Day 9
We were up bright and early that morning. We had an early port arrival time that morning and people were allowed to leave the ship at 7:15. We wanted to be off the ship reasonably early so we got up at 6:30. I am not a breakfast person at the best of times and most certainly not that early in the morning so we just headed up to the Cove Cafe. Graham had an Americano with some mini Danish pastries of some description and a breakfast muffin. I had a Cafe Mocha, some of the Almond Bread that they also serve at Palo and a Chocolate Brioche. Once we had finished everything, we headed back to our cabin to pick up our stuff. I also took a couple of quick photos as there was something on the mainland that looked incredibly like a Mayan pyramid. Unfortunately it was quite hazy that morning so the photos are not too clear.
When we got off the ship, it was not as busy as I thought it would be. I suppose it was still early in the morning, but as we also left quite early, I expected more people to be around. We picked up a towel each and then we left the ship. The walk in Cozumel is not as far as at Costa Maya, but you do have to walk through a shopping centre to get to the tour buses and taxis. A number of people working in the shops were trying to attract our attention and were trying to convince us to come into their shops. They pretty much did take no for an answer. The only exception to this rule was actually not local. She was an American woman working in one of the jewellery shops. She just would not leave us alone, but eventually we escaped her as well.
We were doing our own thing that day. When we had been in Cozumel in 2009, we had gone on an excursion to Chankanaab National Park and thoroughly enjoyed it. We always knew that if we ever got back to Cozumel, this is were we would go. This time around, we did it on our own. Chankanaab National Park is also home to Dolphin Discoveries. Apart from their various dolphin programmes, they now also offer a Sealion Interaction and a Manatee Interaction. The prices for those were very fair and also included admission to the park. I hit a bit of a snag insofar that they have an exclusive agreement with Disney, which means that officially if you come to Cozumel with a Disney ship, you can only book the various programmes through Disney. I do not have a problem with this as such, but Disney only offers the dolphin programmes. So in order to book the Manatee Interaction ahead of time, I had to select the hotel option. I was not entirely happy having to make the booking under false pretences, but did not want to risk getting there only to find out that this was fully booked.
I have to admit I was a little bit nervous about doing this in a DIY fashion. I do not subscribe to the idea that I will be killed in Mexico, but in every Mexican port with the exception of Ensenada, we have encountered problems communicating as not everybody speaks English and we don't speak Spanish. However, this was easy. When we got to the taxi rank, there were loads of taxis waiting and although I don't think our driver spoke much English, he understood that we wanted to go to Chankanaab and told us that it would be $10. Chankanaab is a bit of a trek from the port so $10 was very fair. We got dropped right at the entrance plaza to the park. As soon as we got there, I saw a table set up for customers for Dolphin Discoveries. He checked my confirmation and issued me with the various wristbands. Graham had to go to the official ticket counter, which was right next to it to get his ticket, which was about $20. We had arrived before the official park opening, but we were still allowed in. This had somewhat changed since we last had been there. Additional attractions had been added and there was still some major building work going on, but that did not distract from the experience at all. I had been told at the entrance to check in near the interaction areas, but was told to come back nearer the time. We put our stuff in a locker and sat down on a bench to watch the dolphins. When the park was officially open, I walked with Graham to the beach. Once he was zipped into his wetsuit, I headed back towards the interaction area. After a quick bathroom stop and a look around the gift shop, it was time to check in.
Once I was checked off the list, I was asked to wait in front of the gift shop. I recognised the two people that were already there from the excursion in Costa Maya so they were from the Magic, too. Indeed, most of the people from our group seemed to have come from the Magic. I chatted with them for a bit until somebody came to collect us. We were equipped with life vests and then we were introduced to Angel, the trainer who would be working with us. He then walked us over to the area where the manatees live. To my immense relief, I was allowed to keep my water shoes on. I felt a bit more secure with them on the metal platform than I had without them on my previous visit. Angel introduced us to their three male manatees and told us a bit about manatees in general. He then explained what we would do during the interaction and taught us the hand signals. To my surprise they were the same hand signals that were used for dolphins. We would get a kiss, a flipper shake and a hug. To start off with though, they swam past a few times and gave us the opportunity to stroke them. I expected them to be a little slimy because of the algae that was growing on their skin, but they actually felt quite leathery. After we had got used to the manatees and they to us, Angel threw out some food for two of them so that they moved away. The third one then took turns giving us kisses. The current was strong that day and I was still not entirely happy to stand close to the edge of the platform even with the shoes on. The other people felt the same and we spontaneously started to hold on to the straps on the life vest of the person next to us if it was their turn to step up to the edge of the platform. Still, when it was my turn, the kiss on the mouth turned out great, but a wave caught me when the manatee tried to kiss me on the cheek and this did not really work out. So we had to try again. I was relieved when this went well and I was safely at the back of the platform again. Of course, this feeling was short-lived. For each behaviour, our trainer picked out somebody to do this again and for the kiss, this was me. Still, this time everything went off without a hitch. The flipper shake also went well.
After this came my favourite part of the programme. The last thing still outstanding was the hug and for this more space was needed as a manatee is pretty big. So our group was split in half and 6 of us and two of the manatees were sent away from the platform for a free swim. We were each given a mask so that we could observe the manatees under water. We were warned that they are pretty curious and that they would come to check out their new playmates. We were also told that if they approached us, we could touch them. We had about 15 minutes playtime with the manatees and this was amazing. At first all I saw was beautiful tropical fish, but suddenly a manatee was right next to me and stayed with me for a while. I was a little sad when we were called back to the platform and the second half of the group was sent out. It now was our turn to do the hug. We were supposed to kind of cradle a manatee in our arms and hold this while the photographer took some photos. Have I mentioned that a manatee is big and heavy? Even with the support of the water, I could not hold this position for very long and the photographer did not get a photo of this. So we had to try again. Once everybody had their hug, the other half of the group was called back to the platform and the manatees swam past a few more times so that we had the chance to say goodbye and then it was time to leave.
