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Published: February 5th 2014
Hi everyone
The last few days of cruising saw us one day taking a little boat trip ( 45 mins) from the ship at Cozumel port- seas were rough and we were plunging over the waves. Then arrivng on the Mexican mainland we had a 1 hour bus ride to Tulum ruins - we had an excellent guide who explained a lot about Mayan culture and history and also told us where to get the best fish tacos and to watch out for the fiery hot salsa Aiee Aiee!! Amazing place - the ruined city was a place of worship and sits atop a cliff with beautiful beaches below and a reef opposite. Clever people these Mayans, they constructed a very accurate calendar , their buildings were covered in beautiful carved glossy black obsidian ( volcanic rock like glass) which shone like gold when the sun hit it and so the Spaniards came and of course hacked it all off and carried it away. So we spent some time with the guide telling us wonderful stories and then wandered on our own and then back to sample the local beer and fish tacos - and yes I had to try
the tiniest bit of the Aiee Aiee salsa and yes it nearly blew your head off.
Natural History reports - several sightings of dolphins and frigate birds circling the ship for ages. Going back to the ship on the little boat to Cozumel the sea was a little calmer and then we spotted a whale and back on the ship as we watched ed the crew dancing on the dock the big lump of seaweed I was keeping an eye on turned into a lovely big turtle- he swam around for a few minutes and blew out a bubble of air, dived and was gone . Great luck to see that.
The day previous again was a lovely day and we docked in Costa Maya - we were told it was such a long pier that there was a shuttle bus laid on !!!! Well some of the old folks on the cruise obviously cannot walk further than a few yards. Previously there was nothing there till the cruise terminal was built but they have made an effort to provide a good facility there... shopping, restaurants and bars and a nice big pool as well as a dolphin
encounter place.And this was all free for the cruise passengers...but we had to be a little more adventurous - I think it would be easy to become institutionalised onboard ship and never leave port!!! So we toddled off on a bus to a fishing village a few miles away..Mahahuel. It is a strange mix as all along the beach was a very nice walkway with cabins and restaurants, hotels and bars and little shops and stalls but behind that poverty was rife - so evidently third world.. Mexico as an up and coming entity in the economic world obviously has some catching up to do. However we walked along the beach area and succumbed to relaxing under the palm trees once again - with a very kind waiter bringing us local beers guacamole and nacos... oh and an offer of a massge for $10 was not to be resisted either. There were locals coming along to sell things as they do in these places but we just said no and they went away until Suzanne bought a very nice ceramic bowl.
At last back we went in a taxi to the port and hung around the pool there watching the
dolphins perform their tricks and the occasional iguana plod along the rocks.
On board we continued to feast , loaf about on our balcony and towards the end of the week we even went to 2 shows - ballet and acrobatics and a performance of "Bollywood" - you can imagine what that was like. It is amazing to be in this huge theatre and know you are on a ship!!
Getting off the ship was a bit of a problem as we got stuck outside the port of Tampa in fog - so we were a few hours late coming in and then had to wait to disembark . It didnt matter to us as we didnt have a plane to catch but some people got caught out. So the moral of that is don't assume you will be able to fly out the same day as you arrive in port. And of course the next lot of passengers had a helluva long wait to get on the ship. But anyway we were lucky we had ahd a great week and I thought the ship and crew were fantastic. I won't be giving up my "normal " travel
arrangments for a life at sea but I would not say no to a cruise some other time. And it was great way to see a part of the world I would probably never have visited.
So now I am in Florida and so there will be more blogging ahead.
Hope you like the photos.
Lv Lynne and Suzanne
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Robert Aitken
non-member comment
Cruise
Hi Lynn Marti and I are sitting in our condo in Palm Springs. Marti asked me about the history of Beachy Head since it had been in some of the mystery books she had read. I think it comes from the words Beautiful Headland . I really like your pictures. Sounds like the cruise was pretty good. The cruises to Alaska are great as well. Here the focus is on glaciers and wildlife. Have a good last few days in Flordia Bob Aitken