February 5, 2021 
☀️ #32 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Costa Maya, Mexico”🇲🇽(2016)
Hi friends and welcome to this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!
Sarah welcomes you to Costa Maya…
Our Kayak excursion didn’t start for a couple of hours, so we had time for a look around yet another nice dock. As you’ll remember from a couple of days ago Sarah said:
“Why don’t you get them to braid your hair as the wind’s been annoying you all day, and you won’t have to touch it for the rest of the holiday?!
Sarah’s hair has been blowing around all over the place since we arrived in Jamaica…And now it was her turn for the braides, no more worrying about ‘WHS’ (windy hair syndrome). 🤣
Right, now is the time for the kayaking excursion. Wow what a bumpy coach ride…”Oohhh a lighthouse, quick Steve pass me your phone”. We were being thrown around all over the place but Sarah just managed (no idea how) to get a glimpse of the lighthouse! 😲
The Kayaking beach…
This is what greeted us as we got off the coach…😲
After putting all of our things in our backpacks and securing them in the lockers back in the bar type place just out of shot (above) we made our way back onto the beach to get our life jackets and meet our kayak.
We all gathered around the instructor as he demonstrated how to enter properly, how to paddle and of course the safety drills. I said to Sarah “I think this is a step too far, i can’t see him or anything he’s pointing at or showing us, but i am listening to what he’s saying” she said “Once we get you in the kayak you’ll be fine as i know you have done canoeing as a kid and it’ll all come back to you as it’s very similar”.
Now it was our turn to enter the two seater glass bottomed kayak (well i almost fell in as it was a lot lower than i thought) and as i fell i head butted Sarah on the way down. Sarah said she was fine but after i regained consciousness she passed me the paddle. “Oh yes, it’s just like the ones i used as a kid when canoeing with my dad. It’s going to be ok…Oh wait, i can’t see where i’m going, lol!) 🤣
Sarah took her position in the back seat as the navigator. We thought she could hit my left shoulder to go left and right shoulder for right, that makes sense, i just hope i don’t get her paddle around my head (accidentally of course, lol!) 🤣
As the instructor pushed us away we heard lots and lots of wow, cheering and nervous laughter. It was an amazing feeling to be floating out on the still waters and with a glass bottomed kayak Sarah could see the ocean floor. After while everyone got into the swing of things and we managed to form an orderly queue behind the instructor. 💪🏼
We followed him out to sea until we stopped over the barrier reef. Everyone was Ooohh and woowwwoooing so it must have been beautiful. It felt amazing being in crystal clear waters with no land in sight, we just sat there stunned. 😲
We paddled a little further and we seemed to overtake most of our group as they had sunk and were trying to get back into the kayak (wow they are sighted too so we must be doing something right, lol. Steve don’t get too cocky too soon).
The instructor stopped a lttle further on and we all bunched together. He was trying to pass something round for people to hold but the people were not impressed. Then he came to me…Before Sarah had time to say “He’s blind and can’t see it and he doesn’t like creepy crawlies” he had put it on the top of my hand…😨
It felt soft and obviously wet and if i could see i probably wouldn’t have let him put this black death starfish onto my hand. It looked like a massive tarantula to me as i could just make out the black against my skin. I was just waiting for the huge teeth to sink into my flesh and tear it from my bones…When he took it back and placed it into the sea. Phew!
Wow i wish i had a GoPro video camera, it’s simply stunning…
“Hey Sarah watch this!” i said as we were gathering speed. “Wow a handbrake turn”. I remember as a kid and learning canoeing, that if you jam the end of the paddle straight down and grip firmly…Then the canoe spins round about 180 degrees (similar to a handbrake turn in a car) and i thought i’d see if it happened the same way in a kayak…It did and as i was really impressed with myself for pulling it off Sarah was quietly impressed (i think, lol). 💪🏼
More Barrier Reef…
We stayed out over the barrier reef for another hour or so just paddling slowly, then stopping and taking in the vast ocean and the feeling of fresh air with the gentle rocking of the kayak, it was so peaceful…A little too peaceful!
“Where is everyone?” i said as i could see no other kayaks or the shoreline. “I don’t know i think they have headed back to get the sun loungers for the next hour of the excursion” We were quite far out and couldn’t figure out which way to head back to shore. I started thinking of the Jaws film and the zoomed in shots of the faces crumpled in fear as the shark fin circles in closer and closer. 😨
“I think it’s that way” Sarah said as she hit my right shoulder. “Ok, let’s go”. We started heading slightly towards the shore when…
A really loud whistle and a shout came from our 2 o’ clock. It was the instructor from what seemed like miles away but we could hearr him as though he was sanding right next to us. That was the sound i needed and swiftly pointed the kayak in his direction and floored it! 🤣
Back on shore…
I love palm trees, especially this shape (above) and this one is just fantastic!
Yay we made it!! Our first kayaking adventure and it was simply breathtaking. The Blind Sightseers have managed another challenge…Now lets go and relax for a while. 💪🏼
After a nice slice of pizza (with salad as i’m being good) we took our towels and inclusive bottle of local lager and found two sun loungers between two palm trees. The white sand and the crystal clear sea framed our afternoon perfectly! ☀️ 🌴
I’m not sure if this was a private resort but the beach was empty…Yay! 😀
Sarah then says “Oh, we forgot to take any photos of the kayaks…Steve stand here and i’ll take some photos” “But i think there is another group starting their kayaking?!” “just stand still and smile, lol” 🤣
“Now go and stand in the sea so our WordPress family actually know that you’re on this trip, and don’t forget to smile” 🤣
My lovely wife Sarah absolutely love swimming, splashing sitting in the sea, love the hot sun and the powdery white sand and she has got all 3 today. I love taking her photos when she’s so happy and has that lovely beaming smile that lights (and warms) her whole being. 😀
It was now (sadly) time to leave this beautiful place, jump on the coach and return back to the ship. We were tired but couldn’t stop ourselves having a beeming grin all the way back as we had just conquered kayaking and had a lovely time in paradise! 😀
But Sarah didn’t stop there… She just had enough time to capture this stunning view.
Back on the dock…
As we had a little time on the dock, we thought we’d take some more photos of this lovely place.
Yay…We came, we saw and we conquered! 💪🏼 🤣
Back in the coffee port…☕
After such an exciting day filled with an omnifarious amount of emotions, there is no better way to chill than the coffee port. Wow what a view! ☕
Thanks for joining us on this wonderful excursion, we couldn’t have done it without you! ☀️
Wait until you hear about tomorrows adventure…It’s a long post but you’ll understand why very soon! 😨
Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure today…Let me know your favourite part?! 🤔 We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀
⬅ Previous Day 🌴 Next Day ➡
🏝 Join us:
- Tuscany Tour
- Transatlantic Sunset Cruise
- Matlock Bath
- Mayan Treasures Cruise
- Classical Greece Cruise
- Treasures of the Mediterranean Cruise
- Seven Isles Cruise
- Barbados – Southern Palms #1
- Tough Mudder 5K
- Tropical Delights Cruise
- Barbados – Southern Palms #2
- Aegean Shores Cruise
- Ancient Kingdoms Cruise
- Ultra Step Challenge
iChristian 
Oh yes, you did answered what I asked. Definitely a plus with being able to just delete unwanted photos. I’m old enough to be in the era where you had to turn in rolls of film and hope it wasn’t a waste of money with them being crappy photos – lol. I also thought maybe your camera had an audio feature on it that helps with picture taking. Not sure how that would work, but they do all sorts of things with technology these days.
Hi, yeah i also remember the old film days and either developing them ourselves, or sending them into the shop and waiting to see if any (or all) of the photos were wasted, lol. I wouldn’t be able to do any photos if i didn’t have digital.
As i use the ‘Voiceover’ screenreader feature on my iPhone, the camera app has been slowly getting better (and more accessible) over the years. Now it shouts out if a person is in the viewfinder, the position of the person i.e centre, bottom left etc. It also shouts out ‘window, TV, sofa’ etc and best of all it tells you to tilt the phone left or right to level it up! All these little features help and it keeps improving with new phones or software updates. Also as i get the biggest phone i can, it makes the view finder massive and much bigger than the tiny viewfinders on my old DSLR’s. 😀
Do you still take lots of photos?
Well, it seems it wasn’t going too far. You posted this after doing it. lol I know here in the US someone can be considered legally blind even if they have some vision. Like someone with no peripheral vision. Do you have any sight at all? Are you able to see at least a little bit in the distance? With your picture taking (they are so centered) and the the remark about not seeing any kayaks or the shoreline, I have to ask.
Hey there! Wow…I didn’t think anyone reads my posts, never mind reads them all the way through, lol! 🤣 I love the questions!
I have no central vision at all so everything in front of me simply vanishes. Also the central part is where we focus and rely on reading…I have none of them. I can’t see to rea anything as i have my screenreader on my iMac and iPhone to speak everything out loud for me. I have some peripheral vision which is light sensitive but super blurry! I can sometimes make out lines if they have high contrast…Like if i’m looking around a beach, i can sometimes make out when the beach hits the sea or the sea hits the rocks etc.
When i’m walking around with Sarah i suddenly stop as some lines of landscape have caught my attention as they have lined up right in my eyes…Then i take a photo (often not knowing what it is) but with digital photography these days i can just delete if it’s no good, lol.
I spend hours on my photos (i know you wouldn’t believe it, lol) cropping to a grid with fulll zoom on my computer. This is not easy for me and it often burns my eyes out doing it, but i like my photos to be centred…Even if it kills me! 🤣
About 4%-5% of all who are registered (legally) blind have no sight at all…Then the rest hae all kinds of variations of levels of vision. I’ve had 20 years of adapting to anything that can make the slightest improvement to my sight and life…It’s never been this good though as technology has transformed my life in a big way! 😀
Not sure if i’ve just babbled on…Or if i’ve actually answered what you’ve asked me?! Please ask away if anything else comes to mind! 😀