Thank you Mr Gravol!!! OMG what a day we've had. Up bright and early to get down to the ferry to Cozumel. Planned to catch the 9:30 but either the 8:30 was late or the 9:30 was early and we were underway by 9:00 a.m. The good news is that we made it but the not so good news is that the seas were soooo rough even Lynda (who is a sailor at heart and loves wild seas) said she thought we might go over a couple of times! I was oblivious to it all though as for the entire 45 minutes I molded myself to my reclining chair, focused on the music that was playing over the speaker above me, breathed deeply as the air conditioner did it's job, and imagined that each to and fro of the trip was nothing more than me swinging in a hammock at the beach. LOL!!! Okay, so it was a stretch but heh....thanks to that and Mr Gravol I made it across the water without leaving my breakfast on the boat!
Seriously, the wind was wild! The sea was wild! and here we were with tickets for a snorkel cruise! Sheesh - what a day to have that as our activity. But...by 11:00 our boat was ready to go and we were aboard. It was an easy decision for me to stay back with another couple and just enjoy the glass bottom while Lynda and 4 others (plus their guide) jumped overboard at two separate locations. I watched them snorkel in the waves and was oh so thankful that I was inside the boat! At the same time as I was watching them snorkel...I was also watching the lightening show that was taking place to the east (across the island). I could see our captain keeping a close eye on that storm too and it was no surprise that there was no third location for snorkelling this morning! As well, the couple who stayed back on the boat with me weren't really having much fun. One of them was pretty green around the gills from the minute we left the wharf and by the time that lightening show was underway she was into full blown seasicknesses. Watching her didn't help ease my queasy stomach either so again....I was in a hammock and the wind was nothing more than a breeze and the salt spray was just the mister that was keeping me from overheating....yep....I had as much exercise as the folks in the water did. The only difference was that I was exercising my imagination and they were exercising their bodies. LOL! :-) On the upside of all this....we did see some perfectly azure water under that glass bottom and at one point when the sun hit the water just right...we even saw it from the boat!
Once we were back on dry land we made our way to pick up our rental car. There was our little VW convertible waiting for us. It was pretty cue but.....once we heard it running and looked inside....we decided to take up the rental agent's offer of a different car for the same price. The one he gave us was a little bigger and had air conditioning. It was also a manual but heh....it also had a full roof and windows that rolled up and remember....there was a lightening storm just an hour ago and we're heading in the direction that the storm was coming from!
It took me a couple of blocks to get the hang of the clutch but once we were underway...it was all good. We headed straight across the island (14 km) and then turned south along that open coast. Again, when the sun hit the water just right....it was that perfect Caribbean blue and against the white sand...it was BEAUTIFUL! There was still lots of sea grass on the beaches and the water was sooo rough that it was covered with foaming white caps and massive waves but nonetheless....it was gorgeous!
We stopped at a few lookout points along the way and managed to suffer through a wonderful late lunch of shrimp and fish at a beachfront restaurant. The only problem we ran into was that had we known we would have reversed our trip direction and headed south right out of Cozumel Centro. The reason being is that everything, and I mean everything, closes at 5:00 so we didn't get to see a couple of things that we'd wanted to see. Had we reversed direction we would have been able to see and do all that we'd hoped. But....not going to complain too much as the result of our shortened trip was a much calmer sea for the ferry back to Playa del Carmen. It was still a rocking and a rolling and I was still in my hammock (having swallowed yet another gravol) but we found a window of time where the seas were the calmest they'd been all day! By the time we arrived back in Playa the wind had picked up and the seas for the next ferry were much wilder.
Once on dry land and in my case slightly dizzy/woozy/whatever we promptly made our way to a little French Bistro where we had the best coffee of our entire trip along with an almond croissant that was literally "to die for"!
Wandered the pedestrian street on our way back to Hotel Sahara and knew it was time to leave Playa when our server from last night called out to Lynda by name. That is our signal that we've been in a place long enough...when people start remembering you by name. :-)
I mentioned about the big party going on across from our hotel last night and there it was again tonight so this time we decided to head over to check it out. It turned out to be a Mexican fair celebrating the art and food of Oaxaca. Unfortunately we weren't hungry at all but we did find a couple of little purchases and spent some time watching a couple perform on the dance floor.
From there it was a short walk back to the little Italian deli where we get our complimentary breakfast. Again, we picked it up "to go" so we could have it before we get on the bus to Cancun in the morning. This time they had cake so we've got our sandwich and a piece of cake along with a drink for the morning. As for the coffee that is included....Lynda is saving hers for the morning (remember we have a microwave) and I enjoyed mine with the last of the Baileys tonight as I was typing this blogpost. :-)
Our bus in the morning will take us to or at least near the airport in Cancun where we'll stop long enough to confirm our flight time for the 1st. Something crazy has happened here...according to the internet, my computers internal clock, and Mr Google we're supposed to be just one hour different from BC time (since the clocks sprang forward) but....it seems that Quintana Roo (the state) hasn't followed the rules the rest of MX has and we're back to two hours difference. The result is that the print out of our ticket home has one time but the email confirmation we got today says a different time...so....we need to go to the Westjet counter, set our watches and confirm that time we should be there on the 1st! Jeez....life was so much easier when there were no time schedules to keep!! LOL!! :-)
just two sleeps to go.....till next time,
L & L
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