Carol Chapman | Carol Chapman

Sea Turtles at Akumal

Yesterday I referred to the sea turtles coming ashore along the Caribbean Coast of the Riviera Maya between June and October. That reminded me that in the Yucatan Travel Movie, we visit Akumal, a lovely vacation location. Akumal also hosts a number of dive shops and a center for studying sea turtles.

Yucatan Caribbean Sea Turtles Nest in the Summer

I knew that sea turtles laid their eggs in the sand along the Riviera Maya Caribbean coast but I did not know when. According to this 1 Person Tent blog, the time to see the nesting turtles is from June to October. The sea turtles come onto shore from the sea at night. However, it is important that you not use a regular flashlight if you want to see them laying their eggs, and no flash photography:

There are a few factors to consider when searching for nesting turtles. The foremost is never disturb them throughout the nesting process. That includes no flash photography and you will want to have a red lens or film paper over your ordinary flashlight. Regular light can disorient the turtles, but they cannot see the red filtered light. If you choose to go turtle searching, under the radiance of a full moon, a flashlight is not required.

Travel to the Yucatan and Step Back in Time

Carol Chapman

In the UK, they call it a Fly-drive

How interesting. In the United Kingdom, they have a type of vacation called a “fly-drive.” My guess is that this means that certain fly-drive travel companies book both your flight and your rental car and your lodgings and provide you an itinerary of where to go. Am I right? Here’s their listing for an exotic fly-drive in Yucatan.

Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula is the location for a new fly-drive this year from Journey Latin America (020-8747 8315; journeylatinamerica.co.uk). The itinerary weaves through Tulum, Chichen Itza and the lesser-known, jungle-enveloped ruins of Coba.

Hit the open road with a new breed of exotic fly-drives

From reading the article by Mark Rowe, it seems as if your rental car in a “fly-drive” is an exotic sports car. That makes me wonder because, on one of our filmmaking trips for shooting the Yucatan Travel Movie, we had the opportunity to rent an Alpha Romeo sports car. However, when we saw it did not have license plates, we declined. We didn’t want to be blamed for the missing license plates when we returned the car to the car rental agency.

“Behind the Scenes” Special Feature Completed

On May 6th, I wrote:

Last night I had three dreams telling me to work on the “Behind the Scenes” Bonus Feature of the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Behind the Scenes Yucatan Travel Movie Dream

So, that’s what I did. Today, I am happy to say that I finished “Behind the Scenes” of the Yucatan Travel Movie. I really enjoyed making this short video because it shows how we coped with the roads being ripped up on our second shooting trip to Izamal.

Chichen Itza Guide Possibly Written up in TimesOnline

Could this be our tour guide Victor Olalde, proprietor of Posada Olalde, the budget guest house close to the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza? It sounds like Victor. Meera Dattani writes in the timesonline:

My tour guide Victor has Mayan roots and is worth every peso for his desire to inform, elaborate and entertain.

Mayan maths and eco-chic at Chichén Itzá

It sure sounds like Victor for his vast storehouse of knowledge and his willingness to share it with us. He also took us to a Maya home where I shot footage for the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Teaching English in Yucatan

As a way of enjoying Yucatan travel, you may want to teach English in Yucatan, for example, in the Mayan city of Tulum.

The Mayan city of Tulum has come second in the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice 2010 awards, which were decided on holidaymakers’ destination comments, favourite places and overall popularity.

“A rare mix of beach, archaeology and village, Tulum is a romantic getaway like no other,” the judges concluded.

Teach English in Mexico and enjoy Tulum’s beautiful beaches

We included Tulum in the Yucatan Travel Movie and can attest to the beautiful white-sand beaches in the area. In fact, many people visit the Mayan ruins at Tulum to swim rather than to tour the ruins.

However, you should be aware that if you want to stay overnight in one of the rustic cabins on the Maya Riviera coast south of the town of Tulum, most of the places, including campgrounds, do not have a regular source of electricity and instead depend on generators, wind power, solar power, and, as Miriam Balsley, the narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie says, “the dancing light of candles.”

Sea Level 60 Meters Lower During Atlantean Times

Here’s another excerpt from that marvelous article on seven factors in the Atlantis quest. I quoted it previously in my April 28th and 30th posts.

In order to find the colonies of Atlantis, or even the capital city of the island empire itself, diving equipment will be required. Sea level was about sixty meters lower when Atlantis supposedly sank, so those colonies may be closer to the old, submerged coastline. And the capital city is likely under three kilometers of ocean water.

7 Sides to the Atlantis Quest

The sentence that really intrigues me is that “Sea level was about sixty meters lower when Atlantis supposedly sank . . .” Wow! Why was the sea level so much lower then than it is now?

Speed Bumps & Ruins in Yucatan

Such a fun article by Carolina Muscle, or “Yer Ole Uncle Nuts” about his Yucatan travel adventures. I can attest to problems with all the speed bumps from my experiences in Yucatan while filming the Yucatan Travel Movie.

The drive was long – about 5 hours from Cancun, or 3 hours from Costa Maya,
but the roads were great—

— if you disregard the hundred-some speed bumps on the highway – –

In the United States, we use radar to control speed-
…. in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, they use speed bumps.

The speed limit on the Federal Highway was 100 KMH–
–but you had to slow down to about 5 when you got to the bumps.

And they weren’t the small ones either-
— these would tear the tranny right outta yer Jeep if you hit em too hard.

fun with yer ole Uncle Nuts in the Yucatan76
By carolina muscle

He also writes about visiting one of the Mayan ruins, including a description of his tourist guide, who is a retired Mexican teacher and very proud of his Mayan roots. Take a look at the article for a bunch of great photographs.

Oil Gusher in Gulf Explains Garabandal Warning

Until last month’s oil “spill” – actually an unceasing gush of oil and natural gas from below the ocean floor a mile deep into the Gulf of Mexico – I could not see how the Virgin Mary apparition’s warning of a chastisement by fire could come about.

On October 18, 1961, four girl in a 300 inhabitant village in Spain named Garabandal received vision of the Virgin Mary’s warning. One of the girl said:

“It was similar to rivers transformed into blood. Fire came down from heaven and worse things; a great heat, scorching thirst, and water that evaporated. Men were chained and in desperation trying to kill one another; but due to lack of strength they either fell into the flames, while others threw themselves into the ocean. However, the water seemed to boil and activate the flames.”

APPARITIONS OF OUR LADY IN GARABANDAL
by SCTJM

Until the recent reality of a possibly and unending gush of oil, I could not see how people would throw “themselves into the ocean.” only to find that “the water seemed to boil and activate the flames” in other words, since the water would contain flames, there would be no safety from the flames by going into the water.

That would be the case with oil in flames constantly accumulating on the surface of the water as in the present gargantuan oil disaster in the Gulf.

Was Peru an Ancient Atlantean Colony?

Tiahuanaca is 12 miles south of the southern tip of Lake Titicaca in Peru. There are ruins at Tiahuanaca which point to a technologically advanced civilization that existed in prehistory, some calculate at 12,000 years ago, which is a date consistent with Plato‘s 9,000 BC date for the demise of Atlantis.

An article at List of 10 Little Known Advanced Ancient Civilizations describes 10 ancient civilizations that are not as popularly known as the ancient Egyptians, Greek, Roman and Carthiginian.

Evidence shows that this civilization was capable of lifting and transporting rocks that weighed 200 tons. Sound familiar? The ancient Egyptians could evidently accomplish similar feats.

Interestingly, according to Edgar Cayce, America’s great psychic, Atlanteans made colonies in Egypt, Yucatan and Peru.

Could Tiahuanaca be the remains of an ancient Atlantean colony?

Tag Archive