Cozamel

Saturday - Post by Niel

We stopped in Cozumel Mexico today. The boat didn't get there until10:00 or so, so after eating breakfast everybody was anxious to pile off the boat to get into Cozumel. We were looking forward to doing some shopping in the city because we had heard there was some very good deals to be had. Before shopping, however, we had a snorkeling excursion planned. This was one of the easy excursions to get on, the boat was tied right to the pier close to our cruise ship. It was a decent size boat and we probably had 30-40 of our shipmates along with us. It was a beautiful day and we were looking forward to a fun day in the ocean. This trip was much different from any of our other trips, they had free drinks on the boat. We were used to paying $3for a soda. So we enjoyed a Fanta on the boat ride.The boat ride to the snorkeling spot took about an hour, but the time went quickly because we were riding along the coast. Cozumel seems to be full of resorts and we got to admire many of them as we rode by.There looked like some very fun resorts to take the kids too, some of them with beautiful beaches. It is a beautiful place and we would like to come back some time. Amy knows some people who vacation there often and really enjoy it.We finally arrived at our spot and got a brief orientation on snorkeling. We then jumped in the ocean. Amy was such a good sport,the ocean is not her favorite thing and when the dive master started joking about sting rays and sharks it didn't help. But she gamely jumped in the water with everyone else. We were on a very pretty reef and got to swim around looking at the fish and coral. Amy got the chance to see a dolphin up close and I watched a sea turtle for a little while. The guide dove down to the bottom and grabbed on to the turtle and went for a little bit of a ride. It was a fun experience.We then swam out to where the reef drops off and they say the depth of the ocean goes to 3000 feet almost immediately. It was just one big dark hole and you couldn't see much, but it was fun to look down and think of just how deep the ocean is.After about 90 minutes in the water we hopped back in the boat and took off for the city. The beer and tequila were flowing freely now.We sat and enjoyed our free Fanta and watched as the boat got louder and louder and louder. It was very entertaining. By the end these people who started off so quiet were dancing and singing and carrying on.We were nice and sticky from swimming in the ocean, so we ran back to the ship quickly to shower and change and then headed out to the shops. It was a quick taxi ride. The city is very nice, it was clean and the people were friendly. Not nearly as pushy as the folks in Jamaica and much cleaner than what I had seen in Tijuana. The shopping was nothing to get excited about however. We weren't in the market for diamonds or jewelery, or prescription drugs, so that left us t-shirts and trinkets. We were able to find some cool necklaces for the kids and a noise maker for Zander. Other than that we mostly walked around and enjoyed the sites of the city and watched the people and saw some interesting things in the stores.We then caught a taxi ride back to the ship and got ready for dinner.We were the only ones at our dinner table, the day must have worn everyone out. But the menu for dinner was our favorite, I had two appetizers and we both had two desserts. Amy really liked her Strawberry shortcake and my key lime pie was great. After that we walked around for a little while, but after a long day in the sun we were both really tired so we watched the end of Evan Almighty and went to sleep. Cozumel was beautiful, I think my favorite place we stopped. I hope we make it back with the whole family some day.