AquaWorld: C

We confirmed with the resort that even though it was raining, the Jungle Tour was not cancelled.  So AquaWorld (who runs it) picked us up and dropped us off on location.  Once we got there, our group was told that half of the Jungle Tour was cancelled (saying no snorkeling but we could still go on the Aquatwister).  I asked if we get refunded any credits.  They said no.  I asked to reschedule and the AquaWorld worker told us we could always do it two days later. I agreed and told him to reschedule us.  He said he couldn’t and that I’d have to do it at my resort. When I asked about getting back to the resort, he essentially smiled at me and told me we’d have to walk, bus or taxi back unless we wanted to wait 4 hours for the roundtrip transportation since it was an “independent company”.  I was livid. So in the soaking wet rain, we bused back to the resort only to find out that we were misinformed.  The Sunday slot was full and the only thing available was on Saturday which did NOT include transportation.  I was absolutely offended by the way this situation was handled and will be forwarding a formal complaint to Aquaworld.

The guides on the tours themselves were always funny and knowledgeable. I was always inclined to tip and did when they did an exceptional job, but I was really annoyed by the badgering for tips at the end of each tour. I think asking for tips made me less likely to give them one, or if I did, it would not have been as much as I would have originally given.

Jungle Tour: A- (used resort credits)

* We did these during our honeymoon stay at Le Blanc, but it identically available if you stay at Moon Palace.

Aquatwister is fun (group speedboat ride) but it is cold so DO NOT do it on a cooler day. Captain Tequila (aka Bruno is hilarious). Be aware that this will also wash off sunscreen so make sure you reapply it right after before you go snorkeling. For the Jungle Tour, you are in the sun for 3 solid hours!  Make sure you apply and re-apply sunscreen!!  My husband forgot to put some on his knees thinking it was covered by his shorts, but got severely burnt when he was riding the sea-do. The fish and coral reef was beautiful.  Visibility is about 10 – 15ft.  Guides sprinkle some fish food so that the fish will come up closer to tourists. We got seaweed in our sea-do motor on the way back so the guide had to come back for us.  They will provide all the snorkel gear you need.  Just make sure to eat a little because this activity lasted about 3 – 4 hours. Ladies, put your hair up because it will get in the way! They will give you a locker with key if you leave your room key with them.  I was not pleased with the fact that there were ants inside the lockers though.  It was a hassle to get them off my bag and clothing afterward.

Photos are $15 each.

MUSA with diving lesson: A (Not applicable with resort credits) $100 per person

* We did these during our honeymoon stay at Le Blanc, but it identically available if you stay at Moon Palace.

The diving lesson went well.  Inma is a great teacher. Patient and understanding, she really cares and loves what she does. She said I had perfected the skill but since I have a sensitive sinus, the pressure doing down hurt my ears.  She said the normal person equalizes every 3 – 5 ft descending, but I would have to do it after every foot.  It took me about 5 minutes to go down 10 ft!! Scuba diving is not hard at all though!! However, if you are sensitive to pressure in the ears like me, don’t fret!  Once I got into the ocean, it only took me about a minute to get down 30 ft!  The pressure in the ocean is different than in the pool.  It was MUCH easier for me to do it in the sea.  Definitely try it but know your limit.  My husband did perfectly fine in the pool but in the ocean, he took longer to equalize the pressure.  However, the guides were rough with the men, so they tried to just pull him down because he was taking longer than others.  When my husband told me this, I was not happy about it and promised to do a review of it so that others will be aware.  If the guides are rushing you at all, make sure to be assertive.  Don’t try to “suck it up” because those are your ears inside your head you are putting at risk!!   The tour itself was a lot of fun.  It was incredibly beautiful!  We saw a lot of marine life and the coral reef.  I was disappointed that we only ended up seeing TWO statues.  I thought the statues were all together, but they were not.  Be prepared for this.  ALSO remember not to hyperventilate.  Pace yourself; because some people had low air in their tank, we had to come up early.  We had 4 exposures left in our underwater camera there was unused. The lesson was about 1 hour.  The ride out to Isla Mujeres is about 40 minutes one way. The dive itself lasted about 40 minutes. So in total, we started the day at 7:30am and didn’t get back to the resort until almost 3pm.

Photos are $40 for 4, or $65 for all photos on the CD, no individual photos