All is Swell in Cozumel
We had a slow start to the day, managing to put the crew together for the 'drink of your choice' mile walk before we arrived on time in Cozumel (appropriate, doncha think, since Cozumel means “land of the swallows�)
The shore excursion (take your own boat out at your own risk) was canceled the night before. We expected to take a short, self-directed walking tour. Instead, we were delighted to meet Cheron and Mark and enjoy a long lunch in Compass Rose. It was then time to at least set foot on terra Mexico. Like many Mexican ports, it errs on the side of basic. We tore ourselves away from the charms of Senor Frog's bargain margaritas in the souvenir half-yard glasses and the opportunity to sport your very own , custom designed twisty balloon headdress.
Cheron put me on to the Mexican vanilla shopping opportunity. “Si, senora! Vanilla for only 5 dollars!†rang from every other store as we continued our walking tour. We then spied the grocery store, and Cheron scored the vanilla for half price. We saved ourselves some grief and came back along the water. We rang up the big win on Trivia – actually had a perfect score until I over-analyzed one of the questions, resulting in a final score of 14.
We followed with dinner at Prime 7 with Ngaire, Ken, Michele and Don. Ngaire clued us in to the Alaska king crab appetizers, which were sublime. I could not decide what to order, finally settling on the oven baked half chicken. Word to the wise: when Ngaire says, “why would ANYONE order chicken here?â€, pay attention. It was perfectly cooked, but dry. I chalked it up to another calorie management victory.
The Un-Belizeable Day
We were up bright and early to tiptoe over to Belize City. We were tendering (this should have been our first clue) as the cruise director announced we had one shot to get across before the thundering herd of all-inclusive shore excursion participants required the services of the tender. We hoofed it down to the tender door, where 8 other folks were waiting to visit the city. We had to wait for the rest of the shore excursionees, meaning we lost 40 precious minutes of absorbing Belizian bliss. At last, we head for Jaguar dock at the splendid new cruise ship dock. It was a ghost mall. Evidently three big ships were there the day before .. and we did not look like big spenders. It took some doing to figure out how to get out of the terminal. Once we exited, we had to recalibrate our definition of Caribbean port amenities. Cozumel looked positively swank by comparison. We picked our way through lots of self-styled taxi guide/drivers. We looked at a few colonial era buildings and walked along some of the main streets.
This is the place to get your cut-rate prescriptions. Safety girl says: “do take care. Only shop at the 'officially licensed to sell both drugs and poisons' sign in the window – paired with the 'Ask for Your Favorite Pharmacist' placard. I should think so! No one wants the Z-pack mixed up with the arsenic.
We headed back in time for a lovely pool grill lunch and prepared to board the catamaran for Absolute Paradise. The water was beautifully clear as we pulled away from the Mariner. Our lead guide got through our safety talk “we are going 14 kilometers to the reef, which will take us 5-1/2 days and all the rum punch you can drinkâ€. Absolute Paradise quickly morphed into Absolute Hades as the port side engine sputtered, seized up and poured smoke into the catamaran. I was wearing a size XXL snorkeling buoyancy vest (just snug up that waist strap and you'll be fine .. Umm .. it was still half way up my head) until we safely pulled up to the Mariner. “We'll send another catamaran over and you'll have just as much time to enjoy the excursion†pleaded our crew. I was torn – this might be my last chance for a Caribbean snorkel. The Champ quickly deduced the most relevant information: water temperature. Best guess was 68 degrees. Eeek! Safety Girl made up her mind. 'Where there is smoke, there's a risk of fire. On a boat, this is dire. Alight on the pier and STEER CLEAR.'
The cave tubing excursion, and the air boat excursions, got very high marks from fellow travelers.
We opted for our date night, and decided to be inagural guests at La Verandah's French Bistro menu. We attended Ray Solaris' music and ventriloquist early show, then headed up for un bon diner. Mais non! Tout le monde est ici (French for “it was a stampedeâ€). The food was very good, and I enjoyed a serving of Crepes Suzette for dessert. We turned in early as the total day trek to Tikal would come quickly the following morning.
