{ Palomino Island and Snorkeling in Fajardo}

Our first full day in Puerto Rico started our with gorgeous weather, perfect for us to have a full day at the beach and snorkeling. We ate a buffet brunch at the resort’s Las Brisas Restaurant-fresh fruit, pancakes, waffles, fresh made omelets, cereal, juice. The restaurant was situated just below where we were staying, so we got to enjoy the most amazing views out the restaurant’s floor to ceiling windows that surrounded the whole restaurant’s exterior-just like the views out our room’s balcony.

We finalized our afternoon snorkeling trip and than caught the 11:30am ferry out to the island. If we thought we were in paradise before, boy were we impressed to see that the real paradise was out on this island. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was like every beautiful photo shopped island picture in the latest travel magazine-with crystal clear turquoise water, white soft beaches, palm leaf umbrellas, and perfect blue skies-only this was very real, and very unphoto shopped. It made me love the beauty of this earth all over again.

Loving my “soccer” tan I’ve been working on all spring in preparation for this trip. Nice. I spent all week trying to blend in those nice white arms of mine to the rest of my tan arms and face.I still can’t get over how blue and absolutely clear this water was! Everywhere the water looks a darker blue is where there was a coral reef with tons of fish swimming around it.

We were a little surprised how empty the whole beach (and resort for that matter) was. When we asked someone about it, they said that the just got done with 3 weeks of Spring Break madness, and this was heaven to have almost no one here. Who knew? What a blessing for us to have our pick of the beach chairs, and any part of the beach we wanted. We scouted out a great spot to sit, and then walked around this side of the island, picking up coral pieces to take back to the kids, and seeing all the island wildlife.

True to his nature, Aaron couldn’t pass up a soccer ball and net and not kick in a few goals. Soccer is fun everywhere, especially on a paradise island.

A little ways out from the main island was a tiny little island that some people would kayak or ride a wave runner to. We found out later that is was pretty shallow and you could have swam out there, but it a was a little ways. It was like those tiny islands they talk about being stranded on-with about one tree and nothing else. That was about it-but it sure did seem enchanting to me.We checked out our snorkeling gear from the shop, and spent some time snorkeling in this area before out official snorkeling trip later that afternoon. It was super shallow (only about 6ft), but full of many tropical fish. The water was so clear that you could see many of them from just standing up and looking down without even any goggles on.

At about 2pm we met our snorkeling boat out on the island dock, where we were taken about 15 minutes away to the Fajardo National Park (I didn’t actually know you could have an underwater National Park, but I guess you can), on the northeastern side of Puerto Rico, where we would snorkel and some would scuba dive for a couple of hours.

Our driver was so funny-he was totally local, and after every sentence he would say, “Okay?, okay”. It reminded me of someone from Minnesota who says, “Ay” all the time.

They dropped anchor and we snorkeled off of the boat for a couple of hours just on our own. We took some pictures with our underwater camera I still have yet to develop that I’ll have to add later. Some people we talked to later that go scuba diving a lot around the world said that this was some of the best water they have ever snorkeled/scuba dove in anywhere. We felt lucky to take it all in.

We snorkeled mostly in this water here. This island is Culebra Island, and was part of a small chain of islands in the area. Here we are after we went out snorkeling. You can really tell my nice farmer’s tan here. Love it. The water was so warm and mild. In the picture below us, is where some of the scuba divers in our group went diving-where those white buoys are.

More pictures of all the small islands around us.

When we jumped out of the boat and started snorkeling, it was so cool to look down and be able to see all the way to the bottom of the ocean-no seaweed, no dirty water, just clear as could be. It was so amazing. As we drove back, I was looking in the water, and even from the boat I could see down to the bottom some. Such clear and pure water-I loved it. As we were boating back and forth from the islands, I was taken back by just how much water there is on the earth. A really random thought, but it just struck me as we were constantly surrounded by water how much life is in the ocean, and really how little land there is around it. It was a testimony builder for me of how much thought and love our Heavenly Father put into creating this earth. Though I never would have the stomach to be a sailor, I can see how calming the sea would be and the lure for some to sail the seven seas. It’s quite amazing being out there.

That night we got dressed up a bit, and went to eat at a nice restaurant down by the marina called the Stingray Café. It had some of the best seafood I have tasted-so fresh and presented in such a classy way. It was nice. We both tried some local soups, and had great fish, lobster, and some steaks. It was a beautiful evening with a nice cool breezy coming in off the shore. I love that even though it is warm here during the day, at nice it still cools down a little. It was a wonderful taste of paradise at it’s best.