I awoke on this our second morning and I knew this was the day. Our entire trip began with one simple request many months ago. I asked Maggie sometime last year what she wanted her big trip to be for the summer. With passport in hand her options were essentially limitless, but she wanted the criteria to include two things, Mexico and Dolphins. If Mexico was involved I wanted to go to Isla Mujeres and since they just so happened to have a Dolphin encounter it fit all of our needs. Today was the day she had been waiting for and it was not going to disappoint.
We got ready, donned our swimsuits and hit the street to find a taxi. It took a few minutes, but once we found one we were well on our way. We arrived a bit early so we wandered the grounds and checked out some of the views and then posted up in a couple of beach swings and enjoyed the scenery. Check in was quick and smooth, my favorite kind, and we headed to the VIP restaurant for a quick bite. I booked the package that included entrance to the reef park and all inclusive food and beverage so we could really enjoy the day. Most of the trip was heavily budgeted, but this was Maggie’s day so I splurged for this one and spared no expense. After a quick bite we were given our life jackets and headed to the giant huts that sat out in the water.
after a quick discussion on some very common sense rules we headed into the water. No Cameras were allowed, they wanted the monopoly on pictures, so I’ll just say Maggie had an adventure of a lifetime. We spent an hour with the Dolphins playing swimming and talking. Their names were Carlos and Aramis and they were 9 and 10 years old respectively. All of the Dolphins at the facility were born in either aquariums or zoos around the world and they seemed to enjoy our attention as much as we enjoyed theirs. I know there are mixed feelings about animals and their use in such facilities, but they seemed happy and some of the proceeds go to marine life conservation. Conservation is big on the island which I was glad to see. Most places we visited either did not have straws or used biodegradable straws. All of the trash receptacles always had three bins. Organic waste, recyclables and basic trash. In some ways the island was far more advanced in this respect than we were back home. 
After an amazing experience we boarded a boat for the reef park further down the island. Garrafón reef is a natural reef on the southern part of the western side of the island. There is a large park that has kayaking, snorkeling, zip lines, swimming pools (as there’s is no beach here due to the reef) and a couple of restaurants with both buffet style and made to order offerings. All of this was also included with the Dolphin package and I was looking forward to snorkeling on the reef. Upon de boarding however, it was time for some beverages and food. We found a locker, put up our belongings and sat down in the restaurant. It was an impressive spread with everything from pasta, salads, Mexican favorites, meats grilled to order, ribs, fresh fruit, enough to fill both of us to the top. We exited the restaurant and headed to the zip line. There was a bit of a wait and we settled into a row of benches next to a couple on holiday from London. We had some nice conversation and then were geared up for our zip line adventure. You started high above the cliffs, and flew over a stretch of jungle patch to another platform further down the cliffs. Then it was off to a platform a good 300 yards off shore over the reef itself and then back to the shore to finish on a platform a few feet above the shoreline. It was quite a rush and Maggie was on cloud 9. 
We then headed to retrieve our snorkeling gear and head off into the water to check out some marine life. The reef itself was roped off, so you couldn’t swim over it only around it, which was fine I understood the need to protect such a delicate environment. It was pretty spectacular and probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. I wasn’t sure how Maggie would respond to all the fish swimming around but she seemed to really enjoy it to. After some pretty amazing photos and views a tropical shower blew in from what seemed like nowhere, the water became very choppy and Maggie was ready to get out. No sooner had we turned in our gear the rain stopped, but the seas remained a little rough so we spent the rest of our day eating hamburgers, nachos, I consumed a few adult beverages and we otherwise floated in the cool infinity pool. We lounged until the park closed and then made our way out. Exhausted and happy we headed to the apartment for some left over pizza and an early trip to the land of slumber. 
