Villas Del Mar: Winding down a Fine Vacation

Joe, Ian and I have been in Puerto Aventuras for nearly 2 months, and tomorrow it's time to head home to Massachusetts. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the weather, that's Joe's department, but I know its going to involve wearing shoes and coats, and a lot more clothes than we've had on our backs here. I think I wore out my 2 old bathing suits. This was a wonderful place to be with friends and family, laying around the beach, reading and swimming. Add in some work from afar on my laptop to keep things running with my photo club and taking care of the usual adult responsibilities, definitely a wonderful vacation with all in balance!!

Oh, the beach...!

My favorite spot under a palapa in the shade with a good book. Such a luxury!

Mr. Tan Man. Joe somehow got very tan, even keeping his shirt on and in the shade.

Guacamole every day, made by Joe. I think we went through 360 avocados, and they were good!

Ian finding the best warm mango.

Our last evening walk on the beach tonight, pretty place.

Ian, Alex, Luke and Maegan in Puerto Aventuras

Earlier in January we had the pleasure of hosting some of our son Ian's friends. Alex, Ian's girlfriend, visited for about 10 days, after a four day delay getting here because of a snow storm in New England. Luke, Ian's long time friend from young birding days, visited with his girlfriend Maegan.  Lovely to have such fun young people around and they were good about me having my camera pointed at them!

Ian, Alex, Maegan and Luke

Perfect photo bomb by Ian

Pointing out a bird....

I really like this one of the two of them...

Portrait for Ian to use for online profiles, Flickr??? Handsome, isn't he?? :-)

Ian is now 22 years old, and just completed his degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at UMass Amherst in December. He'll be working in Alaska this summer for Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences partnering with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Shorebird Breeding Ecology at the Canning River Delta in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Try saying that really fast....

The 4 of us went to the ruins in Tulum and out to lunch. Photo taken by a nice stranger with Joe's camera.

Enjoying a moment.

Ian and Alex had a good time snorkeling and birding together.

All 4 in the ocean.

Ian and Alex on the beach at sunset.

Goodbye Villas del Mar, Puerto Aventuras.

The experiment failed. I was hoping to stay here for too long, so that I would be ready to leave. We've been here for 4 weeks, and I could stay longer, maybe next time it be will enough...

I think Villas Del Mar is the best place to stay in Puerto Aventuras, best beach, best pool, location is right next to all the shops and restaurants, yet private and never crowded. Having our own 2 bed, 3 bath condo made it easy to have guests, cook our own food and have plenty of room to spread out, it was our home away from home, and a very nice one at that.
Joe took some great panoramas around our area, you can see them
HERE.

 View from our condo.

 Our condo is the one between the 2 palm trees, second floor, dark window with balcony to the left.

 Zero entry pool, a big hit with children and the Grackles bathe here at the end of every day.

Great-tailed Grackles, loved watching them in the water.

 Our part of the beach, where someone was always there to get you a lounge chair. 

Sitting under a palapa with a good book, priceless!

 Our unit is managed by Blue Caribbean rentals and they were very responsive to any requests, couldn't have asked for better.

 We always had the screen door open, and never any bugs.

The sofas are really straight, distortion is from making a panorama. Very comfortable. 

The Omni Pool bar, heated to make it easier to eat and drink while in water....

The Omni Hotel, with it's amenities, is next door to Villas del Mar.

 After lunch at the Omni we walk back to our condo next door, along the beach.

Farewell Puerto Aventuras, we're going to miss this lovely place.

Sunrise On A Good Rainy Day

What a spectacular sunrise we had today in Puerto Aventuras, the colors were flying! I dashed out with my Canon camera and was rewarded with a pretty show.

 The pool area in Villas Del Mar

 Our beach.

 My favorite Palapa to photograph.

 A couple enjoying their morning coffee, best seat on the beach and no one else but us were there.

 A first for me, an exercise class on the beach! What a pretty place for it, I watched Pelicans diving for their breakfast while I'm trying to keep up. This was a serious class, I couldn't keep up, and if I can still walk tomorrow I'll go back on Friday. 3 times a week at 8am. Today's class was cut short by rain, we were in it for an hour while it was coming down lightly, a first for me as well.

 Grabbed this with my iPhone, the best place ever to do lunges and crunches while a gentle rain comes down to keep you cool.

A walk in the rain to the outdoor market. Still warm out...

 An Agouti, they run around and remind me of rabbits. Cute!

Nearing the end of the day.

Sunset.

From One Puerto to Another

Sunday we moved from Puerto Morelos to Puerto Aventuras, an hour taxi ride and a world apart. Both are on the coast, beautiful clear water, warm perfect climate. PM is a small fishing village with a funky older Mexican charm. PA is a modern day, well kept gated community with more first world amenities. I think you'll see what I mean by the photos that appear over the next month. The coast line is gorgeous at both locations!

Our last day in Puerto Morelos, Joe helping some random boat owners get their boat back in the water. Second from the left is Joe :-)

 Puerto Aventuras, I think you'll be seeing this lone palapa out over the water again...

 A planned community, there's a gate everyone must be approved at before getting in. We're in the Villas del Mar, the one with the big pool at the lagoon, to the left of the 'your are here' sign.

Villas del Mar

A real marina with fancy boats.

 Good morning!

 In front of our condo, a great place to swim or read a book.

If you travel south from Cancun, you have to pass a few of these real bus 'bill boards'. A great eye catcher on the highway.

Our condo, home sweet home for the next month.

Joe happily watching the Pats on TV, we get a few American stations...a first world amenity.