sun palace

around 9:15 we awoke, getting a bit more used to this different time zone. about twenty minutes later breakfast arrives and we dig in. over breakfast we try and plan our day. yesterday we had heard from other vacationers that the best beach was at the Sun Palace, so we figured we would head over there on the noon bus. the rest of the morning was spent hanging out and getting ready. at about 11:30 we walked down to the bus station and saw a ton of people waiting in line with the same idea in mind to check out some of the other places. we got on the second bus and were on our way.

we got there and wandered around for a bit, we soon found a great spot on the beach, it was really beautiful! the wind was really kicking up though. i walked over and got an umbrella and a guy came over to dig a hole for us to put it in. we laid out for a bit then stepped in to the ocean for a cool down. it was really cool to be in the ocean, the waves were huge due to the high wind, which was really fun to play in, the undercurrent of the waves was really powerful and it took a lot of work to just stand up straight! i got a ways out there and diana went back to the chairs. i came back soon after and we chilled for a bit longer. i had to use the bathroom, so i wandered around the place a bit more and found a great pool and lunch spot. i went back down to get her and we both went up to the pool area. we had hamburgers for lunch and then hopped in the pool. the sun palace is an adults only place, so it was nice to have the pool be a bit calmer and not so loud. we even talked with a few people there and got some pointers of cool places to go outside of the resorts if we wanted. we tried a few of the local drinks, diana got a tequila sunrise which i thought was disgusting! i got a few different ones, the electric lemonade, and one crazy colored one called 'the reef'. it was about time for the bus to come and get us again so we packed up and checked out a couple of the shops inside. we waited for the bus and got on. when we returned to our resort we stopped and got a couple more drinks from the lobby bar.
(more pics: 1, 2, 3, 4)