Cozumel

We woke up this morning and the ship was docked in Cozumel, Mexico. We are a quick breakfast on the Lido deck and changed into swimwear before disembarking. We walked around the pier area and did some shopping until our excursion was ready for us to check-in.

Our excursion today was a beginner scuba dive. We have been working on becoming scuba certified, but we did not quite finish the program before this trip. This beginner scuba did not require certification.

On our way to the beach, we met a farmer from Illinois and his son. They did this same excursion last year and had enough fun that they wanted to do it again. We got to talking to them and Alison had a question about the safety of glyphosate that she has been wanting to ask a real farmer. Not only could our new friend tell us about glyphosate from experience, but he also did post graduate work in weed science. We had a great conversation and he put Alison’s mind at ease. He also thanked her for taking the time to educate herself on this topic.

We started our underwater adventure in a classroom where they went over a few safety tips before they split us into small groups (2-3) and assigned us a scuba professional. This professional helped us get our gear and practiced a couple of skills with us before taking us out into the ocean. He stayed with us the entire time and made sure everything was good. We had a blast. This was our first-time scuba diving in open water and I felt very confident and comfortable. We did not see anything that cool. There were a lot of beautiful fish and some cool coral formations and one of the fun aspects of scuba diving is that you get right up near the sea life.

We were very glad we did this dive because we would rather have our first ocean dive in Cozumel, Mexico, than at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun too.

After our dive, we went back to the cruise ship and got some lunch. Have I mentioned the burgers on the ship? They are great. After we ate some food we wandered back off the ship to buy some gifts for our family back home. Then we boarded the ship and lounged on the Lido deck until it was time for our spa appointment.

We planned this trip to the spa before we embarked on the cruise. We knew we wanted to get a couples massage, and we ended up getting two. We upgraded and added the hot stone treatment to this one as well. It was even better than our first massage. It was totally and completely relaxing.

After the massage, we showered and got ready for the evening. We sat in the central lounge of the ship and listened to Take 2 Travels. They are a duo (a guy with a guitar and a girl who sings) that plays a wide variety of songs. We sat and listened, while we people-watched for a while. Then we went to the early show for tonight. It was called Viva Variety and was supposed to be a hypnotist who was also a comedian, turns out he was mostly a fraud and pretty boring. We watched him put people to sleep for 35 minutes and then we left and got dinner.

Tonight’s dinner in the dining room was excellent. They had a special braised rabbit appetizer that I decided to sample. It was very interesting. They also had a great lamb dish that I had as my main course. Alison went with the baked ziti. I had my favorite dessert, a molten chocolate cake, which I have had every night thus far. Alison had a slice of apple pie. This dinner was exceptional because we had a great waiter, Roldan. He was friendly and fun. We are probably going to request to be in his section for the rest of the cruise.

After dinner, we called it a night. We were tired from our adventures today and we have to get up early for our adventure in Progresso, Mexico tomorrow.