The area of Caribbean Sea surrounding Isla Mujeres is protected as a national park and is arguably the most clear, turquoise-tinted water in the world. Travellers come from all over the world to venture below the surface and gain their diving qualifications. Continue reading
Whilst tootling around the west side of Isla Mujeres on our hired golf cart, we noticed some signposts bearing illustrations of turtles, leading to a small island-size sea life centre tucked away from the main drag. A cheap 30 pesos (£1.50) allowed us to feed the turtles, learn the names of different varieties, and hold a range of sea creatures in the indoor aquarium section. Continue reading
Although our budget was tight, we decided we just couldn’t leave Queensland without swimming amongst the only living organism seen from space: the Great Barrier Reef. We went door to door along the numerous tour companies in Airlie Beach negotiating our hardest – and my yells of ‘just book us on any boat’ mixed with Charlotte’s cries of, ‘I just want to see Nemo!’ were fairly successful: we bagged a full day trip out to a snorkelling pontoon for $140 each (cheap by Australia’s standards).
The voyage out to the pontoon was traumatic. The sea was incredibly choppy, and the boat persistently rocked for the best part of two hours. The waves lapping at the side of boat were nothing to the waves we felt internally. It was a scene of total devastation. Crew members were called back and forth to clean up various messes and the sick bags were passed out in towering bundles. We sipped our cups of tea quietly and tried to avoid looking at the poor blue-tinged children behind us. Continue reading
Two One-Way Flights 