Cancun- July 15th

Photography by Nick Atkin

Today was my favorite day so far! In the morning pearl and I went to breakfast in the adult section of Hacienda, and it was very fun; no kids around. We also ordered Mexican hot chocolates for the first time and they were amazing. Following breakfast, we walked to waterskiing to meet up with Nick, Alex, and Tyler. We talked to one another while we waited for our turns. Tyler was the first to go, and he wake boarded. He did a really great job and even got some jumps in, but on one jump, it was so high that he landed with a splat. When he came back, it was Nick's turn, soon followed by Alex. It was their first time, so they got up and fell quite a good amount of times. They got back soaked, but much improved from where they started. Their brother, Ben, tried and could hardly get up once. We cheered him on, but unfortunately, he never got the hang of it because he was too strong. Next was Pearl, and she was almost perfect, except one fall. I followed Pearl, and I went around without falling once! I even went back and forth over the waves. I was congratulated at the dock and it felt amazing. I was also grateful to Nick because he took pictures of me water skiing.

Following that adventure, we walked to the sailing area and checked out two boats. Alex, Tyler, and Pearl knew how to sail, leaving Nick and I to be dead weight. Nick, Alex, and I started on one boat with Pearl and Tyler on the other. Pearl started sailing out while Tyler put on a rash guard and had to swim out dramatically to catch up with Pearl. We passed each other and Nick jumped onto their boat, so it was just me and Alex talking. We all had so much fun, just sailing about and jumping to each other's boats whenever we pleased. Tyler even jumped from his boat and swam to mine by pulling himself up from underneath the net. Once Tyler was on ours, the three of us talked. As we passed Pearl and Nick, Nick said," Can I have your sunglasses?" I tried to toss the glasses to him, but they hit the side of the boat and began to sink. Nick dived off the boat into the water to grab them, and in the process knocked off pearl as well. They both fell in the water and Alex, Tyler and I were laughing so hard. Nick somehow got the glasses and I jumped to their boat. I was so grateful to Nick, and continued to laugh thinking back to that moment. We pulled into the shore and walked to Hacienda for lunch. The food was okay, but for dessert they had churros, so Nick and I were extremely happy! We chatted for a while then decided to go to the beach. On our way out we saw cow tongue, so all of us tried it. It was slimy, but not bad tasting. Also, I forgot my glasses on the table and Nick kept telling me how hard he worked to save them. Pearl saw our friend Amanda as we left and told her we were going to the beach. We got to the beach and put down all our stuff. We ran into the ocean, and just bobbed with the waves. Nick got the brilliant idea to swim to the furthest out buoy (or as the British say it, "boy"), so we all went out. Once out there, we honestly treaded water for an hour. While swimming back, Nick offered me his sunglasses and I accepted. He tossed then and they began to sink. I had been told earlier not to open your eyes underwater, especially with contacts, but I wanted to save his glasses so bad. I dived deeper into the water, eyes open, reaching for his glasses. I luckily grabbed then and got to wear them for the rest of the time. 

When Amanda arrived we were in the shallow water, squatting and throwing seaweed at each other; mostly me, but I forgave them. We played in the seaweed for so long, and I was bullied by constantly being thrown at. 

We swam out against to the buoy to chill some more and I had so much fun. When we dried off, we walked to the bar and got drinks. Sam got a virgin margarita, but it tasted extremely sour. He dared me to take a big gulp, and once I did, they laughed at my sour face. With our drinks, we sat in a booth by the pool to chat before we walked to water skiing. 

At water skiing, we put our names up, but the line was super long. We went to the practice rope and Tyler taught Nick and I how to wakeboard. While we waited for our turn, the guys and I walked to hammocks nearby and fit four of us on nicks hammock! Once it was our turn, we went back. We saw Pearl going around on the wakeboard like she had been doing it for years and we were impressed. I went first, and as I laid in the water, the instructor gave me great instructions. I held on to the rope as I came up, but I stood up too quickly, so I fell down. I fell 5 different times, and I realized Nick was in the water falling just like me. Once our instructors had both told us we were done, we looked at each other in the water and laughed. He have me a thumbs up, and said," does it make you feel any better that I am failing too?" He swam to meet up with me and we continued to shore. He let me take the ladder up first, then Tyler grabbed my water board from me. We dried off and walked to the trapeze. 

Pearl, Alex, Sam, and I were in line, Nick went to his room to change, and Amanda and Tyler watched on the sidelines. When Nick came back, he sat next to me and we talked till I went up. When it was my turn I went up and failed on my splits. My leg turned into a noodle and I took too long to hit my final position. When I came down nick was smiling and the rest of the guys were smirking. I looked at them and told them that my last run never never happened and we all pretended I did really well. We kept going through the line, and I did a successful knee hang catch. Pearl was so graceful in her whip position that everyone was in awe. 

Watch Pearl Here:

Afterward, we walked to the Atkins room and dropped the guys off. Pearl and I ate at a barbecue on the beach, then went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We went to the steak house and had a very yummy meal. 

After dinner we met Sam, Alex, and Tyler at the show, then walked to a cabana on the beach to meet up with Nick. We hung out over there for a bit, then we walked to the forest by La Estancia. We hiked through the forest and it was super dark. We found a smoothish area with rocks to sit down, and we decided to play truth or dare. We first dared Sam to go over to the ledge and drink from the ocean. He couldn't pick up the water, so he gave up. We decided to walk to these wooden tables by La Estancia to continue the game, but as I was moving the stool, I dropped it and it almost smashed my foot. Nick pulled me almost out of the way, but it skinned my leg and hit my big toe. 

I went to the bathroom to wash my cuts, and when I came out, I saw Nick with everyone walking behind him coming towards me. I was condemned and told I had ruined the dare because Nick was supposed to come to the bathroom and say, "need any help?" We walked Pearl back home, and on the way we dared Nick to sit in a pit by the beach until we came back. We cut through the bushes and retrieved Nick followed by us walking to a card table to keep playing. We asked each other lots of truth questions, then finally we dared Sam to go up to a teenage girl and hold her hand then walk away. We split up, then finally when Sam gave up, he came up to me and held my hand. I laughed at him telling him he was cheating, but he found a loop hole. 

Sam, Tyler, and I chilled in a cabana waiting for Alex and Nick, but they never found us. We decided to get drinks, and on the way we bumped into Alex. Tyler and I ordered drinks, and I got the usual for Nick. We all went back to the cabana and talked for a while about summer time girl friends, dream girl friends, etc. we continued the game, and dared Alex to bite a cactus. He bit it and we moved on. While walking home, we dared Sam to go in between two girls walking and put his arms around them

. To our surprise he actually did it and we laughed at him. When we reached my room, Tyler was dared to walk me to my door and knock. I went inside and said goodnight.