a thing in 267 photos ocean ...so I snuck in a extra hours of sunshine on the beach with my lovelies... Day 6: My flight wasn't until the early afternoon and the hotel was close to the airport... We got back to my hotel at 6:30 and packed up our things to head to Cancun. Said farewell to my favorite lil beach bed. (whispers: I'll miss you) ...with the lovely ocean morning view. ...one of the waiters would come over and take your order. Pretty next-level. ... alternating between reading and swimming. Why do I like the beach so much? Spend the rest of the day reading and enjoying the ocean view! Unpacked and enjoyed the view from my bed! ...I knew I'd made a good selection. ...when you finally get to see the turquoise ocean. <3 On Saturday, Steve and I headed to Jensen Beach. Slept in on Saturday and then from my hotel down to the waterfront for a croissant and a coffee. Taking a break passing Coney Island on the way back! Our arms were so sore after more than two-hours on the jetski. I still think this is one of the neatest things you can do in New York City.We left Sheepshead Bay and passed Coney Island.... Up early on the balcony for another nice day! ...a suite room right on the water looking at one of the main stages! Score! ...Hangout Music Festival! Gurj was there for work and had... That's more like it! Watched this friendly beach dog go swimming. Woke up to a gorgeous sunny Monday with the ocean in the distance. Aww, buddies! Ok, on to the reception ! ...with the amazing beach cliffs as backdrop. ...to take their seats. The waves were big and messy and choppy and we swam in them until 6:30. Bingo! Airborne. See you later, lovely Caye Caulker. This was one of the easiest.... Not bad, Belize. Thursday was the second-to-last day of my Belize adventure. Went over to the beach bar, had a few pina coladas... Final approach. Here's what it looks like from above . Dive was interesting. Fun to go down deep, but the deeper you go, the shorter the dive time. After the first dive, we hung out for a bit and then headed off to the second, less-deep dive of the day. Check out the canoe full of people (lower left) that had paddled out to watch the sunset together. ...a boat was passing in front of it. Nice little Tuesday. ...slowly change colors... I watched the sunrise and the sky... Five seconds after the predicted 6:26am sunrise, the sun made its appearance over the horizon. 6:20am. I sat there scratching my temporary-dog's ears watching the colors change. Dog friend number two. Nice to sit on the dock with these guys and feel at home on the earth. Just before 6am and the sky started to lighten. Two of the local beach dogs followed me out onto the dock and kept me company. Unfortunately, the captain told me that it was too windy to make the 70-mile round trip journey and to come back again tomorrow morning. I was too awake to go back to bed, so I decided to sit out on my hotel's dock and watch the sunrise. Watched the moon set over the water and decided that I was going to spend the remaining five days of my trip here on this tiny little island. Hung out on the old concrete dock and snoozed. Went down to the water for a swim. Spend the afternoon reading in my hammock. My room was tiny, but it had a nice outdoor deck with a hammock and view of the water. I found a great room at the third place I tried, Mara's Place , all the way at the northernmost tip of the island. Not a bad view. About halfway home, I decided to stop off at Palapa Bar for a beer. ...and wait for the rain to pass. I thought the room was so cheap just because it was terrible. But that night I also learned that the discount was also due to the fact that the room is twenty feet away from the island's only MEGA CLUB that plays insanely loud reggaeton music (played over a PA, inside a rectangular building entirely constructed of corrugated sheet metal - like it was MEANT to be heard) until 2am every night. (I'm laughing as I type this because I remember myself laying in bed that night reggaeton-dancing-myself to sleep to the bed-rattling beat.) I found a beach-side restaurant near the airport and had some lunch, then walked around looking for a room. Found a place on the beach for $80 USD a night which was more than I wanted to spend. The elevated vantage-point made it easy to see how the flowing water divides the land over time. We had a 45 minute ride along the coast to get to... I walked the pathway next to the beach, checking to see if the hotels had any vacancy. I got lucky on my third stop... Back in the air a little after 2pm, I looked out the window and noticed things were starting to look gorgeously turquoise and tropical. Strong onshore. Po-po beach cruiser and no waves. Excellent day at the beach. After we'd gotten our fill of swimming... They had superhero-esque wetsuits! Me and Alex with our DM about to get wet. Not a bad view at all. The restaurant is set atop a cliff's edge overlooking the ocean. Ricky took us all around the island... Pulling away from Malapascua. Picture perfect. One of the prettiest sunsets I've ever seen! ...and admire the sunset over the bay. Late evening view from our balcony. Unbelievable. No other place I'd rather be at the end of December. After some lunch, we headed down to the beach. Good times. We spotted a bunch of turtles on our way out. Another gorgeous sunset. Nothing like building a fire so well that you can't sit around it! Haha. Oh, and napping. Man, you should see just how hard I nap. This chaise lounge basically had no idea what hit it! I'm not very good at surfing, but I am excellent at enjoying breakfast with an ocean breeze. After we came down off the rocks, I went off exploring while the guys fished in the shallows. ...there's no where to go! You can't fish out here too long, because when the tide comes in... Not a bad view. I brought my camera and not my board. Haha. Here's a photo to give you an idea of how close the break is to the beach. And here's Steve surfing a wave that hopefully explains why I nearly soiled my boardshorts when I found myself on the other side of it. Surfing East Coast waves that are 5 or 6 feet is no big deal. This, however, was a whole different animal. ...and then walked south down the beach back to watch the guys surf Colorado again! ...headed down for a dip in the pool... On the way back from our hike, we met a friendly Australian and chatted a bit in the shade while we waited for the tide to go down... Other side of the river! ...and climbed up the hillside to check out the view! If you look to the right of the picture you can see the red roofs of the condo and the river mouth to the left. We made our way over the rocks... Not too shabby. ...to see the sea lions! Matt, Ethan and Meredith. Outside for photos! ...was a real peach. In Florida, the last day of 2010... ...we'd arrived! Meredith geeking out over the ridiculous ocean-view! Not much happening.
