Happy Valentine's Day

Photo: Oceania Island Living

There's a tiny part of the gigantic Great Barrier Reef where the coral polyps have shaped themselves into a heart. The only way to see it is by air.  I am lucky enough to have gone diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and I can say it was one of the coolest things I've ever done.  For more information about seeing this reef, which I didn't actually see when I was there, check out this website: http://www.whitsundays-australia.com/.  Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Warm Vegan Travel Wishes, Still Stuck in the Snow

The Jersey Shore/NYC snow situation is still totally crazy!  My car has been completely snowed in for days because of the intensity of the snow.  Major highways have only now began to open one lane.  There's about three feet of snow everywhere!  My snowbound brain has led me to websites that show warm beaches.  My restless feet just want to go to the beach and take pictures.  It seems that other snowbound people have made some footpaths through the snow, so hopefully I can get up there today.  

I've been on a tight budget lately, so upcoming travel is going to be tricky.  I'm determined to make it work though, and dreaming is free!  I have miles saved up on a few airlines, so not including airfare, these options might actually work.  Since I'm surrounded by snow right now and really love the beach life, I want scuba, snorkel, and surfing experiences.  Delicious vegan food and good coffee are sort of a necessity, though I have been known to do without while traveling to really cool places.  Here is a random list of places I've been thinking about lately.

Puerto Rico

Kayaking in a bioluminescent bay, surfing waist to chest high waves, sipping pina coladas after scuba diving...sounds pretty good to me!  There's a bunch of vegetarian listings for PR on Happy Cow.

Costa Rica

Surfing, diving, hiking, I've always wanted to go to Costa Rica!

Miami

Flights from the NJ/NYC/Philly area to Miami are pretty cheap, and I remember finding a hotel bargain in a really good area smack dab in the middle of South Beach.  

Hawaii (remember, this is not including airfare)

I've been to Kauai, and to this day it's one of the best places I've ever been.  Now I'd like to try out Oahu or Maui.   There's gotta be some budget hotels there, right?  I'll find out and keep you posted!

Vegan in Cairns

It's been a while since I last posted...busy as usual! I'm currently in Cairns, Australia. There are a few falafel places, a ton of Asian restaurants with great spring rolls and tofu dishes, and a bunch of coffee shops with soy milk. The soy lattes in Australia are some of the best I've ever tasted (especially in Melbourne, but I'll get to that some other time). I just stocked up the kitchen of the place I'm staying at with some tofu, soy crumbles, soy milk, pasta, spices, breads, fruits and veggies, and I'm pretty much set for the next few days. It turns out that being vegan here is not that hard at all. I'm taking tons of pictures, visited the reef (it was everything I thought it would be and more!), and I'm heading into the rainforest tomorrow. Will post more soon!

Vegan Key Largo

Key Largo is the diving capital of the world, or so they say in Key Largo. After flying into Miami, renting a car, and stocking up in Whole Foods, we slightly settled ourselves into our condo/hotel that was set among the mangroves and faced the Atlantic. Most of the meals we ate while in Key Largo were in our condo. However, we did venture out to Cheng Garden, a Chinese place that served a few options with tofu. The Sesame Tofu and Szechuan Vegetable Tofu were pleasant, but not spectacular. It's worth noting that there is a small health food store and a Thai place that also serves tofu in Key Largo. Generally, everything is clustered in a mini mall on the Overseas Highway.

We didn't go to Key Largo for the food, we went for the diving, and the diving was excellent. Not having much experience, I hired a guide that started calling me the turtle whisperer after I spotted two juvenile Hawksbill sea turtles! While I heard mention of a fin popping out of the water from some of the snorkelers near the boat, I didn't see any sharks or dolphins. The scariest thing was a school of about 15 shiny and gigantic barracuda hovering above the reef. Yikes! There were tons of fish including French Angelfish, surgeonfish ganging up on territorial seargant majors, and many different kinds of parrotfish and triggerfish. I saw brain coral, the biggest lobster I've ever seen in my life, and I made a silent vow underwater to never dive without my camera again.

After two nights in Key Largo, we headed to Key West, but before we did, we stopped at the Key Largo Conch House. While not a very vegan sounding name, I couldn't resist checking out this restaurant/cafe set inside a cute peachy/pink house. I had a fried potato breakfast and we got an iced coffee with soy milk and a strawberry banana smoothie to go. Both were delicious, by far the best tasting thing we had in Key Largo.

Fueled by sugar and caffeine, we headed west. The incredible shallow blue water that looked warm surrounded the road practically the whole way. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour so we didn't stop for much on the way...

More about Key West next! I had a long absence from this blog due to computer issues that seemed to be somewhat resolved. I also have two trips planned for the near future, one is fulfilling a lifetime travel wish, but more on that next time!

Akumal, Mexico: The Place of the Turtles

Akumal is a short ride from Playa del Carmen, but it's like a different world. The word "Akumal" means "The Place of the Turtles" in Maya. While Playa del Carmen is a lively city on the beach, Akumal is like a sleepy little village. Both have shops, bars, and restaurants, but Akumal's draw is the laid back beach and not the night life. Home to a sea turtle sanctuary, we saw no less than SIX sea turtles, three adults and three cute little juveniles when we were snorkeling there. When I go back to the Riviera Maya, I'll definitely spend more time at Akumal.

To get there from Playa, we walked to a street with some collectivos. We managed to find one that was going south. The collectivo is basically a mini van that goes up and down the highway, stopping at various destinations, depending on where the passengers want to go. It's sort of like a cab and a bus combined, and it was way cheaper than renting a car or getting a private taxi. The collectivo was packed filled with people before we left Playa, and just when I thought we were dropping people off, more people got on. It was squishy and weird but definitely interesting, sort of fun, and cheap. When we finally got to Akumal, the collectivo dropped us off on the highway, and we had to walk to the beach. At first, it was a little confusing because there was so much construction going on. We had to go over a walking bridge, dodge some construction debris, then find this freshly cemented path:Eventually, the path turned green and shady. We stocked up on water and snacks at a little grocery store that had this wooden mermaid hanging in front of it. I love mermaids!

I had a blast shopping at MexicArte, a folk art shop filled with jewelry, ornaments, and art crafted by local artisans. The beach was calm and relaxing.

We picked a shady spot near a palm tree, rented some snorkel equipment right on the beach at Akumal Dive Shop, then swam with a barracuda, some needlefish, French grunts, a bunch of other fish, and sea turtles. What a lovely end to a great trip!

There were quite a few vegan options at the Akumal restaurants, all within walking distance of the beach. The beach bar had veggie burgers, and two more restaurants had veggie options. We settled on the Turtle Bay Cafe.

I had the lentil burger. It was deliciously smothered with beets, carrots, lettuce, hummus and mustard. Yum! All that and a deliciously refreshing limeade for about six US dollars.

I'll definitely go back to Akumal again! Now, I'm off to the Florida Keys. I'll be diving in Key Largo and taking a sunset kayak tour in Key West. More on that soon!

Upcoming Trip: Scuba in the Florida Keys

I'll be heading off to visit the coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in a few short weeks. Before I go, I plan on writing more about my time in Mexico. I have more to tell about vegan options in Playa del Carmen and snorkeling with sea turtles in Akumel. Is it just me or did March fly by? Look for more about Mexico in the next few days!

Best Place I've Ever Snorkeled

Trunk Bay, St John, U.S. Virgin Islands

As you can see, the water was breathtakingly beautiful. Snorkeling here felt like floating in a giant, warm, sandy pool. The guide book I had warned us that this beach would be crowded, but that wasn't a problem when we were there (February). There is also an underwater snorkel trail with underwater signs explaining where to go and what you're seeing. There were shower facilities, a snack hut, and a snorkel renting station at the trail on the way to the beach. We brought luna bars and peanut butter sandwiches with us.

Vegan Travel Tip

Vegan Travel Tip #1: Try to stay in a room with a kitchen, or at least a microwave and a refrigerator. Many condohotels have this feature, resorts usually don't.

The last few snorkel-friendly destinations I traveled to were very different in terms of vegan foods available. Kauai was a vegan's dream, especially since we stayed in Kapaa. The vast majority of the vegan/vegetarian restaurants were in Kapaa, a short drive away from our hotel. The Safeway and even Longs Drugs had some vegan food for sale.

St. Thomas was another story. Luckily, our room had a full kitchen. While we had a delicious vegan dinner at Havana Blue, an expensive restaurant right on the beach about an hour from our hotel, we mostly cooked in our room.

St. John has the Starfish Market, a cute little grocery store that had soy milk and tofu. We also enjoyed eating at The China Shack, a chinese food restaurant located in the same complex as the Starfish Marlet. They had numerous tofu-based options.

Books to read if you're going to Kauai

Two travel books were very helpful in planning our trip. The first one is The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook by Andrew Doughty, and the second is Lonely Planet's Kauai by Luci Yamamoto.

Vegan Kauai

A salty tide pool filled with marine plants and animals:
It was a trip of a life time! Kauai's balmy winds, soft beaches, and salty tide pools were more than I could have imagined they would be. And the food! Our day typically consisted of waking up to fabulous Kona coffee with soy milk (check out Java Kai if you're ever out there), eating some sort of raw vegan breakfast pastry at Lotus Root, then embarking on some sort of new physically taxing adventure (kayaking, surfing, hiking), and ending the day with a ridiculously delicious dinner that was equally healthy. Our favorite restaurants were Blossoming Lotus and King and I (Thai).