Whale at Canary Wharf, London

There's a large whale in the water at Wood Wharf, Canary wharf in London! This huge 'blue whale' which is leaping out of the water is made of plastic.

This artwork is made of 5 tonnes of plastic collected in under 4 months from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans around Hawaii. The Whale on the Wharf (Skyscraper) is by artist/architect Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang. They want to draw attention that there is now thought to be more plastic by weight in the oceans than there are whales.

The body is recycled plastic. The base is made of a concrete mix using used coffee grounds collected from Canary Wharf’s cafes and restaurants. The artwork is supported by a braced steelwork structure made from recovered and reused steel.

The whale sculpture on Water Street in the Wood Wharf area of Canary Wharf and should be there permanently.

Mexico - Cozumel and Tulum

After Costa Rica, the next stop on the cruise was Cozumel in Mexico. This is an island off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, in the Caribbean Sea. 

I had hoped to go to the famous Mayan archaeological ruins of Chichen Itza, but the tour was cancelled. Instead I booked on one to Tulum, which was a bit of a disappointment. Tulum is on the east coast of the Yucatan, southwest of Cozumel. 

We arrived at Cozumel around 5.30 am. There was a full moon -

We were taken to San Miguel jetty to get the ferry to Playa del Carmen, but one boat had broken down so we had to wait. It was light by the time we left. A heron -

At Playa del Carmen we walked through the tourist area to get to the coach to take us the 60 km to Tulum. On the way I saw signs to several cenotes but couldn't actually see any of the pools.

We arrived at Tulum and it was a bit of a shock. Tulum is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. But to get to the ancient part, we had to walk through the shops and stalls, then go into one for tequila tasting. Finally left there and walked to the park gate and had bags searched as plastic bottles and other plastic items are not allowed in. Then took a 24 seater buggy to the gate to the archaeological site. 

The entrance was very unimpressive, just a short narrow entrance, then a walk through a wooded area.

Finally came to the main site. I wasn’t expecting much and it wasn’t much. It dates to the 13-15th centuries. It is just a city, with no pyramids, so was a poor substitute for Chichén Itzá, especially as I wanted to see a pyramid. 

The guide hurried us past a few buildings then we stood on a grassy area and the other guide took over and talked and talked and talked. It was really hot and sunny and the talk was very uninteresting, so in the end I got fed up and went off on my own.

I went straight to the house of the cenote, but that was disappointing as there was no water in the small cave below the house. 

Walked along mostly on the cliff path, the breeze was lovely but I got fed up with all the people taking selfies. The ruins were nothing much at all, the best thing was the lizards sunbathing on the tops of the buildings. The views from the 12 m high cliffs were nice.

When I had had enough of the ruins and crowds, I got the buggy back and went to Starbucks for a coffee and wifi. Coffee was dearer than beer in Costa Rica beer. 

Back at Playa Carmen -

We took the ferry back to Cozumel 

As we sailed out we saw 4 large cruise ships at the main cruise terminal north of the city -

There was a nice sunset and later that night, an eclipse of the moon -