Reflections of My Travel

today we ported in calica (ca-lee-ka) which sounds like a wonderfully exotic place but, in reality is just a quarry with a dock for barges. we learned that the holiday is the only cruise ship that ports there. seriously, this is not a place that you decide to just walk around town. heck, there’s not even a shopping plaza – there’s about six or seven merchant tents like a tiny flea market. you can catch a taxi (no complimentary shuttle provided) to playa del carmen for $13. if you are on the holiday and have a stop in calica, i seriously recommend an excursion or don’t bother getting of the ship.

from this side of the ship, it looks like an inviting place

fortunately, we did have an excursion booked that we were really looking forward to. we went to the chaak tun cenote (cavern) for some underground snorkeling.

folks, the whole time we were in there, i kept saying “this is so cool!”. and not just because the water was 72° either. we’ve been to caverns before like mammoth cave and diamond caverns but there’s just something about seeing the stalactites and stalagmites and all that jazz underwater. add in some bats and cool fossils and it was just a good time. most of the time we had to wear life vests which i found annoying and nasty (i’m pretty sure they’ve never been cleaned and it kept scooting up into my face) but at the end, there was a thirty-something foot pool that we were allowed to take our vests off, at our own risk of course, and do some free swimming/diving.

when we were through, our guide led us out to a refreshment area where we were offered bottles of water, sodas, and cerveza. being in mexico, i figured they’d be giving out some coronas but it was some generic looking stuff called sol which the imbibers didn’t seem to care for much – most switched to water or soda after the first. it was a relatively short excursion and, on the way back to the ship, the bus driver was kind enough to stop in play del carmen to drop off those that wanted to do some shopping in town. saved them one of the $13 taxi fares, right?

apparently mexico is too poor for barbed wire

as for us, we went back to the ship, got showered and changed, had lunch, walked around a bit, ran into anastasia and talked with her a while, played putt-putt (i won!), hung out by the pool and relaxed.

windy hair

fore!

when we went back to our room to get ready for dinner we were surprised to see invitations for a past-guest reception (whoohooo! i love the receptions!!!) and a couple of holiday pins. we headed to the reception, then dinner, and the show of the night was the guest talent show. there were six singers and while they weren’t all *ahem* talented, it was entertaining.

towel animal du jour: bunny rabbit!

today was our first stop in cozumel. the engines got very loud and our room started shaking around 07:00. it wasn’t too bad but i’m pretty certain that never happened on the glory (maybe, just maybe, i’ll actually write up a travel log for that cruise someday, although it would probably just be pix because it’s been two years and i don’t remember many details). while i’m at it, i might as well review the holiday a bit. it is a noticeably smaller and older ship than the glory. it is clean and in good repair but there is not as much to do. all in all it doesn’t bother me too much but it is much noisier and the motion is much more exaggerated (really, i never felt any motion on the glory at all but nobody can walk straight on this ship). i’ve seen many people walking around with patches behind their ears and i’m pretty sure someone like my cousin, bro-n-law, or MIL would have a rough time on it. /review

anyhow, the excursion we booked today was more of a beach break deal. it was an all day snorkeling pass at the el cid resort which included all-you-want food and drinks. we laughed a bit because it ended up being right at the end of the pier so we had a view of our ship all day (until we came up from snorkeling one time and realized that our ship had grown and changed it’s name to imagination).

we lounged for a bit when we first got there before finally testing out the waters.

the snorkeling wasn’t the best because the small reef that was there was very bleached. they said that wilma destroyed a lot of their reefs, which is a shame. however, there were patches of nice coral and some colorful fish, anemones, and urchins.

we snorkeled for a bit, got out to rest and enjoy refreshments, and snorkeled some more.

i think we went in about four times and snorkeled for probably an hour or so each time. i took a few dunks in the fresh water pool which was a welcome change from the salt water (i haven’t even tried the pools on the ship because i remember not much caring for the salty pools). all in all, it was a great way to spend the day. after all, this trip is all about relaxing and we got to do plenty of that. the sun and swimming took its toll and we ended up taking a short nap when we got back on the ship – our wake up call being the engines as we were leaving port. our after-dinner entertainment was a juggling show followed by another comedian. the juggler was manuel zuniga who we had seen on the glory two years ago. he’s good at what he does and puts on a funny show. the comedian was tim harkleroad who wasn’t as funny as the other guy. i’m not sure if it was part of his act or what but he just seemed nervous and ill-prepared. tonight was also the night of the big deck party and midnight buffet (at 23:30) which was mexican food. unfortunately, i absolutely stuffed myself at dinner and had no room for midnight mexican (i’m sure my tummy thanks me for that) but we walked around a bit before coming to bed.

towel animal du jour: scorpion!

this morning we had breakfast in the dining room with a young couple from pensacola who are moving to japan next week. we spent the rest of the morning back in our room relaxing and watching movies. we emerged for a late lunch and a round or two of putt-putt. it was an interesting day for golf since the ship was rocking quite a bit and the wind was blowing fiercely so the balls kept rolling around when we were trying to swing at them. needless to say, i won! (my blog, my version!!!)

heading into a storm
anchors aweigh!
after our cut-throat putt-putt match, we found a couple of lounge chairs by the pool and people-watched a bit. anastasia, the siberian girl from the dining room line last night, sat next to us and we had a great conversation. i am very impressed that she is traveling alone so far from home. she is my age but i would be far too chicken for that. we got so wrapped up in talking to her and comparing cultures that we barely had time to get ready for formal night and ended up being late to the captain’s reception (truly a shame to be late to those). we then stopped at a couple of portrait stations to get some formal pix taken on our way to the dining room where the maître d’ graciously accommodated our request for a new table on the opposite side of the dining room from the loud, obnoxious chick. we are now sitting with an older couple, burrell and linda from tx, and a couple around hubby’s age, suzanne and charles from al. there was good conversation and good food and we couldn’t even hear loud, obnoxious chick. when we left the dining room, we got changed into more comfortable clothes and went to walk around the promenade deck. we ran into anastasia in the disco and danced a bit before heading to the xtreme country show. it was a decent show but not my favorite. although i think hubby enjoyed the skimpy costuming. we finished up the night with the adult comedy show (same guy as last night) which we managed to get front row seats for and it was freakin’ hilarious.

towel animal du jour: elephant!