These pictures reflect the town of Playa del Carmen and Casa Cenote.
Early morning (about 7:30AM) a walk downtown before
all the shops opened.. Also No crowds and no pesky salespeople
One afternoon Rick and Reid went down to Casa Cenote
to do some snorkeling and have lunch. Lisa& Reid where here
5 years ago and liked the place.
The restaurant has not changed a bit other than the
prices may have gone up about 50% but the menu hasn't changed.
What has changed dramatically is the area around the
restaurant. It was just an empty lagoon with maybe a house or two.
Now (as you can see) there are a number of houses, the lagoon is
ringed with them. But there was not much activity. Must be vacation
places.
Across the street from the restaurant
was a cenote and lagoon (called the Manatee Cenote - however the
Manatee has not been seen for a couple of years). We snorkeled
in the Cenote. The water was crystal clear. Here you can see hundreds
of small fish hanging around the roots of a tree.
These were some kind of fish that swam by as we were
returning - their size was about 8 to 10 inches long. Any idea what
kind? The water was fresh but kind of brackish.
We have since been told that these are Barracudas..
This was a deep cavern in the lagoon.
You can see the sandy bottom is about 15 to 20 feet down.
The roots from the trees were very interesting and
made for some unusual sightings with all the algae growing around
them.
This was a rock on the bottom with little things (who
knows what) sticking out the top. This was from a depth of about
7 to 8 feet.
Another sandy bottom visible through the algae on
the bottom rocks. Only about 12 feet deep here.
Rick bobbing on the surface.
Rick playing around the bottom. He is
down about 9 feet here. Notice how clear...
Reid swimming around the bottom. We had on T-shirts
so we would not get any more sunburned.
