Post race Ironman Cozumel

I felt better than I thought I would after the race. I wasn't tired at all, I stayed up until 4:30am and then finally slept a little until 6 am. I was pretty sore on Monday, mostly just my legs, and my feet were definitely still hurting. I got a massage on Monday and that felt really good and took away a little soreness.

Monday night we all went out to dinner at Guido's a nice Italian place, they actually have a few good Italian places on Cozumel.
and by about 8pm I was TIRED!

I didn't go to the post race party at Senor Frog's, I was just too tired. In the middle of the night Monday I woke up with a fever and felt awful. Looking back I'm 99% sure this wasn't race or Mexico related. Wilmer got sick before the race (and heard that a lot of people at his family Thanksgiving got sick too), then Kim got sick, then me, and later Del. I think it was some kind of 24 hour bug or something.

I didn't feel great when I woke up Tuesday morning, but I didn't feel terrible either, so I stuck with the original plan of morning diving. I was still fairly sore and Jeff carried my dive gear out to the boat for me.
We saw a lot of cool stuff and really enjoyed the dives!
Diving actually felt really good. I had worried that it might not be the best thing after the race, but if anything I think it may have helped my recovery. My soreness was almost completely gone after the dives on Tuesday! Sandra mentioned that maybe the extra compression of the water was a good thing, maybe she's onto something.We had dinner at Sorrisi with Kim, Del and the Croatians- Goran and Lovro

Wednesday morning we woke up to the windiest conditions I've ever seen on Cozumel! They canceled diving for the day because the harbor master had closed the harbor!
We hung out on our balcony and enjoyed our coffee while we watched the wind and waves. This seagull landed on the pelican's head 3 or 4 times while we watched! The next day I saw the same thing happen again.

Since we couldn't dive we went out to Mr. Sancho's Beach Club with Del and Kim.
Del and Kim, notice the ominous looking cloudsJeff and I hung out and played in the water for awhilewhile Del did some yoga on the beach
but the clouds started looking pretty bad, so we grabbed a table under the big hut just before the heavy rain started. We had a snack and waited for the pouring rain to let up!
We went back to town when the rain let up. We had dessert at El Coffee, I hadn't really had a big dessert to celebrate yet and I was ready for it!
4 layers of fudgy chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream and strawberries between each layer and on top- YUM!! and they were generous with the portions too.Kim couldn't finish hers, but I enjoyed every bite of mine!

For dinner my parents joined us at Del Sur Argentina Empanadas and my dad ordered the mixed grill, which was a personal grill filled with different meats, so much even my dad couldn't come close to finishing it!
We hung out a long time, but didn't get free dessert like we did before the race.

Thursday morning we woke up to wind and clouds again. So Jeff and I rented a jeep and drove to the other side of the island where it was still windy, but sunny.We would drive a little way, then stop and walk along the beach for awhileSome areas were really rocky and the waves were crashing in!
At one point we got out and were swimming at a more sandy beach. We saw some people down the beach and Jeff wondered if they were looking at a sea turtle nest. So we walked down the beach and a guy who appeared to be a volunteer with the sea turtle program uncovered the sand from a nest so we could see the baby turtles! Then he pulled one out and let me hold it!He didn't speak much English, so I didn't get a lot of information about the program, just that they were going to release them.
We really enjoyed the other side of the island. We hadn't been over there in our last few trips to Cozumel and even when we went years ago, we didn't take time to really enjoy it like we did this time.

We went over to Scuba Club and did a night dive with my parents that night and had dinner with them. Great diving and a good dinner too.Parrotfish blow mucus bubbles around themselves when they sleep, tough to see the mucus bubble in my picture.

We saw 2 seahorses and my dad got some great pictures of both of them

and one of this stingray. There were a lot of stingrays in the area on this night dive and their eyes glowed when we shined our lights toward them.Friday morning we got to go boat diving, even though it was still colder and windier than normal
long sleeves and jackets in Cozumel?!?!
sting ray swimming away
gray angelfish
splendid toadfish are endemic to Cozumel and really cool looking!this turtle let us get really close
so close I even got to touch it!
scrawled cowfish look pretty cool too
nurse shark
intermediate (like a teenage) queen angelfish. I love these and was mad that my picture was blurry.

Sadly, on Saturday we had to say goodbye to Cozumel. If things work out, we're hoping to be able to come back for Ironman Cozumel 2011!