Monday was another early start. We had booked to do a half day excursion which included snorkelling with giant turtles and swimming in an underground cenote.

Our guide Tatiana - a young russian girl - greeted us with much enthusiam outside Starbucks opposite the entrance to our hotel. As seemed to be the way with organised travel around the area we were collecting other people from different hotels. We set off towards Tulum and more precisely Akumel beach were we would be guaranteed to see at least one giant turtle.

The group was small 10 english speaking and 2 russians. It was intriguing to hear the explanations of the day repeated in Russian after we had heard everything in english. it sounded very much like the russian word for turtle was churry-pak.

When we arrived at Akumel we were told to leave the minibus with nothing except our swimwear. It was an odd feeling wandering across the carpark in just a bikini with a camera and snorkelling gear. Once the others were kitted out with their snorkelling gear we walked straight to the edge of the sea and introduced to the photographer who was going to join the group. His name was Nostradamus - one we predicted we wouldn't forget in a hurry. We lined up for photographs in pairs we were pair number 5 which we needed to remember for later on. Then it was straight into the sea - well backwards as trying to walk forwards in fins (especially full length ones) is a ridiculous exercise.

I have really no idea how long we spent hanging out over the coral reef and observing the turtles - there was a problem with snorkels and masks for a couple of the group members so Chris and I just got on with the job at hand. Times when we were swimming over 4 or more turtles at any one time. Huge schools of large colourful fish swimming around the reef. Rays hiding on the bottom, and such a variety of different coral. The visibility was a little harder than when we had been at Cozumel but we had had three days of very windy weather which had whipped up the sea and made it more cloudy.

When we came out of the sea we were given drinks and snacks and then we waited to see the photos that Nostradamus had taken. Initially we had had no intention of buying the CD but it turned out we the boss of the dive shop had been out with us - probably to support Tatiana who had told us it was her first day in this job. His photographs were very impressive and whilst I had been concerned that he had chased a very baby turtle to get some video footage of it, he explained that the turtles know them and if they don't want to be followed they will move very fast and disappear. Once we had purchased our CD of photographs we boarded the minibus and headed off into the jungle.

The second half of our underwater experience was to swim in an underground cenote. We arrived at a place that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere! A restroom stop, and then we were given wetsuits to wear - very attractive and rather hot in the sunshine. Bizarrely we then got back into the minibus and drove further into the jungle. If the original place seemed like the middle of nowhere I am not sure how to discribe this place. No signs, no big security notices. We climbed down a steep metal ladder - in our flipflops. And found ourselves in the most beautiful cave. Lit with ambient light mostly guiding cave divers to the openings of tunnels they wanted to explore. It was eerie, mystical and beautiful. The tree roots grew down through to cave and into the pool, stactites grew down from the ceiling, and it was quite hard to tell where the water line was on the far side of the cave.

The cenote was cold - much colder than the one we had swum in previously. It was also quite unnerving swimming over the big black expanses of bottomless crevises. Tatiana was most keen to ensure that we didn't hit our heads by getting too close to the edge of the cave, but other than that we were left to swim through at our own pace. There were a few small fish that looked a bit like the Danios I have in my fish tank at home.

As we came out the water we removed our wetsuits and wrung them out (not good for wetsuits but hey that is what we were told to do). The minibus took us back to the restrooms where we had the opportunity to get dressed, and then we headed off back to the hotel.

All that swimming had given us both an appetite so we had a leisurely lunch before finding a spot on the beach for the rest of the day. Diana had booked her second massage for 4pm that afternoon - another 50mins of hardship, lying listening to the sounds of the sea whilst someone massaged her whole body.

The evening found us back at the outside bar. Lots of big boxes and other interesting things were being put on the stage, preparation for what turned out to be an entertaining magic show and amazing demonstration of contortionism by the beautiful assistants.