Day 10 cancun- xel ha

9Hi guys!
Today we got up at 5am as we had to be at the hotel lobby at between half 6 and 7 as we were going to xel ha! If you don't know what this is it is like a park where there is a river you can snorkel in, a few animals like mongeese running around, there's a 'jump of courage' which is a jump off a cliff, and other activities like swimming with dolphins, snuba diving (yes snuba not scuba) etc. It sounded really good so we had decided to go. We had been told that we were all inclusive on the trip and could do all of the activities but when we got there it turned out we had to pay extra for any activities!
It took about 2 and a half hours altogether to get there, although we were on a pink bus for most of the journey which I loved!
We decided to pay for the manatee experience,  the sea trek and snuba diving.
By the time we had made it to the beginning of the river (apparently you had to start there if you wanted to go into the river even though there were lots of places to get into the river) it was time to go to the manatee experience so we ended up not snorkeling!
The manatee experience was amazing but I was really scared! There were 2 manatees and myself and hubby started with the larger of the two. The trainer told us to avoid swimming above the manatee or near the tail as every 20 minutes the manatee would go to the surface to breathe and we would get injured if we were in the way! We had to wear a life jacket and a snorkel and mask, and got to feed, stroke and swim with the manatee. At one point I lost where it had gone as I had had a problem with my mask and hubby told me it was underneath me which I panicked about! It was huge! After a while it decided it was bored and wouldn't come back to us anymore so the trainer took us to the smaller manatee which had been born in captivity.
With the smaller one we had to pose for a 'kiss' with it but for some reason it kept trying to pull me over so the trainer got a bit mad at me! It wasn't my fault though it was very strong but eventually I got a kiss! When hubby was trying to pose for a kiss the manatee kept trying to swim to me and the trainer was getting a bit panicked at why the manatee kept coming to me even though I was nowhere near them so I had to get out! Apparently it liked me ha. When we got out of the water we were given a towel and the trainers explained to us why it is important to look after manatees by not throwing plastic bags in the water as they die if they eat it, and by being careful if in a boat as they get their heads and backs cut by the propellers so they are in danger of dying out!
We had a little walk around the park while waiting for the next experience to begin. We found the cliff jump which we both did but I landed very awkwardly in the water as for some reason my legs came up during the fall so I hurt my legs, I didn't want the lifeguards to know though so I just grinned and swam anyway but once out of the water and back with the hubby I nearly cried! My thighs were bright pink and so sore and I had little cuts on one of them :-(
We had something quick to eat and then made our way to the sea trek. When we got there we were told it was cancelled due to the weather,and we would have to go back to the front desk to get our money back. Hubby went to get the refund while I watched the dolphins -they were so cute!  The man at the front desk tried to get hubby to choose a different experience but we didn't want to, so he tried to give a refund in American dollars (but we had paid in Mexican pesos and had been warned that the exchange rate meant that if we got dollars we wouldn't actually get the full amount back so hubby asked for pesos) after about twenty minutes we finally got our refund!
We had a couple of hours before the next experience so we went on the zip lines, which were surprisingly fun and only little so I wasn't scared! Hubby went on a rope obstacle course over the water and nearly Completed it :-) and then we had a little swim around the river. We had an inflatable double ring but hubby couldn't steer it properly but he blamed me so I ended up getting out and pushing it! Lol
We went to snuba diving, there was a bit of a problem to begin with as there was only enough equipment for 4 people (us and another couple) but 2 more people turned up with a ticket for the same time so the instructor had to go and try sort it out, he came back and asked us if we had cancelled ours and I said we had cancelled the sea trek but not this one and only got the refund for the sea trek, so the instructor said that he would still take us as we hadn't cancelled it. I felt sorry for the other couple as we would have hated to be messed around like that but it wasn't our fault, we hadn't cancelled it and hadn't got the money back so it was still ours as far as we were concerned and the other couple still went out just at a later time.
We had weights tied around us, and had the equipment tied to us and then we went to the water. We got instructions on what to do and then had to practice breathing out to sink rather than swimming to the bottom. I got it immediately and the instructor (daniel) said he was very impressed with me but hubby and the other couple had to practice a bit more. The woman from the other couple still didn't get it after a while so she decided not to do it but her hubby still did and we set off. It was so fun but hubby had to surface twice and I got a bit worried about him but daniel told me to leave hubby and keep diving as he would be fine. It only lasted half an hour actually diving so I wish we had longer but it was stunning and there were so many fish! Hubby enjoyed it once he got over his panic, which was good.
After that we had to go and get changed into dry clothes and go get the photos as it was nearly time to leave.
Overall it was a good day, but nothing like I was expecting and we were disappointed at not being told we had to pay extra for the activities, we suggested that it should be made clear to people as no one else had known either.

hubby and I had a chat about what we would rate xel ha and both decided about 6 or 7 out of 10.

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