Prepared Thursday evening, November 7th
G had to drag me into the sport of scuba diving. It wasn't that I didn't like the water- I did, and we snorkeled everywhere we went- but the thought of all those feet of water on top of me made me hyperventilate. Well, once I got my Open Water and then Advanced Diver Certifications, it became obvious that, of the two of us, I was going to be the diving die hard. In our pre-cruising days, we used to come to Cozumel several times each year, to stay at an all inclusive resort on the southern end of the island and dive as much as our computers would allow. No formal nights, dressing for dinner in shorts and flip flops, talking diving when our heads were above water...that's my idea of vacation heaven!
In fact, a dive master at Dive Palancar on Cozumel, after watching me dive for a few days, named me Pescado Amarillo, because all my dive gear was yellow, and I was a fish in the water.
The. I dragged G on his first cruise, and the course of our vacation future was forever changed. We've only been to Cozumel to stay twice since then, and I've had to be satisfied with just very occasional cruise ship visits. The last time we were here, in 2005, we did a snorkel/beach excursion on the Fury Catamaran. We still have a photo of the two of us in the water on that excursion posted on the refrigerator, and it was time to make it a pair.
By the time we met for our excursion at 1pm, dark clouds were beginning to appear on the horizon and te wind was picking up. Still, we enjoyed the 30 minute cruise to Cardona Reef, and the snorkel in about 20-30 feet of water. We followed up with a visit to the Fury's beach resort. By then, it was raining, but the unlimited margaritas helped keep us warm and happy. The rain stopped for the cruise back to the cruise ship, and I even got a bit jiggy on the catamaran (hey, it was he Cupid Shuffle...I was powerless to resist).
The Nieuw Amsterdam stayed late in Cozumel, until 11pm, and on the Seaview Deck, a huge Mexican Fiesta was set up for several hours. HAL does this sort of thing really well...so much delicious food and a dessert table with an amazing variety of sweets, including chocolate dipped apples. At 8pm, a Mariachi band was scheduled to perform, but the lightning that had been threatening in the distance chose that moment to move in, bringing huge rain with it. We ran to our cabin, where we sat on the covered balcony and enjoyed the entertainment of the fiercest storm we've ever seen on a ship.
At which point G announced that he loved Holland America, but Princess really had much better weather.
;-)
Photo 1: Captain Wilbert on the Fury, talking on his cell phone and steering with his foot. ;-)
Photo 2: a coral head on Cardona Reef
Photos 3 and 4: Fury's beach resort on Cozumel
Photo 5: 8 years older, but still having fun (and the fish wanted in on the act)
Photo 6: tonight's towel doggy
