When we travel as a whole family we usually like to go in March (during the girls's 3 week break) but upon researching our chosen destination we discovered the sea water then would be in the low 60's and honestly really too cold to enjoy the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park, which is a huge draw for this area. At first I was insistent the girls not miss any school and therefore we would wait until early June to go but upon further reflection I thought - the kids are in elementary school and while school is very important there are MANY life lessons that come with experiencing things away from home. So, since July (our girl's first month of school) until the day we left I was a stickler about missing school - well let's be honest I'm pretty much always a stickler about it. Unless they are running a temperature or throwing up they have to go to school. It's our family rule, but rule aside I didn't want them anywhere near close to the allotted missed days allowed for their grade. I mean missing an entire week is a HUGE deal. Now that we are here, experiencing all that Loreto has provided for us I feel ridiculous! Did the girls have perfect attendance before we left? No way! Sickness does happen and we did take a little ski vacation in February, but for all those parent's who put pressure on themselves and their kids to never miss a day of school - allow me to encourage you to let go of your drive to be perfect and go on an adventure!
A unique "amenity" to our resort was the beach/oceanfront. You can walk out into the ocean for at least a mile and never leave knee deep water - and as a bonus the water is so clear you can see the ocean floor the entire time. It is however recommended you shuffle your feet though as to notify any manta rays who may be swimming near. I'm not going to lie I am very thankful we didn't see this sign before our first venture out into the ocean because had I of known about their existence I am not sure I would have found myself out as far as we walked. Which would have been a shame because I don't know too many places you can just walk a mile out into the ocean.
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| This is a picture we took looking back at our hotel from where we walked out into the ocean - it's crazy how far we could go in ankle to knee deep water. |
One of the coolest things we did while in Loreto was the Danzante Island Tour. It left from the resort and took us to a couple of the islands which make up the Marine Park (there are 5 islands in total). We got to see Danzante and Del Carmen Island, but my favorite sight was the pod of dolphins we found ourselves in the middle of. There were hundreds (Trey would even go as far as saying at least a thousand) in this pod. They were swimming on either side of us, behind us (they loved riding the wake from our boat) and in front of us. There were baby dolphins as well as full grown ones. Some jumped high in the air and there were even a few who managed to twirl as they jumped in the air. It was by far one of the most incredible things I've ever gotten to witness. The video and pictures don't do it justice, but if you ever find yourselves in Loreto I would highly encourage your to take the time for one of those island tours. In addition to the dolphins we also got to see several species of birds and crabs and one adorable sun bathing sea lion (did you know they eat 200 lbs of fish a day?!?!), not to mention mushroom rocks (these are rock formations that have a small skinny base and a huge top).
This is just a quick peek at how many dolphins we saw, but honestly it doesn't even do them justice!
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| Believe it or not this is the face of a little girl that didn't initially want to go but now that she saw so many dolphins she's loving it! |
On our way back to the resort we happened across another smaller pod (about 6 in total) dolphins. These were a different species than the bottled nosed ones we saw earlier in the day. It was a pod of mothers and their babies - with a smaller/shorter nose - who tend to stay closer to the shore for protection. With both dolphin encounters we were so close we could have simply stuck our hand out of the boats and touched them, both girls were smiling from ear to ear and have not stopped talking about how "cool" they were.
Most of the rest of our trip was spent relaxing by the pool, hiking and walking the beach. It was so beautiful, aside from the bee situation. Yellow Jackets were everywhere. 3 out of the 8 of us got stung, myself included. Addie was so terrified she was begging to just stay inside towards the end of the week, of course we forced her outside and she of course enjoyed it. I do wish they could have done something about those bees. It was the worst case of them I have ever seen.
We did venture into town one morning. This consisted of a 45 minute van ride from our hotel. I will have to admit though it was totally worth the long ride. Their downtown was so quaint with great shops and beautiful scenery the closer you got to the waterfront. I wish we had timed it better and would have found a way to eat because there just seemed to be so many delicious smelling options.
Our return trip home was less than ideal. We had an almost 9 hour layover in LAX which was brutal for not only us but also the girls. We took an Uber from the airport with Krystal and Bryan and headed towards Manhattan Beach, California. The girls got a quick glimpse of LA and got to walk out on an actual pier. We found a cute little Italian restaurant for lunch and then unfortunately a case of food poisoning hit my brother in law and we had to head back to the airport. We caught the red eye back to Hendersonville and decided if we ever go back to Loreto next time we will fly into LAX, get a hotel room and take an early morning flight out the next day. Waiting around all day just to get back home was somewhat miserable. In the end it was a great trip and I am so glad we pulled the girls out for this adventure! 