The Lee Family: The Beach

Since arriving, Sofia asked every day when we planned to go to the beach. We decided to go on Tuesday morning so we could spend most of the day enjoying the ocean. We got the kids ready and Sofia was so excited to get going. We took a cab to Pueblo Bonito Blanco, a sister hotel that is near the marina and right on the water. We were able to use all of their facilities, so we gathered beach towels and headed to the beach where we were able to sit under a cabana on lounge chairs. It felt a lot hotter down in town than it did at the villa, but we were soon all in the Sea of Cortez. Sofia was in immediately and she and CK swam out together as far as they could. Olivia would go in, but only when I held her which was fine except there was a pretty steep drop off so that I could stand fine and then couldn't and I can't really swim and hold her out of the water for long. So, although she kept pointing to go deeper, we stayed in the shallow area just past the wave break.

Sofia soon discovered that if she floated and let the waves take her, she would get pushed up onto the sand and then pulled back in for the next wave. I actually tried it with her and it was really fun. Sofia did this for a long time while Olivia sat up on the lounge chairs with Antonio and had a snack. Soon, Sofia was playing in the sand and making up stories. Meanwhile, there were the constant hawkers of goods walking around trying to grab our attention to buy blankets, jewelry, bags, cover-ups, hair braids, henna tattoos, bracelets, carved statues of fish, etc. I think I must have said "no, gracias" ever minute. While sitting on the lounge chairs, I did see a blanket that I really liked, so ended up "negotiating" from $30 to $20, which I'm sure is still over-priced but it makes a great reminder of our trip. While looking at all of the vendor's blankets, about six other vendors came over with their goods and CK kept calling me "a mark" from then on.

We ate lunch in the outdoor cafe by the pool and then got onto the glass-bottom boat for a tour of the bay. Marco needed to wait for a call, so he stayed back while the rest of us walked down the beach to get onto the boat. It was not very organized and we weren't sure exactly what we were doing, but we finally loaded onto a boat and headed to the arch. It was marginally cooler on the ocean and there were a ton of boats, jet skis and other water-traffic around while we went. He took us to a spot where tons of people were swimming and jumping into the water from a rock and we saw tons of fish (thanks to the food he threw out), then to "lover's beach" and on to the arch. It was pretty rough by the arch, but I got a few cute pictures. We also saw sea lions, which really were stinky, but Sofia loved them and Olivia kept saying "I see. I see." We started heading back and he asked if anyone wanted to get off on that first beach to snorkel for an hour. CK and Sofia decided to get off and try it and I was going to get off too, but there was absolutely no shade and I knew Olivia and I would not only be very hot and uncomfortable but would get sunburned. We headed back to the hotel with Stacy and Antonio.

Once at the hotel, Stacy, Marco and Antonio headed to the villa. Stacy had gotten her fill of sun. Olivia went straight for the pool and used the stairs to walk in the water, jump and swim to me, then go back, get all the way out and try it again. She did this over and over and several people came over to ask how old is was and how she learned to swim so well. After Sofia and CK made it back, the four of us swam in the pool and cooled off for a bit before we took a cab back to the villa. It was a fun day and it was interesting to do something different.

Three excited kids ready for the beach