Thursday, April 15, 2010

Cruise Day 5 - 6 - Cozumel, Mexico and a Sea Day

Wednesday March 31 we spent the day in Cozumel, Mexico. Our ship actually docked in the port this day, so it was nice to not have to take the tender boats.


We had planned a full-day excursion to see the Mayan Ruins of Tulum and had to take a 45-minute boat ride to the mainland of Mexico - the Yucatan Peninsula - and then an hour long bus drive to get to the ruins. After that boat ride, I felt like I was on the verge of throwing up and passing out, so this is what I looked like for most of the bus ride.


Thankfully that feeling passed! We finally arrived to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. It was CRAZY hot this day, and there was literally no shade during our 3-4 hours at the Ruins. Thankfully the Ruins were right on the edge of the ocean so the breeze felt great.


I can't tell you too much about the Ruins because our tour guide was a little difficult to understand and went off on a lot of tangents. What I can tell you is that the Ruins are really old, and really big, and really precisely built around the sun and moon. In fact one particular building is situated just so that on the Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year) the sun lines up in a certain way and lights up the building. Pretty cool stuff. It was really interesting to walk around this place that was so old, and had so much history; to think of how these people lived and built such magnificent temples is a wonder.

In addition to lots of old buildings, we saw a lot of these guys walking freely around.


We also ate lunch at an authentic Mexican Restaurant - so good! The salsa was amazing!

We made it back to our ship just in time to leave Cozumel.


That night we just ate supper at the buffet since there was a bunch of evening entertainment that we wanted to catch. Supper in the dining room is always 2 hours long with all those courses to eat, so we thought the buffet would be a better choice.

That night we saw a Hypnotist, Joshua Seth, perform. It was pretty cool, and hysterical. A guy sitting in the same row as us got hypnotized and his kids were sitting next to us; he was pretty funny! I was so close to convincing Greg to go for it since we knew no one on the boat. It was a no deal though. We also watched a "Movie Under the Stars" this night on the big screen theatre outside by the pool. It was pretty cool to sit on lounge chairs with warm blankets and fresh popcorn underneath the stars! We saw Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and it was a really good movie!

Our sea day on Thursday April 1 was such a nice break from the last 3 long and busy days at port. Greg routinely woke up in the middle of the night just to look outside and watch the water and the sky. He got some pretty cool pictures, too!


It was so black at night, being in the middle of the ocean. It made the moon and the stars that much more amazing to see.

We also saw lots of this:


Since I love being surrounded by the "bigness" of the ocean, it was a comforting sight and sound for me.

We spent some time in the pool, lounging in the sun (after waiting for a chair to free up), walking the boat (super cool wrap around deck), hanging on our patio, eating and reading on this day. It was a great break!

We also had an afternoon nap, and this is when I thought I was going to die. We were passing between Cuba and USA during the afternoon, and as Greg and I were both napping, we were woken to these huge booms and vibrations. It sounded like our ship had been hit with a missile and we were all going down. Greg, of course, had his bedside binoculars out in 10 seconds flat and discovered that there were 2 fighter jets practicing in the sky above us. The sounds and vibrations we were experiencing was the sound barrier being broken by the jets. It was crazy and I've never experienced anything like it. Greg was in heaven.

Thursday night was our second formal night, and we opted to take our own pictures instead of having to pay the $25 for the professional shots. Here we are on our balcony:


A little windy, but still warm. And here's me and that baby boy growing in my belly! I'm 18 weeks along here.


We had a super fancy supper and saw another Comedian, Troy Thirdgill, for entertainment this night; that was a great laugh. I really felt like Greg and I got to connect and enjoy each other's company on this day. I certainly could have used more sea days!

One more post about our trip to come on our day in the Bahamas and our reunion with Asher.

4 comments:

Debie said...

totally awesome. keep it coming...forever!! :o)

Erin said...

sounds like so much fun...

Love the picture of you guys all fancy looking...and the one of just you and baby boo....beautiful!

Andrea said...

you guys look great in those pics..i love the ones of you guys all dressed up. You have such a nice little pregnancy belly!!

Mandi said...

Thanks ladies! I love your comments and I love the pictures too!