Since our friendly proprietress told us that most of the breakfast places open around 8 am, we set the alarm for 6:30 am, though Jess woke up at 6 am anyway. After showering and getting ready (with a granola bar for mini-breakfast), we set off to find food.
At Jess's insistence, we went to Elements of the Island for breakfast, so Jess could get chai (Jer had some too). The homemade jams (pear-plum-cinnamon and pineapple-coconut-banana) were really good, as was the fresh-squeezed orange juice. Jess enjoyed her huevos rancheros (though she would have liked a bit less sauce and a bit more beans). Jer had an omelet with tomatos and chaya (local greens that resembled mustard greens), which tasted "healthy".
We walked down to Calle Matamoros and found Captain Tony, who is much sought-after for snorkeling trips. He said it was far too windy to take the boats out, sadly. So we headed for Playa Norte, Isla's best beach. We took off our shoes and wandered along, white sand beneath our toes. We saw many beach chairs and sunbeds, though few were occupied so early. Eventually, we reached the western side of the island, where we walked along the sea wall and watched the waves crash onto the rocks. After a bit, we walked back into town so Jess could buy stamps and mail some postcards.
We made a brief stop at our hotel, then got a taxi to Tortugranja (the sea turtle sanctuary). They have green and white sea turtles of all sizes, from palm-sized to card table-sized. We bought a little bag of dog food at the desk, and the turtles stuck their heads out of the water when snatching up the pellets - they have cute faces! The turtles seemed to have a tough time locating the food, though, so it was funny to watch them miss the mark sometimes. We got to touch the bigger turtles in the outdoor pools - even their flippers are hard and scaly, which was surprising. Next door to the turtle aquarium was a spiny lobster research center, which had lobsters of all sizes in tanks, as well as an exhibit about lobster physiology and lobsters of the world.
From Tortugranja, we walked south along the road, past a few beach clubs and hotels, until we found a couple of hotels with restaurants overlooking water on the eastern side of Isla. After checking out the options, we settled on Maria's Kan-Kin, where we split a delicious meal of guacamole and grilled fish with garlic. Jess had lemonade and Jer had a Corona with lime, and we sat in the shade on a grass-roofed patio overlooking turquoise waters. We were a bit wind-blown, but that didn't really lessen our enjoyment of the food and surroundings.
After lunch, we walked back toward Tortugranja, eventually catching a taxi back into town. We wandered along, checking out jewelry stores and souvenir shops, as well as a pharmacy - we eventually bought a few postcards and some waterproof sunblock. We stopped at La Coppa del Mondo for some ice cream (pineapple for Jess, hazelnut for Jer) and ate it as we walked along. We popped into a dive shop to ask their thoughts on the weather for the next few days, but they said it's too changeable to tell in advance. So we headed back to the hotel, where Jess finished her postcards and updated this journal while Jer looked at our pictures. We went up to the roof but decided it was too breezy to use the dipping pool, so Jer wrote postcards while Jess read, and we watched as much of the sunset as we could through the clouds.
We wanted to go to a cheap local restaurant, but the one we'd identified (La Susanita) was closed. We ended up getting pizza at Pepe Nero, a place on the main street, Avenida Hidalgo, that was recommended to us. The pizza was good, but not fabulous - we had mushrooms and olives on our pizza and both were canned. It made us want to try Rolandi's, an Isla pizza institution.
Hoping that the wind would calm so we could snorkel the next day, we decided to go to bed early so we could get up, have breakfast and go talk to Captain Tony by 8:30 am.