Brenda's Bicycles

As my two friendly machine-gun-toting policemen continued walking away in the darkness, heading to the north, I captured a quick photo. You can see the tip of the machine gun hanging in front of the policeman to the right.

This is a photo of the sunrise as the sun began to glow over the horizon. Automatic light controls make the scene appear brighter than it was.

The remains of my hot glowing coals. I placed the ‘copal’ herb onto these coals to produce the sweet fragrant smoke.

This lone dolphin stopped by to see what I was up to with my fire. Again, the lighting is a tad deceptive. It was not this bright out …

Another shot of my curious friend. He swam off to the south shortly after this photo was taken.

A daylight view of my hot coals. I used the dried palm branch above to fan the smoke as I spoke to the spirits of the island.

This image gives a little more accurate perspective of just how dark it still was. My camera made previous photos look a lot lighter.

This is a wide angle shot looking south from my fire pit. At the very point of the beach you can see a large building that I believe is a small tourist hotel.

This photo is from my fire pit looking a little more east, out into the beautiful ocean waters.

This is yet anoter view looking toward the north. Again, at the very tip of the photo is some more development. If memory serves me, I believe this is a tiny portion of Mescalitos. After walking past me, the policemen disappeared in this direction.

Yet another view of the sky shortly after the sunrise.

As I resumed my southward journey, this isolated palm tree caught my eye.

This is a larger grove of palm trees, one of the larger ones that I passed on the trek.

This is a close up view of the same group of palm trees right next to the inland side of the road.

It was not long before I began to notice many signs of recent sea-turtle activity. This big turtle nest appears to be very fresh. The sand looks like it was just barely turned over. Notice the tracks that head back toward the ocean.

This is a zoomed-out view of the same turtle nest. As you can see, the single set of tracks goes all the way back to the water. Someone keeps very close tabs on these nesting sites, and places a red pole by each of them. Every large hole in the sand was dug out by nesting turtles.

In this photo, you can see three sets of turtle tracks. I’m not quite sure if the two on the left are from the same turtle, perhaps taking a different path back to the water.

This is a wider-angled view of the same area as the previous photo. Notice how many nests and tracks there are in the sand. This is quite common in the sandy areas all along the eastern coast of Cozumel.

As I continued riding south, this is another section of palm trees. You can see how weather-beaten they are from the incoming tropical storms and weather systems.

This is a view looking behind me towards the north. The road to the left is the new road, which is wider with smooth pavement. The closest road is the old road, being much more run down. The beach is just off to the right. This double road runs for a few miles down the coast from Mescalitos. Then the new road disappears and all traffic merges onto the old road.

Same as the previous photo, only showing the ocean to my right.

This cute little guy came out to greet me as I pedaled by a small beach-side restaurant facility.

This big beautiful bird was just a short distance further down the road to my right. If anyone knows what kind of bird this might be, I would love to find out. At first, I thought it was a buzzard, but it does not match any pictures I can find on the internet.

Here’s another turtle nest that looks very freshly dug. The sand looks as if it may have just been dug the night before.

Wide angle photo of the same fresh nest. I love this part of the island.

Coming up on a small restaurant and swimming hole called “Chen Rio”. Some of my friends like to come here to swim.

This is the beautiful view looking south from Chen Rio.

A closeup of one of these beautiful palm trees.

Yet a closer view of the tree’s incredible root system.

Part way down the road, looking back toward Chen Rio. The sheltered cove to the right is very calm. Swimming on open beaches on this side of the island can be trecherous, as currents and riptides can be strong.

This little memorial along the beach road is one of several I have noticed scattered around the island.

A view of the road as I continue southward. The beach is just over the trees to the left. This is one of the few spots where you cannot see the ocean from the road.

The shadow of your’s truly crusing down the road, heading southbound, with the sun at my left.

I found this lone flower quite beautiful. This is the only one I saw. Does anyone know what it is?

Continuing down the coastline, probably about half way from Mescalitos to the south end.

This is a little hut on the beach. There are several of these scattered around, but I have never seen anyone in them. Perhaps lifeguards use them during tourist season–to protect tourists who do not know about the rip tides …

From the same spot as the beach hut, looking back behind me and to the north.

Many areas of the eastern shores are rocky, like this area further south.

In t spot, the jungle is very sparse and arid looking.

Coming up on Playa Bonita, the place where I ate lunch on my previous round trip of the island. Today it was not even open yet as I passed by before 9:00 am.

Even closer still to the small restaurant at Playa Bonita. If you look closely, you can see that a large portion of the patio on the ocean side has been washed out. I don’t know for sure, but I assume this was from a large hurricane, perhaps Wilma a few years ago.

These little thatch-roofed structures are on the south edge of the Playa Bonita restaurant. Guests can sit here and the restaurant/bar will give you beach side service. More umbrellas and tables are set out front, right next to the water, if you prefer to be nearer the surf.

This cute little Iguana was sunning itself on the road before I came near. He paused by the edge of the road long enought for me to snap a photo.

This is a close up of a national park sign that is repeated all over the island. Most of the Cozumel beaches are protected reef areas.

Wide angle view of the same sign with the beach behind. Note that the beach is a mix between rocky areas and white-sandy areas.

I saw this for the first time on today’s ride south. On my previous round-trip of the island, I traveled the other direction, and missed this completely.

This is the stand of palm trees where I stopped for three hours. It is the same spot where I stopped on my previous round-trip of the island. The beach is just off to the right.

I just love these root systems. I wrote about this tree on a previous blog entry.

This photo was taken from the spot where my bicycle was parked. It was in this small protected cove where I waded out into the water on my previous venture to this area.

Looking back towards my bicycle from a ways into the palm grove.

This photo was taken from the rocky beach, looking back toward the grove of palm trees where my bicycle was parked. I did most of my meditating just off to the right.

This is a rough rocky tide pool just below my favorite palm grove. Look how sharp the rocks appear. This is no illusion. As I walked on these rocks, I was very aware that a single slip would slice my skin very deeply. These rocks are very jagged.

This is another tide pool in the same area. These rocks are even sharper.

Yet another tidepool in the same general area. These are not like tidepools that you find on the Oregon coast. I did not see any starfish or sea urchins etc… but they are beautiful just the same.

Old conch shells can be found all over the shores of Cozumel. It looks like this rock is probably a petrified version of an ancient conch shell. I cannot imagine what else it might be.

This type of plant grows all over the shoreline—at least by the roads and areas with plants.

If you look closely, you can see a  little cubby-hole a little left of center. Inside are some flat rocks stacked on top each other, forming a small seat. It was here in the cool shade that I spent several hours meditating, singing songs, and listening to music.

This is the ocean view from my little meditation cubby-hole.

These buildings mark the southern end of the main road. However, this is not the southern-most point. Near these buildings is an entrance gate for the Punta Sur (south point) reserve area. I have yet to go there on this trip. There is a beautiful light house and a secluded beach with great snorkeling just beyond the light house. Today, I drank a Coca-Cola at the left-most building and continued back westward on the main road. One of these days, I’ll head into Punta Sur.

More turtle tracks near the south end. This area is where I first began to notice tracks on my previous trip around the island.

One final view of turtle tracks and nests.

In this photo, I am headed west again. The southern tip of Punta Sur is a few miles to my left. This is the old road. The new highway is off to my right. This old road is in much better shape than it was two years ago.

A view of the jungle along this southern road.

Another view in the same general area.

Looking inland, back to the north. In the foreground is the main island highway. The double roads started again near the entrance to Punta Sur.

This is a small sandy beach along the southwestern shores of Cozumel. In this photo, I am looking back to the south, while I was following the road to the north.

Just a little further north, I found this beautiful beach covered in purple wild flowers. Notice a coule of scuba boats out on the reefs. This area is popular with divers.

Another little memorial that I passed on the west side of the island as I continued northward.

This photo was taken from a small rocky area near an area called “Caletas”. A few hundred yards behind me is one of the main marinas on the island. In the distance are two of the three cruise ship piers. The first Carnival ship is parked at “Puerta Maya”, a dock owned and operated by Carnival. The second cruise ship is at the Internal terminal. The ship parked there is called the “Liberty of the Seas”. I have been told this is the largest cruise ship in the word. The third cruise ship terminal on the island is near downtown. The only ship that docks there is the “Disney Magic”.

This is a much closer view of the two cruise ships. From this angle you would never know that these are two separate cruise ship piers. Look how big the “Liberty of the Seas” is … and this photo was taken from considerable distance.

A small group of tourist snorkelers, most likely cruise ship passengers. I tried to snorkle here once. I heard it was a popular spot to see lots of colorful fish–but there were too many boats and people. This is hardly crowded compared to normal cruise ship days.

Photo taken of the same area, slightly zoomed out. Notice the snorklers at the far left of the photo. This area is known as Caletas.