The Tropics: February, Week 1

Yeah, so sorry about January week 4.  That's just not going to happen.  Sorry if you were looking forward to that.  To make it up to you (my supposed readers), I'm posting two photos today.  Lucky you.  As many of you know, I just got back from a cruise.  I've saved my favorite pics from the trip for posting on the blog this month.  I  didn't even post these ones on FB, so you, dear reader, are special, because not all of my FB friends are my blog friends.  My blog friends are an elite group, or so I like to think.  Now, without further ado, here are this week's pics, both from Cozumel, the first stop on the cruise.

"El Diablo Beach"
Canon SX40HS
f/8
1/800
ISO100
1/22/2013
Cozumel, Mexico

This beach was gorgeous!!  The sand was so soft, and the water was relatively warm.  I didn't get in and swim, although I did wade in a bit.  How could I swim with pictures like this to be taken?!  I added the Orton effect to this one (thanks for the tutorial, dad!), and I think it turned out quite nicely.  I felt like this picture really deserved the dreamy effect of Orton.  It was definitely a dream to be on Cozumel!

"Mayan Sunstone"
Canon SX40HS
f/7.1
1/500
ISO100
1/22/2013
Cozumel, Mexico

This picture is the back side of a replica of an artifact called the Tortuguero de Macuspana Tabasco.  I don't know the significance of this particular artifact, but I liked the colors and the general look of the thing.  It was in the middle of the road  between El Diablo restaurant and the beach seen above. In fact, I took these two pictures consecutively.  You'll notice in the upper right of the picture, the stone has the Mayan, Spanish, and English words for sun.  I loved how the sun was in just the right position for me to catch some rays and flares of the actual sun on this stone depicting the sun.  The parallelism just warms the artistic corner of my logical and orderly little heart.