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Fall Fun with Friends . . . an ABR breakfast - 11/17/2012 8:46:16 AM

ChrisandCindy

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We loaded up the car with almost everything on Saturday October 27. Our dog Mollie was very nervous. We got up bright and early on Sunday morning and packed the last few items in the car including the dog and headed off to grandma's. A few miles east of Mukwanago on highway 43 we got a few snow flurries. We both laughed.

Mollie and grandma's dog Emma had a high old time running around while we took grandma to lunch. Upon our return several of her rugs were rolled up and a few pieces of furniture were moved including both couches and a big copper kettle. Fortunately no damage. We picked up a metal sculpted scorpion from Cindy's cousin Randy (a birthday gift for Pam) and then headed to LaQuinta by O'Hare.

Last May at the Jalisco Cinco de Mayo Party, Miguel had several full size cardboard cutouts of the most interesting man in the world. We procured one of them for our buddy Craig. He and Margaret and Hondo, along with Tony and JoAnne met us for dinner Sunday evening at the Gale Street Inn. We enjoyed a few cocktails and sat down to eat with the most interesting man in the world. It turns out that our dinners were prepared by the most interesting chef in the world:

Check out his videos at this link, they are a hoot:
Home of the Most Interesting Chef in the World

We enjoyed some great ribs, steak and shrimp and as usual had a great time with the phone shot Friday crew from Chicago. Got a charge out of watching the magician perform for Hondo and it is intersting to note that this restaurant was one of Tony's first places of employment.

< Message edited by ChrisandCindy -- 4/21/2013 9:11:43 AM >

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/17/2012 10:49:52 PM

Susy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ChrisandCindy

OMG!!! That picture makes me LOL

How fun for you all!!!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 8:04:04 AM

Jamie

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Ribs look yummo

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 9:15:27 AM

janjon

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From: Kansas City :)
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Did you take your special guest with you to Mexico?

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 12:49:25 PM

Conifer water rat

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They kinda look like twins!!

Looks like good food & fun time!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 4:46:23 PM

ChrisandCindy

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No JJ, we left our friend with CC. He was starting to creep Cindy out peering out of the closet between the coats, and the reason we acquired him in the first place was to give him to CC.

Up bright and early Monday October 29 for our ride to O'Hare. Our United Airlines flight was uneventful and we had seats in the middle of the cabin with plenty of leg room. We had a red button and after a cursory search were out on the concrete looking for USA Transfer. The whole process from deplaning to hopping in the van took less than an hour. We directed our driver to the Pemex in Puerto Morales so we could enjoy the famed sausage sandwiches from Salchicha's. Delicious as advertised! Unfortunately they did not have Palomas at the 7 /11.

Pix courtesy of Badger:

We had Yucatan style sausage on a baguette.

We arrived at the ABR in early afternoon and were greeted by El Tigre. We went to the check in desk and they said if we wanted to wait an hour or so we could have room 401, but they had a room in Bldg 5 available now. Cindy decided to go for the bigger room so we ended up in 528 on the second floor just south of the central staircase. We met Pam and Caitlin in the lobby and they advised they were in a palapa just north of the massage hut. We got changed, said hi to Wilbert and Papi and headed out to try our new cameras.

The bay is flat calm and I am able to indulge in my favorite activity, trying to get pix of small fishes darting in and out of their hiding places in the coral

A juvenile longfin damselfish

A bicolor damselfish

A juvenile three spot damselfish

A yellowtail damselfish with a tang above it.

Sergeant Majors

a tang

We also saw some things lurking in the shadows

a glasseyed snapper

a lobster

After our snorkel we hit the moonrise and yakked for a while with Timhy and Wetone and Jackie as well as Pam and Caitlin. We also ran into Dung and Cammie. It was their second to last day. Cindy and Cammie swapped holiday war stories from the florist trade: (Valentine's day sucks but Mother's day is worse). There were some Rina Evacuees we recognized from last year also running around the area. We noticed there are surveyors working on the property around the moonrise and the old Italian restaurant and the building with the indoor pool where they had the Mexican meals years ago. There is a bull's eye painted in about the middle of building three on the massage hut side. We brought Pam's birthday gift to give to her at dinner. We had a nice dinner at the buffet but since Caitlin refused to compete for the title of Ms Akumal, we call it a night.

Pam liked her scorpion:

Look out Keavin it appears the mean wives club is plotting something and Pam has a sharp object in her hands

< Message edited by ChrisandCindy -- 11/18/2012 4:50:09 PM >

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 6:12:41 PM

SnorkelNfools

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Keavin is REALLY worried now! Thanks! Cool scorpion!

Great report so far! We had fun hanging with Mr. and Mrs. El Presidente!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/18/2012 8:14:24 PM

jacalope

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Very enjoyable trip report, thank you!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/19/2012 8:03:58 AM

Jamie

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Nice report - what is a Paloma? Tks.

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/21/2012 10:56:04 PM

Jeannemarie

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You guys are too funny!....Chris, I love the little ones too..I don't use fins and spend most of my time just hovering over a coral head....

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends - 11/22/2012 9:30:11 AM

barata

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You're off to a great start, now when can we see more?!
As always, you guys added that special somethin somethin to our vacation. Hope we can do it again!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/23/2012 8:29:50 AM

ChrisandCindy

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Jamie: A Paloma (Spanish for dove) is a tequila cocktail made with tequila, lime and a sour soda. We also like them with some agave syrup. One of our favorite recipes is ruby Paloma: Lime, red grapefruit juice, agave syrup and Fresca. In the Akumal area you can buy them already mixed made with El Jimador tequila in either 12 oz cans or 2 liter bottles.

JM always nice to hear from a fellow hoverer.

Barata, it is always a treat to spend time in Akumal with you and Juan.

We wake up early on Tuesday morning and watch the sun rise. Cindy decides to walk down the beach towards the south. She sees a number of turtle nests and comes back and urges me to go look at them with her.

Right in front of the dining rooms we can see the crabs have been out racing around during the night.

We notice one of the nests in front of building 6 hatched last night. The guard advises it happened about 3 am.

We spend a few minutes yakking with a lady from Canada and then meander back towards the main bar. In a short while Pam and Caitlin appear and we have breakfast al fresco just outside the north entrance to the dining room.

After breakfast we have a cappuccino with Wilbert and agree to meet up at the palapa Pam has staked out just north of the massage to get ready for our morning snorkel.

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/23/2012 7:58:19 PM

barata

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Aw, those baby turtle tracks are soooo cute!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/24/2012 12:00:34 PM

ChrisandCindy

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Cindy saw a sharptail eel

and a squirrel fish

a four eyed butterfly

some parrots

and a courting male yellowtail damselfish

a blue head

a small turtle

some chubs

< Message edited by ChrisandCindy -- 11/24/2012 2:09:03 PM >

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/25/2012 8:38:50 AM

CurlSnout

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Nice! Man, that sharptail eel is *something*! Love it all....

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/25/2012 7:32:33 PM

Isla Chica

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Great photos as always! Loved the one with the baby turtle tracks. Thanks for sharing!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/27/2012 5:16:29 AM

ChrisandCindy

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After we came in from the morning snorkel, we changed into dry clothes and wandered down to Akumal. We dropped our old cameras off at CEA. We are happy they will continue to be used to take photos of the Akumal area. Cindy and Pam and Caitlin decided to do a little shopping. I snorkeled back to the ABR.

I see some more parrot fish:

Some Grunts

A queen Angelfish

A juvenile wrasse

Many damselfish

and more chubs

We all meet up back at the palapa near the massage hut and head for lunch at the snack bar. I hear all about the exciting opportunities to purchase jewelry in Akumal.

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/27/2012 7:15:26 AM

LeeLee

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Great photos!! Thank you for sharing.

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends upand at them Tuesday morning - 11/27/2012 7:21:18 AM

crunch

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Loving this report Chris. Wonderful pics and stories!

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/27/2012 8:36:48 PM

Bosco

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New camera seems to be a huge success. Nice.

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/28/2012 4:16:28 AM

ChrisandCindy

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We relax for a little while after lunch and then head out for the afternoon snorkel. Cindy finds something we have never seen before, an orange spotted filefish

The bay is flat and calm so snorkeling conditions are excellent we are able to get pictures of young yellowtail damsefish dodging in and out of the coral heads with the sergeant majors

The young yellowtail damselfish also are flitting around with the beaugregory juveniles

we see a lot of juvenile tangs

We visit some cleaning stations operated by the juvenile Spanish hogfish

See some bar jacks and of course some more parrot fish

< Message edited by ChrisandCindy -- 11/28/2012 4:19:14 AM >

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/28/2012 7:50:22 AM

Jamie

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Great pictures, and thanks for telling me what a Paloma is, the one with the grapefruit juice sounds kind of good

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/28/2012 1:52:39 PM

alexakumal

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ChrisandCindy
We relax for a little while after lunch and then head out for the afternoon snorkel. Cindy finds something we have never seen before, an orange spotted filefish

Hey Chris, isn't that a Squirrelfish? I sure hope so, because if it would be an Orange-spotted Filefish, we'd have another invader from the Indo-Pacific besides the Lionfish!

< Message edited by alexakumal -- 11/28/2012 2:24:46 PM >

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/28/2012 4:06:22 PM

rupietoot

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Your pictures and prose are absolutely wonderful. thank you so much for taking the time to post. Can't wait to be there in March ...

Susan

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RE: Fall Fun with Friends up and at them Tuesday morning - 11/28/2012 7:12:16 PM

ChrisandCindy

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Hi Alex! You know, I think maybe Chris did mislabel that picture, it does look like a squirrelfish's dorsal fin...but I did see orangespotted filefish several times on this trip and I hope some of the pictures I took turn out. Since I had never seen them before I went right to the fish "Bible", Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach's Reef Fish Identification for Florida Caribbean Bahamas. And there it was. Doesn't say it doesn't belong, but rather "Common to occasional Caribbean; occasional to uncommon Florida, Bahamas; also Gulf of Mexico, north to Massachusetts, Bermuda and south to Brazil." Chris is still working on photo editing, so stay tuned and will get more pictures posted. Cindy ( PS- Google it again as Cantherhines Pullus)

< Message edited by ChrisandCindy -- 11/28/2012 7:24:47 PM >

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