Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: 2015 Western Caribbean Cruise

Well, they rolled the clocks back one hour this morning causing everyone to wonder what time we were really on. Bottom line is that we were up at 7;00 AM to find our boat docked at Cozumel. The water is pretty and blue here. I was excited because this was the first time I was really going to use my GoPro for what I bought it for. And I've also been buying up snorkel gear. So excited to give it all a shot.

After hitting the breakfast buffet, we were let off the boat around 8 AM. We wandered off around 8:30 AM. It took about 45 minutes to get the jeep. It was a nice jeep. We only wish its top was off. You can wish for that for cars but not for the sunbathers...right? :-) Anyway, we got the car and headed into San Miguel. I really thought it would be easy to find the turn on the road that takes one across the island. But we missed it. We even stopped to ask a guy where to find it and he naturally told us to go the wrong way....which we did. When we hit the airport on the other end of the island, we knew we had gone the wrong way. So we then started south gong through the San Miguel Barrios. We got a real taste of living in Cozumel. Not too pretty. Reminded me of parts of Colombia...the way the homes are built. Eventually we came to the main highway and headed east to go to the San Gervasio Ruins.

Finding the ruins was actually easy...well marked. We turned off the highway and headed north for about 6km. We pulled into the parking lot only to have a guy be our 'security' guard. He was really nice and watched our car...for a tip of course. The entrance fee was 9.50. We spent about 1.5 hours there walking around and seeing the Mayan ruins here. Nothing like Chitza Itza on the mainland. But nice...very nice.

Upon leaving San Gervasio, we headed back to the highway and headed east to the eastern beaches. They are nice. We stopped at one and got out into the ocean. We were told the snorkeling was not as good on the east side...too sandy. They were right. So we packed up and went to a beach on the western side called Mr. Sanchos. This was a big place that had water toys and lots of stuff. More people than I liked. But even here, the snorkeling was not that good. But, I did get to get out there and use my GoPro equipment. It was fun to film fish and stuff.

We headed back to the ship around 2:00 PM. On the way I stopped to get gas. Naturally they give you a car that is half full and expect you to figure out how to get it back to half full! I put 300 pesos in...which finding out later was about 20 dollars. The guy charged me 29 dollars. I did not have pesos so I had to pay it. The guy got a 9 dollar tip for filling half of my takn. Geez....rip offs!! And they are proud of it.

Back on the boat we rushed to get some food. We were starting to get hungry. I know..hard to believe. So we got some Ice Cream, fries and split some burgers. All healthy stuff though!!! :-) We then retired to our rooms to get showered and cleaned up while the boat prepared to leave port at 4 PM.

We retired to our rooms for about an hour or two to shower and get ready for the evening. We then met at a table where we played another round of 5 Crowns...a card game that Denise has yet to win! Kim has been kicking all our tails at this game. Such a lucky card bum. He should be in the Casino making millions!

Dinner ws great again. We always have multple appetizers, soup, salad, multiple entrees and every dang dessert on the menu! The food quality and service is really, really good. I had a small steak and then we split some veal. Others ordered a seafood plate which I was bummed out that I did not order. It had all the good things from the sean in it. I'd include pictures of the food here but those pictures are on Denise's phone and with no internet I have no way of sending pictures to other devices unless you have a media card.

The evening entertainment was a group call "Tenors of Rock". They were 4 guys from the UK who had sung on one of the english talent search shows and did quite well there. This show was really, really good. These guys could sing and they covered a wide range of rock-n-roll songs from groups all over the world. We all really, really enjoyed the show! So far, the entertainment on this boat has gone beyond expectations.

In summary, the snorkeling in Cozumel was less than I had hoped for. Next time I would find a boat to take me out to the reef. Snorkeling from shore was a c+ at best. Live and learn though. We did enjoy the trip in the Jeep around the island. It would have been nice to have one with the top off. Fun nonetheless!

Tomorrow....Grand Caymans!

Look out Cozumel...her she comes!