Anniversary Trip to Sandals Royal Bahamian

We were thinking about taking a short cruise for our anniversary, but the prices had gotten so high! After looking at all the cruise options, Ron said, “if we’re going to spend that kind of money, we should just go to Sandals.” That sounded great to me! Taking advantage of a last-minute deal, we were able to snag three nights at Sandals Royal Bahamian.

We landed at Lynden Pindling Airport at 10:15 AM, flew through customs, and were at the resort by 11 o’clock. Our room wouldn’t be ready for a few hours, but we’d put swimsuits in our backpacks so we could start our vacation right away. After changing out of our travel clothes, we walked around the East Bay side of the resort, checking out the new over-the-water wedding chapel. The East Bay building had also been remodeled since our last trip two years ago. I barely recognized the billiards room. It used to be decorated in British colonial style with formal portraits, warm wood and black accents. Now the room was pink and green with pictures of flamingos and tropical plants. People in the Sandals Facebook group seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the pink-felt pool tables. :-)  I could see both sides. I’d liked the stately, traditional look, but the new look was more cheerful and Bahamian.

Mayan Adventure Tour with Aventuras Mayas

My main goal for our Cancun trip was to swim in a cenote. A cenote is a natural freshwater pool created when the limestone rock that makes up the soil of the Yucatan Peninsula collapses into the aquifer. There are thousands of cenotes near Cancun, but most of the cenote tours I found when I was researching were part of a day trip to Tulum or Chichen Itza. Then I read about the Mayan Adventure tour with Aventuras Mayas, which included snorkeling in three different ecosystems – a lagoon, an underground cenote, and an open-air cenote with a zipline into the water. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Beach Palace Cancun

As we flew over Isla Mujeres and into Cancun, we got our first glimpse of that spectacular blue water, a dozen shades of turquoise dotted with tiny white boats. I couldn’t wait to get to the beach! We would be spending the next five days at Beach Palace, an all-inclusive resort on the north end of the Hotel Zone, across from La Isla Mall and the new ferris wheel. We’d stayed at Beach Palace in 2013, and I still remembered how we'd loved the beautiful beach, our huge balcony, and the rooftop bar.

Dinoshores at the Sugar Sand Festival

Last weekend, Ron and I went to Clearwater Beach to see the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival. Clearwater Beach is known for its sparkling, soft, white sand, but when Hurricane Helen barreled through last September, it pushed mountains of sand all over the island. Before the sand could be returned to the beach, it had to go through the arduous process of separating, sifting and cleaning. Now six months later, it was back where it belonged, just in time for the annual sand sculpting event.