A veritable Who’s Who of celebrities and politicians have watched the spectacle over the years and ABC’s now-defunct “Wide World of Sports” even featured footage of their feats in its show opening for years.

A classic and spectacular dive from a La Quebrada Cliff Diver in Acapulco, Mexico.

More than 75 years later, however, we feared the La Quebrada divers may have become a cheesy side show. We were wrong. The La Quebrada Cliff Divers remain spectacular–sexy, fearless athletes who leap nearly 100 feet past a deadly jagged cliff face five times a day. Wearing nothing more than a Speedo they plunge into the narrow gulch welcomed by surging surf which fluxuates between six and 16 feet deep. It’s nuts.

Once in position, La Quebrada Cliff Divers take a moment to prepare themselves and wait for the right conditions in the churning waves and surge below.

Hollywood’s glitterati may not be flocking to Acapulco to see the divers anymore, but these guys have become stars in their own rights. An international film crew was shooting a GE commercial featuring the divers while we were there.

Being a La Quebrada Cliff Diver is still an honored profession with skills passed on from experienced divers to new recruits. The divers perform various shows each day and we watched more than a half dozen performances (including spectacular night time dives with flaming torches) and we were wowed every time.

A double-double from the spectacular La Quebrada Cliff Divers of Acapulco.

A night diver takes our breath away.

The following composites of photos are a kind of time-lapse display of the various stages of two of the most amazing daytime dives we saw.

You might see some of the following dive sequence in a GE commercial that’s currently on television. Note the camera in the lower left-hand corner…

This sequence shows a spectacular double dive sequence… 

And here’s our video of some of the daytime diving….

The following composites of photos are a kind of time-lapse display of the various stages of two of the most amazing nighttime dives we saw, including the gorgeous finale dive with lighted torches.

And here’s our video of some of the night diving…

Two young La Quebrada Cliff Divers work the crowd for tips.

This statue commemorating the La Quebrada Cliff Divers of Acapulco looks down on the gulch and the divers' ongoing feats.

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Related posts:

1. New Cool – Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico
2. You Can’t Get There From Here – Toluca Volcano, Guerrero State, Mexico
3. Oui Oui? Si Si! – Jicaltepec, Veracuz State, Mexico

You’re welcome.

Antarctica, land of the midnight sun.

A killer whale (orca) welcoming party.

The crabeater seals were curious but cautious.

It's clear how chinstrap penguins got their name.

A change in the weather had us traveling through surface ice that was clearly beginning to re-form.

Colder temperatures created conditions that made us glad our MV Antarctic Dream ship was built as an ice-breaker with a reinforced hull.

This is what passes for flirting as gentoo penguins woo their partners so they can do what they came here to do...

...which they are not shy about at all.

Check out the first post from our Antarctica adventure for more photos and stories.

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Related posts:

1. It’s Penguin Season Again! – Antarctica
2. The White Continent or Bust – Antarctica
3. Our Latest Work: Antarctica (the penguins AND the people) and Valentine’s Day Salvation

No, we didn’t drive there. LAN Airlines got us to Ushuaia (the southernmost city in the world) and back and from there we sailed along the Antarctic peninsula for 11 days on the MV Antarctic Dream. Our thanks to both companies.

Followers of our Journey know that we’ve been anticipating our Antarctic adventure since August and the planet’s most remote continent totally lived up the hype and our expectations.

For one thing, penguins are even cuter than you think and we saw thousands of them–mainly gentoo and chinstraps.

We also got a rare and exciting sighting of a lone emperor penguin (the four foot tall stars of March of the Penguins) on an iceberg far, far from its usual home.

The icebergs themselves (which can reach more than 10 miles in length) were stars of the trip as well. They came in intricate wind-swept shapes, impossible blue colors and the ice is ultra-clear–like glass. We know because Karen braved the frigid water and reached in to retrieve a small chunk to enjoy in our on-board cocktails that evening.

We did NOT put our hands in the water during a zodiac excursion during which our inflatable boat was surrounded by a pod of seven killer whales. We also sighted minke whales on a couple of occasions and crabeater seals and Weddell seals also made appearances.

It looks like this big male wants somebody in that zodiac. That dorsal fin is at least three feet tall and its heading straight for our shipmates.

There were also many human highlights on the ship including “Ernie Shack, Adventure Addict”, the captain’s wife, the crazy defense attorney from New York who brought along her Snoopy Snowcone maker, el capitan guapo, The Glen (who went skinny dipping one day and performed a necessarily brief yet impressive re-enactment of the loping way penguins swim), our fearless leader Pablo and, of course, Maxi. Oh, and Jacques Cousteau’s granddaughter Céline Cousteau was on the ship with a film crew working on a series of TV show about the waters around Chile.

Our shipmate The Glen (who has a tattoo of the Antarctic continent on his back) went skinny dipping in the frigid Antarctic waters off Deception Island just like...

...the penguins.

GLAD WE HAD

All travelers to Antarctica are required to have a medical evacuation insurance policy just in case something awful happens out there in the middle of nowhere. On Call International has covered us on our Trans-Americas Journey for more than a year now so we didn’t have to worry about arranging coverage (or dealing with a catastrophe). Because we were already covered we could focus on just being excited about this trip of a lifetime.

We weren’t taking any chances with the notoriously rough waters of the Drake Passage where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans crash up against each other so we went the prescription route and used a Scopolamine patch. But we also armed ourselves with homeopathic remedies including a pair of Sea Bands. These simple, cheap, reusable devices–picture an old-school wrist sweatband like McEnroe used to wear with a plastic ball embedded in one side–stave off nausea caused by motion sickness (or morning sickness) by applying pressure to a specific point in your wrist. The combo worked and we made it through the passage without getting seasick.

We’re pretty sure nothing could stave off seasickness among the passengers on a different ship, the Clelia II, which sailed just a few weeks after our Antarctic trip. However, the Clelia II broke down in the Drake Passage and got tossed around by 40′ waves for a day or two. The ship is back in port now and everyone on board is fine but this report and dramatic video shows how rough it was for passengers and crew on the stranded ship.

Our route from Ushuaia, Argentina at the bottom of South America, across the Drake Passage and on to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Check out our follow-up Antarctica post to see many more photos.

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Related posts:

1. It’s Penguin Season Again! – Antarctica
2. You Know You Want It: MORE Antarctica Photos
3. Our Latest Work: Antarctica (the penguins AND the people) and Valentine’s Day Salvation

The small-gauge railroad racks are leftovers from the days when this area was booming with sisal plantations feeding a very hungry market for rope and twine. Before the advent of plastic rope killed the sisal (aka henequin) trade, these tracks were used to roll carts loaded  with harvested agave from the fields to the processing factories. Quick thinking locals now hitch tiny horses to homemade carts and roll loads of tourists out to three spectacular cenotes on a kind of horse-drawn train.

Horse-drawn carts running on a small-gauge railway line transport visitors to three gorgeous cenotes near the town of Cuzamá.

We can’t say it’s a comfortable ride–the tracks jolt you, the wooden carts lurch and bounce and when two carts meet head to head one of them must disgorge its passengers, unhook the pony and get lifted off the tracks so the other cart can proceed. It is, however, a unique way to reach three wonderful natural swimming holes.

Allow at least three hours, the cenotes are pretty spread out plus you want time to swim and remember that the place gets crowded on weekends and wear water shoes so you can climb up and down ladders since all three of the cenotes are below ground.

Cenote #1

The first cenote was the easiest to reach via wooden stairs–just avoid the rickety, slimy nail-ridden stairs that lead into the actual pool (just jump in instead). There are also clean new bathrooms at this cenote and some ladies selling snacks and beverages (though bringing your own cooler is a better option).

Cenote #1

Cenote #1

The second cenote was more crowded than the first which made the steep and slippery wooden staircase down into the cenote even harder to navigate as dozens of people tried to move up and down the  ladder at the same time.  With very little rim around the water there wasn’t much room for standing around admiring the view–best just to jump into the impossibly clear, deep water. Feeling a bit like Tarzan? Swim to the center of the cenote, climb up a mass of tree roots dangling near the surface and dive off!

Cenote #2

Cenote #2

The third cenote was the most treacherous to reach. Accessed via a steep wooden ladder straight down a rocky shoot, it felt a bit like going into a well. The space opens up at the bottom of the ladder to reveal a huge cenote with really terrific rock formations and great color and shadows thanks to a number of “skylights” to the surface.

Entering cenote #3.

Cenote #3 shot from a great viewing platform above it which is reached by literally crawling into a hole in the earth.

See just how beautiful these cenotes are–and just how bumpy the ride between them is–in our video, below.

Dzibilchaltún

We’re not archaeologists or anything. Hell, we never even saw that last Indiana Jones movie. But sometimes Mayan sites just don’t live up to the hype. For us, Dzibilchaltún was one of those sites. Our expectations were high. After all, this is a Mayan archaeological site that not only has piles of rocks but its own private cenote and the brilliantly engineered Templo de las Siete Munecas (Temple of the Seven Dolls) which allows the sun to shine directly through a window every Spring Equinox, lighting up the whole building like a beacon and signaling the start of the new season.

Every Spring Equinox the sun shines directly into and through the brilliantly engineered Templo de las Siete Munecas (in the background) at the Dzibilchaltún archaeological site, signaling the start of a new season.

That’s pretty cool but we found the site, overall, to be a bit of a dud and our experience was not enhanced by the fact that we were forced to pay the usual INAH admission fee plus a Yucatan state Cultur fee for use of the filthy toilets and closed museum. All told is cost 83 pesos (about US$6) a person to enter Dzibilchaltún–more than double what other similar sites cost.

The Templo de las Siete Munecas (Temple of the Seven Dolls) at the Dzibilchaltún archaeological site.

South of Merida is the Mayapán archeological site, which on the other hand, was a mind-blowing bargain. For just 31 pesos (no bogus Coltur charges here) this pre-Columbian Mayan site delivers a range of unusual features including a round building, gorgeous decorative carvings and remarkably intact frescoes.  Did we mention that there were only  six other people there during our visit?

The Temple of Kukulkan at the Mayapán archaeological site.

The Temple of Kukulkan at the Mayapán archaeological site.

Gorgeous carvings at the Mayapán archaeological site. That's the Temple of Kukulkan in the background.

The unusual Templo Redondo (Round Temple) at the Mayapán archaeological site is reminiscent of El Caracol at Chichen Itza.

These frescoes at the Mayapán archaeological site were some of the best we've seen in Mexico.

A Merida-area attraction of a more slightly modern kind is the pier in the nearby beach town of Progreso. Completed in 1942, the pier is four miles long making it the longest pier in the world.

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Related posts:

1. Hacienda Hotels: One Historic, One Hip – Merida, Yucatan State, Mexico
2. Ancient Mayans and Black Jaguars – Ek’ Balam Ruins, Yucatan State, Mexico
3. Mayan Hill Country – Ruta Puuc, Yucatan State, Mexico

We veered off and head for the water determined to see some of the thousands of flamingos that come to the protected Ría Lagartas Biosphere Reserve to feed, breed, nest and rest. We were hoping to see some from the shore since we’d heard that the guided boat trips through the watery reserve were pricey.

We hadn’t gotten in much shore-searching when one of the local guides approached us and started bartering. Before we knew it we were in a boat with his colleague, guide Henry Jesus Pat Celis (more about him later), and on our way to flamingo-central for 450 pesos (about US$34) instead of the usual 600 pesos. Still a lot of money for us, but there are only a handful of places in the world where wild flamingos congregate like this which is why the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO site.

We headed out through a beautiful mangrove-ringed waterway and started seeing the first smatterings of flamingos within 10 minutes. Henry was non-plussed and kept assuring us that there were thousands more of the long-legged pink creatures to come.

He wasn’t kidding. We must have seen more than 2,000 flamingos before our two hour tour was over, sometimes in groups of 100 or more. Some groups were striding through the shallows scooping up krill with their funny backward beaks. Other groups were taking a running start at flying—followed by even more comical running landings—which made them look like they could walk on water. Still other clusters were standing along the water’s edge like, well, lawn ornaments.

Watch our video for a glimpse at the quirky flamingo antics at the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve.

Our intrepid guide Henry Jesus Pat Celis showed us thousands of flamingos in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve.

We also saw ospreys, crocodiles, frigate birds, great blue herons and a salt farm making the most of the area’s super-saline water—perfect for the brine shrimp that the flamingos feast on and which give them their delightful color.

Henry also took us ashore on a stretch of beach that had holes punched through the salty, sandy crust to reveal silky, mineral-rich clay beneath it. Henry told us that the mud in this region was considered medicinal and beautifying by the Mayans and it’s still applied head to toe by some people today.

TIPS
June is prime flamingo viewing time in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve with plenty of birds close to the embarkation point.

July and August are the peak months with lots of birds and lots of international and Mexican tourists.

September and October is the priciest season since the flamingos are further away from the embarkation point with means a longer and costlier boat ride to reach them.

Related Posts:

• Base Jumping – Valladolid, Yucatan State, Mexico

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Cenotes are basically sinkholes. In the Yucatán Peninsula they’re usually caves that have become flooded causing the roof to collapse which often exposes an almost perfectly circular opening to the sky above giving people and animals easy access to the water below. 

The water level of some cenotes is at ground level,while others, like this one, require a climb down to reach their refreshing freshwater pools.

And what water! Cenotes aren’t just filled with fresh water, they’re filled with rain water that’s filtered through the surrounding limestone. The result is water so clear it seems impossible. Yes, you can see clearly all the way to the bottom of a cenote (except for the ones that are 500 feet deep), but you can also see anything swimming in the water (people, fish, turtles) with amazing (and kinda spooky) clarity. 

No wonder the Mayans consider cenotes sacred. 

We consider cenotes a great way to cool off and we jumped into them as often as possible. Drive any road in the Yucatán Peninsula and you’re likely to see hand painted signs with the names of cenotes on them along with a crude arrow pointing the way to it. For a few pesos the property owner will allow you take a swim. Some cenotes have been built up with ladders and snorkeling gear rental and others have been left pretty much the way they were found. They’re all refreshing and gorgeous. 

Check out our underwater video pieced together from a number of great dips in various cenotes, caverns and underwater rivers. 

We even went SCUBA diving in the  Dos Ojos (two eyes) Cenote with Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park.  Because cenotes are not fully enclosed like intact caves, cenote diving is considered less extreme and less dangerous than cave diving. We’re here to tell you that’s it’s still one wild experience whatever you call it. 

As we’ve said, the water in a cenote is hyper-clear–so clear that when you’re SCUBA diving in it it sometimes looks like air, not water. It’s also very dark once you swim back into the chambers of a cenote, past the point where the collapsed roof lets in light. And a little claustrophobic. 

And then there are the areas where sea water is seeping into the cenote and mixing with the freshwater, causing something called a halocline. Imagine swimming through absolutely perfectly clear water one second, then everything around you leaps out of focus in a swirl as if some unseen hand just smeared Vaseline all over your diving mask. Then, just as quickly as you entered the halocline, you swim out of it back into crystal clear water and the world, thankfully, jerks back into focus. It’s absolutely disorienting and kinda fun. 

Karen enjoying the Sky Cycle through the jungle at Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park.

Another way to play in cenotes is at the numerous adventure parks in the Yucatán Peninsula. We were impressed with the serious fun at Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park when we went diving with them in Dos Ojos. Then we learned that this park, one of the very first in the area, has not one but two rides found nowhere else in the world. 

That’s easy to do when your founder and current co-owner is not just a world-class cave diver/adrenaline lover but a pretty badass (self-taught) engineer as well. Gordon “Buddy” Quattlebaum’s first invention for his Hidden Worlds park is a thing called a Sky Cycle. It’s essentially a modified bike that runs along a robust wire like that used for zip lines. You sit on the seat and lean back, recumbent style, then pedal your way above and through the jungle. 

Eric's view from the seat of his Sky Cycle through the jungle at Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park.

Karen pedaling her Sky Cycle into a cave-like overhang at Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park.

The other ride that’s exclusive to Hidden Worlds is a creation Buddy calls the Avatar, claiming it’s the world’s first roller coaster zip line. Lucky (?) for us, Buddy was debuting the Avatar at  Hidden Worlds the day we were there and we got to take part in some “test rides.” 

Once harnessed in we were attached to the ride a standing position–just as if we were about to take a traditional zip line ride. Unlike traditional zip lines, however, the Avatar runs on a rigid rail like the ones that rollercoasters run on. This rigidity gave Buddy and his team the ability to bend and curve the rail incorporating steep drops, swift climbs, vertebrae-jarring hairpin turns and other features normally associated with a roller coaster. 

It’s a quick ride but a dramatic one and it culminates by dropping riders through a dark tunnel into the  mouth of a cenote where you descend at full speed through a winding, dark route for roughly 50 feet before splashing down into the water. 

Our slide shows, below, demonstrate just what the heck the Avatar is all about. The first one shows a random Hidden Worlds guest. The second slide show is of Karen who, by the way, hates roller coasters. Suffice to say it’s a good thing there’s no sound with this… 

This enormous multi-hued bad boy on display at Xel-Ha was definitely a supermodel among iguanas.

Occupying the other end of the Yucatán Peninsula nature park spectrum is Xel-Ha. Xel-Ha, and her sister parks Xcaret and Xplor, dominate the scene with relentless advertising–not unlike a Yucatan version of Disneyland. The approach works.  Xel-Ha alone averages 2,000 visitors (vs a  couple hundred at Hidden Worlds) every day. 

Luckily, Xel-Ha also has some impressive eco-initiatives in place to reduce the impact of all of those visitors. You will never be given a paper bag. Or a straw. Or a map. Or a plastic water or soda bottle at Xel-Ha. Map billboards dots the vast property, soda and water are dispensed from big machines in to bio-degradable recycled-paper cups and straws simply aren’t allowed. Or necessary. Still, the park generates 4,000 pounds of trash a day which is recycled or composted. 

A massive nursery on the park’s property grows a range of indigenous plants which are used to keep the park grounds lush and are also donated to area villages where park employees live. We were also happy to see a permanent policy of offering all residents of Quintana Roo 50% off admission to the park. 

The quality of the snorkeling gear for guest use was also surprisingly high. Ditto for the food. The only disappointment was the lack of fish in the water. We snorkeled and snorkeled in the cenote-fed waterways of Xel-Ha but failed to find much life at all. Still, we had a really relaxing day at Xel-Ha (the hammocks! the beer!) and we were glad that we’d been advised to come early. Between the buffet and the snorkeling and the bike trails and the inner tube float we were there from opening to closing. 

No matter which cenote you jump into skip the sunscreen and the insect repellent. Even the bio-degradable versions leave an ugly and toxic slick on the top of the water over time. 

Xel Ha, where a massive network of natural water features have been tamed just enough to let thousands of people a day enjoy them.

GLAD WE HAD
Our Crocs. Yes, they’re the ugliest shoes on earth. But they’re the perfect sturdy, non-slip, lightweight footwear for getting into and out of cenotes and for exploring the area’s watery adventure parks. 

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3. The Mind-Blowing Museums of Mexico City – Mexico City, Mexico

A fisherman at our table was wearing a perfectly worn in, perfectly comfortable, perfectly cool Turneffe Flats baseball cap. We coveted his cap (which was obviously made of memories, not mere cotton at this point) and the fisherman confessed that he feared it was on its last legs, just as it had reached perfection.

It got us thinking about what we can learn about life from looking at his sun bleached, frayed across the brim, sweat-stained cap:

1. Style matters but not as much as shading your eyes so you can keep them on the prize.

2. Your favorite things will last longer if you’re gentle (hand wash whenever possible).

3. When something (or someone) goes from simply being worn to being worn in things start to fall apart so be sure to appreciate the events and adventures and lessons and moments that get you to your perfect point.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled posts about Mexico (more about Belize coming SOON).


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3. Bye, Bye Belize – Quintana Roo, Mexico

There are many cascades and many swimming holes to choose from at Cascada Tamasopo.

The first waterfall we visit is Cascada Tamasopo where the blue-green water and calcified pools instantly remind us of Havasu Falls in Arizona, minus the long, dusty, hot walk to get there.

There are many cascades and many swimming holes to choose from at Cascada Tamasopo.

Cascada Tamasopo is more like a network of waterfalls and swimming holes (most of them thoughtfully marked with depth signs) than one single cascade and we were disappointed that the weather was still a bit too chilly to get wet.

The Pago Pago waterfall on the Rio Micos.

The Pago Pago waterfall on the Micos River is part of a collection of waterfalls called Cascadas de Micos. Short, wide, gentle Pago Pago and it’s meandering pools and streams is a very family-friendly waterfall area with wooden rowboats, life vests and ample shaded tables.

Cascada Minas Vieja is a bit out of the way but it rewards with both drama and serenity.

It required a bit of a drive through seemingly endless sugar cane fields and past seemingly endless trucks hauling the cut cane out, but Cascada Minas Vieja didn’t disappoint. A short walk down to the falls revealed an even more Havasu-like water system than Tamasopo: bluer water, more cascading pools, plenty of campsite-ready banks.

Cascada Minas Vieja is a bit out of the way but it rewards with both drama and serenity.

All the waterfalls we visited in the Huaseteca are drive-ups except for the biggest one in the region and the largest waterfall in the whole state of San Luis Potosi: 344′  high Cascada de Tamul.

It actually took us two tries to get to Tamul. Armed with vague and confusing information and lots of unanswered questions (this road or that road? can you actually drive to the falls or do you have to take a boat?), we failed to reach Cascada Tamul on our first attempt.

Happily, we passed through the area again, giving us a second chance to get it right. This time we found the right road and we determined that while there may be a way to drive and/or hike to the top of Tamul, the most direct and easily organized way to see it is by boat which you will most certainly be paddling. Upstream.

Reaching Cascada de Tamul requires more than mere paddling.

After a bit of haggling (we got the price down from 400 pesos to 300 pesos) we headed out with a guide, three paddles and three life jackets. The river was beautiful and the current isn’t too stiff until we start getting closer to the power of this massive waterfall and a series of small rapids which require us to get out and hike on the bank so our guide can pull the empty boat upstream until we get past the rapids. It’s hard to imagine how hard this upstream journey would be in July and August when the Huasteca gets even more rain than normal causing water levels and water volume to rise.

Karen takes a break as we paddle upstream toward Cascada de Tamul.

Our first glimpse of the 350' tall Cascada de Tamul.

Tamul is a very wide, very high, very powerful waterfall and our boat wasn’t able to go right to the face of it. The local guides take you as far as a huge boulder in the middle of the river and tie up there while passengers get out and sit on the rock to safely view the cascade. And it’s all downstream from there!

Cascada de Tamul, the largest waterfall in San Luis Potosi state.

We didn’t find out until too late that there’s a spot that’s perfect for camping (flat, sandy, shaded, all your own) just a few steps from Cuevas del Agua, a beautiful water-filled cave just downstream from the Tamul waterfall.

Here are some other Tamul tips: haggle; wear a swimsuit (paddling upstream is sweaty work and you’ll want to cool off in the river); don’t arrive at the village later than 3–this is a 2. 5 hour trip at best and no one wants to get back in the dark; avoid visiting during Mexican holidays when the area gets packed.

Cueva del Agua near Cascada de Tamul is a great swiming hole with beautiful sapphire-blue water and a great bat house.

Related posts:

1. Clowns and Cloisters – San Luis Potosi, Mexico
2. Oui Oui? Si Si! – Jicaltepec, Veracuz State, Mexico
3. Church Me Up – Cholula, Puebla State, Mexico

For around 360 pesos (about $25) for four people one of the captains for hire who loiter in a median in the road as you enter town will take you on a three hour cruise up the Estuary San Cristobal through the federally protected mangroves and jungles and waterways that lead to the La Tovara fresh water spring (add about an hour and another 80 pesos if you want to continue past the spring to a crocodile farm where the animals are bred and released).

Our prow pushed silently through still water as we floated through the jungle toward La Tovara Springs in San Blas, Mexico.

A juvenile osprey eyed us as we passed under it during our float through the jungle and mangroves.

After waiting around for over an hour hoping two other travelers would show up to share the cost of the boat, we finally gave up and convinced a captain to take just the two of us for 300 pesos. The moment we stepped into the small, open, brightly painted wooden boat and started to move we relaxed thanks to a shockingly quite and non-stinky motor, a languid pace and plenty of eye candy. All told we saw dozens of birds, at least a dozen crocs and just two other boats.

You can get the trip for less if you walk or drive across a bridge or go even further out of town moving closer to the springs itself. However, if you ask us, the most serene and “mangrovey” sections of the trip occur in the first 20 minutes so cutting out that stretch to save a few pesos doesn’t make sense, even to us.

This small crocodile, one of many toothy terrors we saw during our boat trip, didn't budge from his sunny log as we floated by.

An egret stood motionless above the glassy water looking for the almost imperceptible movement of lunch below the surface.

Our ultimate destination was the La Tovara fresh water spring where the boat docked and we got out to gawk at the amazingly crystal clear water (this spring actually feeds the town of San Blas) and its population of happy fish. There’s a restaurant here, shady tables and you can even swim in the natural pool that’s been discreetly built up at the mouth of the spring. Be warned, however: at least one swimmer has been attached by a croc here and though there’s now a big weighted chain link fence separating the large natural pool at the mouth of the spring from the river itself we decided against taking a dip.

The crystal-clear waters of the La Tovara Spring.

This bad boy was the largest crocodile we saw and more than big enough to satisfy any Wild Kingdom dreams.

A black Iguana warming up.

San Blas’ other (absolutely unprovable) claim to fame is as the birthplace of banana bread. All over town bakeries swear they invented the stuff and you can hardly turn a corner without bumping into a chance to buy a slice or loaf of pan de platano. We sucumbed at a bakery called Juan Bananas. Why there? No idea, but the bread WAS tasy and the label that came on it can’t be beat: it’s a crude line drawing of a palm tree and a banana tree with a hammock strung between them in which a sated customer (one supposes) slumbers as gargantuan mosquitoes swarm about. We told you there were epic bugs here…

This great blue heron stood almost three feet tall.

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From the parking lot at the end of the road in Hilltop, AZ we hit the trail and descended more than 1,000 in the first 1.5 miles of our 1o mile hike to Havasu Falls.

As usual we didn’t get as early a start as we’d hoped so it’s after 11 before we’re on the trail under a blazing Arizona sun. The first mile and a half of the trail is wicked steep and very dusty from all the pack animals that travel up and down all day long. As we round one of the very first switchbacks we encounter one of those pack animals and it appeared to have had enough. It spooked, bolted, pulled on the other horse it was tied to ultimately seemed to collapse. Scary stuff as the frustrated wrangler tried to get the animal to stand up again. No dice, so he began unloading the poor thing. Frankly, some of the hikers heading up the trail looked like they were about to collapse too.

A few miles of the hike down to Havasu Falls took us through this beautiful winding canyon.

Much of the trail down to Havasu Falls travels over deep river rocks in the dry river bed that winds through a canyon. It’s beautiful, but not easy hiking through all those stones. It sure beats the other predominant trail condition, however: sand. In a truly evil turn of events, the sand gets particularly deep in the final two miles of the trail between the village of Supai and the campground itself so save some energy for that last push!

After 10 miles of hiking we near the top of Havasu Falls. However, we weren't there yet. It was still another half mile or so to where we pitched our tent.

We’d planned to hike to Havasu Falls last September but terrible flash flooding in August of 2008 closed the area until June of 2009. Near the end of the hike down we saw the first signs of flood damage as we passed what used to be Navajo Falls but is now a scarred bank and two new weaker falls.

A quarter mile further along we finally reached the top of the campground and got our first view of Havasu Falls itself. It too was changed by the flooding and water that used to fall via two side-by-side cascades now tumbles down in one single stream.

Our long hot hike down the canyon was rewarded with this first glimpse of Havasu Falls.

Havasu Falls is still a spectacular sight, however, and the Havasu people have done a good job of repairing damage the flood did to the pool below the fall by shoring up areas with sandbags to preserve the weirdly resort-like swimming hole beneath the cascade.

Havasu Falls finishes in a pool that's still lovely and inviting despite damage caused by the flash floods of 2008.

The campground was also heavily damaged in the 2008 flash flooding but we found a comfortable spot by the river and set up home for three nights.

Tree stumps, piles of debris and half-buried picnic tables attest to the havoc the flooding wreaked on the Havasu Falls campground as well and there’s still a lot left to clean up. Thankfully the camping area is huge and there were plenty of flat, sandy, shaded places next to the now-placid river to pitch a tent. We even inherited a hammock and a couple of blow up water mattresses from people heading out. Tip: the most private sites are down by Mooney Falls at the far end of the campground, so keep walking.

Another tip: it’s generally pretty warm at the campground even at night and we were very glad that we’d decided to leave our full sleeping bags in the truck and bring our Cocoon Silk Tropic Traveler warm weather bag instead. Not only is it a fraction of the size and weight of our regular bags, we also have a coupling sheet that makes it double-size allowing us to sleep together.

One great side effect of the flooding is that the campground now has a vastly improved toilet system. Gone are the porta-potties that used to inefficiently serve the campground when it was maxed out at 300 or more campers. In their place are clean composting toilets built up the bank away from the river to avoid damage from any future flooding. The things even have motion-sensor solar lighting at night!

There is a pure spring at the campground for drinking water but the steep, hot 10+ mile hike and 2,200 foot descent made us reluctant to get up and walk to it from our campsite. Luckily, we’d packed in our SteriPEN and that’s all we needed to make perfectly pure drinking water in 60 second straight from the river using safe, tasteless ultra-violet rays.

Karen put our SteriPEN to good use purifying river water in 60 seconds using nothing more than ultra-violet light.

At the far end of the campground lies 200 foot high Mooney Falls.

Rested and revived, we spent the next day hiking down to Mooney Falls, a 200 foot cascade at the far end of the campground, via an incredible “trail” carved out of (and sometimes through) a rock face. Crude footholds and chain hand rails only made the trail moderately more manageable.

Getting to the bottom of Mooney Falls required an interesting climb down a sheer rock wall.

From Mooney Falls we continued about four miles down river (sometimes literally in the river) to Beaver Falls. The descent was gradual and the weather was perfect. Most people never hike beyond Havasu Falls but for us this walk was the highlight of our visit.

From the bottom of Mooney Falls it was another four miles or so gently down the canyon to Beaver Falls including several refreshing river crossings.

The river pools and cascades as minerals in the water form crusty enclosures.

The way down to  Beaver Falls included trails through lush vegetation, many river crossings and the ever-changing river itself which rushes in places, pools up in others and was always that gorgeous blue green color.

At one point we even encountered a small band of big horn sheep feeding near the trail. Startled, they leaped across the trail not more than five feet in front of us, each of the four animals looking us in the eye as if to say “what are you doing here?”  before bounding away.

On the way down to Beaver Falls we ran into a family of big horn sheep. Or did they run into us?

The top of Beaver Falls.

Yet another inviting pool in the river on our way to Beaver Falls.

On the return trip back to the campground Eric got pummeled as he attempted to get close to the awesome force of Mooney Falls.

To say we weren’t ready to leave is an understatement but after three days of swimming, hiking and hammocking it was time to go. We gave our inherited hammock and blow up mattresses to other campers, packed our bags and headed out.

For one split second we contemplated tossing our gear onto a horse for the hike out, then laughed at oursleves and hit the trail. This time we did manage an early start (6 am) and the canyon walls kept us in the shade until about 9 am. The final two hours of the climb out, however, were in full sun including that final brutal mile and a half during which we steeply gained 1,000 feet.

After three days at Havasu Falls it was time for the long hot climb back up, up, up.

Hike to Havasu Falls – Havasupai Reservation, Arizona

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