Main Menu            Home           Digital Cameras

Misc. Pictures            Articles            My Blog

All the pictures on this page are from the underwater camera that I purchased in the AquaWorld lobby for $18.00. The camera only had 27 exposures compared to the 520+ that my Canon Powershot SD110 digital camera can take.

I think I'll buy the underwater enclosure for the next Canon Power Shot that I buy so that I can really capture our snorkeling experiences.

After a very brief orientation session, the instructor had us sit on our boats and launched us out into the lagoon. It was a fun fifteen minute ride out to the coral reef. Our boat quit on us before we got to the coral reef, but the instructor just had us get in his boat and asked another AquaWorld staff member to call back to headquarters for a replacement boat.

Once all the boats were anchored together, the instructor gave us our masks and had us slip on our fins. The coral reef was outlined by a series of yellow buoys and thick rope. We were told to stay outside of the perimeter because it was a protected area. There were quite a few other tour companies out at the reef while we were there. It wasn't overly crowded but you had to look up occasionally to make sure that you didn't run into someone.

This was my first time snorkeling since I was very young, and I remember getting sick that time so I'm not sure if it even counts. Before we left the hotel I had remembered to take a Dramamine pill just in case I felt sea sick. Feeding the tropical and colorful fish with my lunch wasn't an experience I wanted to relive.

We had fought the current all the way to the far end of the buoys and snapped a few pictures of the brightly colored fish that surrounded the reef. I wasn't sure how much time we had left so I suggested that we let the current bring us back closer to where the AquaWorld boats were anchored. We mistakenly thought that we were late and that our group was ready to leave. I led us on a direct path through the restricted reef area in order to get back to "our" group faster. I saw a huge Stingray when we passed part of the reef and it startled me a bit. Once we popped our heads out of the water near what I thought was our group, we realized that it was a different group and we were now far from our boats. An AquaWorld staff member gave us a ride on his Jet Ski back to our group.

Overall it was a great experience and well worth the $55 per person fee that AquaWorld charges for the Jungle Tour. I really wish I had the underwater enclosure for my digital camera. I think I would have had a lot more fun if I could have captured about a hundred high quality digital pictures. I'm not used to having to conserve my remaining pictures and it was a real bummer. I know that I've seen one time use digital cameras in CVS, but do they make one time use underwater digital cameras?

When we got back to the Aqua World dock, I turned in our fins, got our stuff out of the locker and headed for the lobby. I saw the guy who took our picture from the shore with a SLR camera and he showed us our picture. It was a good picture so I paid the $10.00 for the 5x7" glossy print. I plan on scanning the picture on my Hewlett Packard scanner since if something isn't digital, I usually damage or lose it.

By the time we got out the front door of AquaWorld I was ready for some food. We decided on either Senor Frog's, Margaritaville, Lorito Joe's, Beefeater's Steak House, or the Argentinean Steak House. The need to shower over came my immediate hunger so we went back to the Omni Cancun Hotel and then we ended up just eating at La Paloma Restaurant, which is just down the stairs from the hotel lobby.