Humpback Whales in Puerto Vallarta

The day after Cari and John's wedding, we took a trip out of the resort onto Banderas Bay to do some snorkeling and hopefully to see some whales. We went on a similar trip almost a year ago in Hawaii and liked the trip but were a little disappointed that we didn't see many whales. This trip turned out to be much more satisfying in so many ways.

We sailed from the marina to the Marietas Islands all the while keeping our eyes open for whales on the voyage. It wasn't long before we saw several groups of whales surfacing for air, spouting water and fluking.

At the end of a very eventful morning, we arrived at the Marietas Islands. After some snorkeling, exploring the isolated beaches and having a fresh lunch on the sailboat, we began our trip back to the marina. In between the bottomless margaritas, tequila sunrises, pina coladas, etc., we kept our eyes peeled for more whales. Finally we saw what Roxi and I had been waiting for since we first saw humpbacks in Hawaii earlier in the year: a whale breach! It was preceded and followed by several whales swimming along the surface and slapping the water with their fins.

We really couldn't have asked for much more out of the trip. We saw more than I had hoped to see and had a great time in the process. Hopefully the videos show the majesty and grace of these enormous creatures.

Cari & John's Wedding

On our fourth day in Puerto Vallarta we attended the beautiful wedding of Cari and John on the beach of the Riu Jalisco resort on Banderas Bay. The wedding was about an hour before sunset and the setting couldn't have been better.

Riu Jalisco

Our trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico took us to the all-inclusive Riu Jalisco resort for Cari and John's wedding.

New Year, New Life

Things have been very busy for me over the past few months and really over the past year. I had a lot going on at work and not much time or energy to blog in the evenings. Things are all about the change though. Roxi has accepted a research fellowship in the Netherlands starting in January. We are moving to Enschede on January 12 for at least seven months depending on how the fellowship goes for Roxi. At this point, I'm not sure what I'll be doing over there to pass the time, so blogging might become a very big part of my life again. If I do find a way to get a job, that will cut into my time to write about our experiences, but either way, I will increase my blogging if for no other reason than to keep our families apprised of what we are doing in the Old Country.

I left my job on December 9 to devote myself to getting our affairs in the States in order before we leave. Before we started that though, we took a week-long vacation to Puerto Vallarta for our friend Cari's wedding. We had a wonderful time and saw some amazing things. Stay tuned for pitcures and videos from our trip to Mexico.