Our condo is shown in the picture above - we were in Playa Blanca unit #7 up on the third floor. It was delightful - we had 3 bedrooms and 3 baths, perfect for 6 of us; and a nice "great room" plus balcony. To introduce us all, here we are relaxing in the living area. Katie and Dave in the living room at night (I can tell because they are wearing sweatshirts); Bekah lounging on the kitchen counter; behind John and the table is the balcony; and Katie caught Gail and Barb lounging about one afternoon. While my (Barb's) reading position might look terribly uncomfortable, I confess that I left for vacation with a very unhappy nerve in my right thigh, which became quite painful during the long day of travel. So I spent some time finding creative ways to keep pressure off of it for a few days. It did get better as the week went on! Finally, Katie and John enjoying an afternoon on the balcony.     
  After they returned, having had a great first dive of the trip, we walked to La Lunita for supper. It is a really nice, on the beach restaurant associated with Hacienda de La Tortuga hotel. Good food, nice people. In the upper range of our prices (including tip, it was about $27 each with drinks and desserts) but a bit "classier" than most. Our giggles for the evening were watching a hermit crab clutching a dollar bill and a little girl trying to get it away from him! And none of us had a camera. Wednesday, January 4. Field trip day. Some of us (probably Katie and John but I don't remember for sure) got up and snorkeled out in Half Moon Bay bright and early. Bekah and Dave scouted the other dive shops and decided to set up dives that would earn them Advanced Certification through the Akumal Dive Shop. We drove down to Tulum around 11; got some pesos from the ATM there and had lunch at la Palapa del China. Our suspicion is that this restaurant has changed ownership because it was recommended highly for oriental food and said to be extremely popular. There were very few others there and we saw no evidence of any cuisine other than basic Mexican! It was not bad but just not what we expected.
   
   Then we backed off and waited for the flocks to come back to their island for the night. And that was great fun. Again, photography was very limited but I think from these pictures you'll get the general idea of what we saw. Below are ibis streaking in low over the water and a female frigate (males have red instead of white) zooming back to the island. Below those are roseate spoonbills in flight and then another one (not my picture) of what they look like standing still.    
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[Note: The pictures are mostly Barb's but some were also contributed by
everyone else, especially Katie. I tried to credit them but I didn't
always know who took what!]
Tuesday
Jan 3: We discovered the only real "downside" of our condo in the
morning. No hot water pressure, therefore no good showers. There WAS
plenty of hot water but none of us ever
got enough out of a showerhead. So we had either cold showers or little
"trickly" showers. However, that was relatively minor considering all
the great positives, such as the delightful view of Half Moon Bay from
our balcony - this one is facing north. We mostly hung around the condo
in the sun - ah, the sun! - Tuesday morning. Bekah walked down to
Akumal Dive Adventures, which was very close, and made reservations for
her and Dave for
an afternoon dive. After a lazy morning, we walked to town and had
lunch at La Pescador. Good stuff. I had an avocado stuffed with tuna
salad for less than $5 (and brought half of it back for another lunch).
John did some minimal shopping for staples
(yogurt, fruit, bread) at the Super Chomak. At that point I think we
still had in mind a trip to Playa del Carmen for groceries. But as the
week went on, we discovered we really didn't need that much! And the
little Midway Market convenience store right across the street from our
condo had most of the basics we wanted at not too much more cost. And
next door to the Midway was an Internet Cafe. This location was getting
better and better! (Though I think we all resisted and did not drop in
to check email all week long!) 
From the balcony (looking
south), we watched Dave and Bekah go off on their dive (at left) and
spent the rest of the afternoon lying around on either the balcony or
the beach, enjoying the sun (but well slathered in sunscreen). This was
Katie's turn in the hammock. 
Below
are pictures contributed by
Dave and Bekah - her in scuba gear preparing for a dive and Dave
already in! 
Next we arrived at the Sian Ka'an tours office shortly before 1:30 for
our "sunset birdwatching tour." We loaded into their van, along with
our guide, Ben, for the drive to 
We saw
termite nests and tunnels, lots of sea grape and mangrove trees. After
a brief snorkel and swim at a Cenote (see John and Bekah (snapped by
Katie) enjoying it in different ways) we piled back into the van to
proceed to their main location. We had a chance to use bathrooms, and
look around a bit before walking down to the dock and loading into the
boats
for the trip through the lagoons and to bird island. Below left is the
beach at the Sian Ka'an center and on the right is everyone except me
(since I was behind the camera) in the boat watching the sunset. (Okay
so this isn't exactly in chronological order!) 
To
the left you can see the egrets (the white spots) settling into their
favorite trees. To the right is an inhabited osprey nest that Katie
managed to get the best snapshot of. The first time we went by, the
mother flew out and squawked to distract us. Since that didn't work,
the next time we drifted close she
just hunkered down and ignored us. We had a glimpse of a cute little
bird that the guide called a mayan warbler which I think (from pictures
I found later) must be a mangrove warbler. We also identified several
kinds of herons and pelicans on the close up tour. Here is a tricolor
heron (left - and again, not one that I took) and something we think is
probably a young brown pelican. Hard to tell in the picture, but that's
our best guess. On the right is an adult brown pelican (Katie's pic).
Here's the list, as best I can remember, of what we saw: snowy egret,
great egret, osprey, brown pelicans, white ibis, cormorant, frigates,
mayan warbler, tricolor heron, great blue heron, boatbill heron, little
blue heron, roseate spoonbill.
And
finally, the sunset. We had to head back pretty quickly since the boats
are not certified for after dark. Back at the main building we were
served a nice supper - some peppery chicken and good salad. Then
the van ride back to the office in Tulum and the cars back to Akumal.
We headed to bed pretty soon after we returned.