entertainment it provided to us. Very cool the first 12 times.
We finally arrived to Las Marietas about 11 a.m. After a quick scuba lesson, it was into the water!
My magic shoes.
Cara, Kris, Jake and me ready to look at some fishes!
We snorkeled non-stop for 90+ minutes. I also got to touch a puffer fish and Cara touched a sea urchin.
Then it was off to the second island for some beach time.
I used the panorama feature on iPhone 5 to take this photo.We spent the afternoon here. No big deal.
What I love about these excursions and tours away from the hotel is not only do I get to see cool shit outside of town, but I stay active.
FitBit data shows that I burned over 2,000 calories that day NOT including the snorkeling (MyFitnessPal tracked snorkeling at 400+ calories for 90 minutes).
We earned our siesta that day! Yay us!
Go team!
wow, i wish i could incorporate oceanic exploration into my everday workouts! except that i live nowhere near the ocean. bummmmmer