Cruise Day 5: At sea

Today we had another day at sea.  We're on our way home to Mobile.

It was a lovely day outside.

Mom and Dad and Stephen enjoyed the view.

Jennifer and Bethany enjoyed a fruity drink.

And we all headed to the pool deck.

Hi Luke!

Luke napped for a bit.

And David was the first of us to go down the twisty slide.

Is the water cold? I asked.  It's not too bad, I was told.

Stephen went down it, too.

He warned me the water was cold.

The guys really got into it.

Joe went head first.

I went feet first.  Trying to be ladylike, you know.

Look how cold the water was.  I was not prepared.  And it's ocean water.  Salty.

Here are the three brave men.

My husband is the most handsome of all.

Afterwards, we warmed up in the hot tub.

Then prepared to watch the sun set.

That's me and my gorgeous hubby!

And my darling with his wonderful mom.

It was windy out so we bundled up with our towels as we watched the last sunset of our cruise.

Beautiful.

And then we enjoyed our last dinner together as a family.

Mom and Dad.

Adorable Luke.

Me and David and Bethany at our last dinner together on the last night of our cruise.

Cruise Day 4: Cozumel, Mexico

We arrived in Cozumel, Mexico this morning.

I adore Cozumel.

We've been here at least 6 times although let me count... Mmmm.  Yep.  Six times.  And I loved each visit.

We grabbed our backpack and headed off the ship.

Here's our little group of explorers.  David, me, Jennifer, Joe, and Stephen.  Mom's taking the photo.

Here she is.  Joe's taking the picture this time.  Mom's wearing the pink Alaska hat.  That was from our Alaska cruise in 2008.

As usual, we just walked the streets.

Until we came across this spot and paid a local captain of a glass bottom boat to take us snorkeling.  It's the same guy David and I met last year here.

Our guide helped us into the boat.  The water was very choppy.

And gave us quick instructions.  This was Stephen's first time to snorkel.

And off we went. 

Jennifer and Joe chose not to join us.  But they took our picture as we left.

We snorkeled in 3 different spots.  It was a lot of fun in spite of the rain and rough seas.  Stephen got a little seasick, but fortunately we had a nausea pill with us and that helped him out.  We saw conch shells moving around on the bottom, one of the biggest king crab I've ever seen (our guide swam to the bottom and picked him up to show everyone), and more fish than I could possibly name.  Our guides fed the fish food and then took our picture underwater with them.

Afterwards he tried to sell our photos to Stephen for $10 each.  Stephen told him he'd give him  $5 for both.  The guy wouldn't take that so we walked off.

Then he chased us on his moped and took the $5.  Stephen's a real negotiator!

Then we headed back to the port.

And walked around listening to the live music on every corner.

And saw the live statues.

And had our picture made with a Mayan Indian.

We goofed off some.

Then David and I took a break at a local bar.

Then it was time to head back to the ship.  Bye-bye, Cozumel!  I'm sure we'll see you again in the future.

Cruise Day 3: Calica, Mexico

Today we arrived in Calica, Mexico and David and I went on our first excursion on this cruise.

It was called ATV, Cavern, and Snorkel.  It was incredible! 

It started by taking a short bus ride to a small haciendia.

There we were provided with an ATV, bandana, helmet, and goggles. 

This was a serious expedition!

And we were off down the trails.  It was immediately apparent what purpose the bandanas served.

That ride was rough!  I jiggled and jostled in places I didn't know could jiggle or jostle.  I almost fell off a couple of times.  And there was once that I thought I was going to flip.  It's doubly hard driving an ATV on those rocky paths and video taping at the same time. 

David looks really tough doesn't he?  Almost like a bandit!

Soon we arrived at some caverns.

And we went exploring.

There were some really tight spots in those caves.

And bats!  But they were just fruit bats.

I'm glad we had our helmets on.  I knocked my noggin more than once on the ceiling.

This was our exit.

Then we hiked back to our ATVs and continued on.

Our next stop was this cenote (see-NO-tay).

It was quite stunning.

And oh so refreshing.  Yes, we hopped right in without a second thought.  It was hot outside!

In this part of Mexico, all the rivers are underground.  This is where the stream entered the pool.

You'd never guess that 10 feet below there was a little cave with fresh water rushing in.  We asked our guide if you could swim up it and he said no.  He tried it before and almost drowned because there are no air pockets to be found.

The cenote was quite large and so serene. 

Like a little piece of hidden paradise.

It was one of my favorite parts of the excursion.

After a while, we dried off and headed back to our ATVs.

Then we rode to a sparkling beach.

See the bubbling water?  That's another underground river feeding into the ocean.  We snorkeled the whole cove area.  All around the water is salty but around the bubbles was pure fresh water.  It was the neatest thing.  David and I forced our heads down to see what it looked like and it was like a deep, dark tunnel.  I've never seen anything like it.

The whole beach area was gorgeous.

Like a picture from a postcard.  We snorkeled for a really long time.  And swam the entire cove.  It was exhausting, but exhilirating as well.  We saw some amazing fish.  A sting ray as big as David.  Angel fish in abundance.  A baracuda.  A box fish - I only know it was a box fish because, well, it looked like a box.  And my friend Cas used to have one in his aquarium.  We saw so many other amazingly colorful and interesting fish that I'm sorry I don't know what to call them.  It was one of the best snorkeling adventures we've been on.

Afterwards, we were pretty tired. 

But we hopped back onto the ATVs to head back to the hacienda.  And our bus.  Along the way we saw this coconut tree.

It's a pretty famous tree.  Do you recognize it?

It's been used in two different Corona commercials.  It looks just like a postcard.  Or a commercial.

Then we headed back to the cruise port.

There were vendors and shops all along the port.

But we didn't buy anything.

We headed back to the ship and ate some sushi.

And watched the sun set.   We had an awesome day.  Our excursion was intense, exhilirating, and unlike anything we'd ever done before.  And I would do it again in an instant.  I loved every moment of it.