Mike in the Wild

I hadn't visited Jamaica in more than thirteen years when I found myself there with a day to spend off of a cruise ship.  It was easy for me to decide what I was most interested in: birds.  The island is one of the largest, and perhaps the most verdant, that ships visit in the Caribbean so I imagined there should be some interesting avian discoveries in store.  However my cruise didn't offer a specific birding excursion and I hadn't researched enough to travel independently.  Fortunately my Montego Bay stop sold a tour entitled "Go Native Jamaica" that boasted a nature walk at a tropical plantation in the hilly outskirts of town.  I was convinced when I read, "Watch for different bird species." Of course most of the tour focused on the history and landmarks of Montego Bay, Jamaica's second largest city, and on the nation's culture as a whole.  As my bus struggled through rush-hour traffic on its way to a  seventeenth century fort, we passed by ca...

Almost two years ago, I rented a car on Cozumel to visit several beaches where I intended to snorkel reefs that were not too far off shore.  Windy conditions creating choppy seas prevented me from swimming to most of the sites.  And an aggressive barracuda scared me away from the reef that I actually almost reached off Punta Sur on the Mexican island's southern tip.   From a cruise ship on my most recent stop on Cozumel, I joined a morning tour that promised visits to two additional sites on my original must-do list that were not reachable without a boat: Columbia Shallows Reef and El Cielo.  I'm happy to report that this time the weather and marine life cooperated with my plans.  And not only did I snorkel those places, but the tour added an unexpected third stop for a close-up encounter with sea turtles. The short title "Snorkel, Starfish, and Beach" didn't quite convey how exciting my excursion turned out to be.  Of course reading the details offere...