So pretending I’ve fascinated you with glorious tales of what was apparently our very forgettable breakfast (Dh thinks this was the morning where he went up to BBB and brought back snacks), we’ll move on to when we finished getting ready for Cozumel.
This was the only port where we had booked an excursion through Disney. Originally we had the San Gervasio ruins and beach break tour booked.
Now this is the confession portion of our trip report: we lied to our children. Yes. Yes, it’s true. Although technically it wasn’t so much we lied, as we just forgot to tell them something. No, no…actually we lied.
When we first told the kids about the cruise, we had the excursions already booked so gave them all the info on what we were doing. But somehow we ‘forgot’ to tell them when we changed to the dolphin encounter at Chankanaab Park! We continued to wax rhapsodic about how much fun we would have walking around the ruins…and they never suspected a thing.
Without going into too much detail or standing on too high of a soap box, I have ethical objections to the so-called dolphin adventures and had refused to even consider them when we first start planning. Somehow my ethics got derailed and the next thing I knew we were slapping on ‘dolphin encounter’ wristbands and waiting in Diversions with the rest of our tour group. There. I’m a hypocrite. Now I have to live with myself. Well, actually Dh has to live with me, so really he’s the one that deserves the sympathy.
Anyhoooooooooo…..back to the post-breakfast scene...we packed up our swim gear, sun screen, towels, assorted odds and ends and wandered down to Diversions as per our excursion instructions. We were banded and released into the wild…oh wait, no…we had two wristbands, presumably these told the powers that be what we had paid for.
We also got our excursion stickers – we were in the Timon group (Timon’s the meerkat, right? Is it meerkat or meercat? I know we have a mere cat. But that’s different.)
We grabbed a booth at Diversions and waited as the people wandered in and the CMs got them organized. The checker board came out and Dh and V entertained themselves for a while. K on the other hand, was starting to catch on to why there was a photo of a dolphin on her wristband. I was trying to distract her before V overheard her.
Look! Look at the pretty baseball painting!
(Hey, at least I didn’t tell her to look at the flowers!)*
*
disturbing reference to The Walking Dead
Eventually we were herded off the ship. It’s a looong walk down that pier. At that point we were fresh and raring to go. Later, it was a different story.
The Mexican Navy (?) was doing some sort of exercise right next to where we were docked.
It was actually rather interesting and I would have liked to have been able to observe for a while, but no rest for the wicked and we kept walking.
We met up with our tour guide and as he explained the system to us, the
penny dropped for V.
I know she says “I hate you” but we know she really means “I love you” LOL….
From there it was a long, meandering walk out of the port area, across a walkway into a mall type area, around a hundred corners, down a few escalators (okay, I may be exaggerating a bit) until we finally got down to the street area…Our guide (I think it was Arón) was in charge of assigning us into taxis that would take us to Chankanaab Park. It was a quick and fairly painless process to get to Chankanaab. And yeah, I just like typing Chankanaab. Once we piled out of the cab, we had to wait for the group to reassemble and our tour guide to arrive (he came last to make sure everyone got there).
This is one of the main reasons why we went with private tours for the other ports – I hate being part of the herd and playing the hurry-up-and-wait-game. Fortunately there was lots to look at and distract us so it didn’t seem that long that we waited. Our tablemate and her daughter had also arrived by cab as they were doing the dolphin swim on their own, so the kids entertained themselves as well.
Once he arrived, the tour guide gave us the low down on what we could see and do there, highly recommending everyone try the real handmade tortillas there as opposed to the ones from Taco Hell. We were also advised/warned/threatened that the last cab would leave for the port at 3:30 so we MUST NOT BE LATE. I take these warnings very seriously as I have no desire to be standing on shore watching my ship sail away without me <sob>.
We were in one of the first groups scheduled for the dolphin encounter so we and many others were directed to the ‘dolphin guide’ (for lack of a better term!). We were shown where the lockers were (free!) and given time to change before congregating again at the dolphin pools.
You can’t put on sunscreen before entering the dolphin pools unless it’s biodegradable so we were glancing nervously at the sky and wondering how long before we fried like an egg! We were lined up by the pools – I think there were three or four of them? – and had to leave our hats & sunglasses, etc. in a bin while we waited for our guide to let us down the stairs, into the pool. We walked down onto a ledge until we were about chest high in the water. We all had lifejackets on, and poor K sometimes could stand and other times we had to hang on to her to keep her from floating into the pool itself.
We had a mama dolphin and her baby in our pool. We were told to make sure we did not try and touch the baby or mama might get upset with us. Poor K got worried because baby swam by her and touched her and she was most concerned that this would get her into trouble. We had to reassure her that if baby wanted to say hi, that was fine and nothing she could do. We just didn’t want mama dolphin to think we were trying to hurt her baby. At least I was hoping that was the case. Either way, mother dolphin didn’t go all mama bear on us so I guess we were okay.
We spent…oooh…at least a half hour or more in the water. There were about 12 of us altogether and we all got turns with the dolphin. Ugh..I’m so embarrassed I can’t remember mama dolphin’s name! The trainer would tell us to hold out our hands and then direct the dolphin past so that we could touch her. Then each person got to ask the dolphin to dance, or jump and of course, offer a kiss. I do feel guilty but yeah, I really enjoyed it and it was really, really cool. Damnit.
Once you’re out of the water, they take you blatantly through the store area so that you can order your photos. Um. Yeah. Very cool photos. You’re not allowed to take your own pictures so if you want pics you have to buy them…and you’d better be prepared to mortgage the house to pay for them! We had budgeted for a deposit on a future cruise which we no longer needed (more about that still to come!), so I rationalized buying the CD that way. Or maybe it was all the time we spent in the hot sun. Either way, we ended up with some very nice – and expensive - dolphin photos.
Once the order was placed, it was back to the lockers to get some clothes, the camera and sunscreen! The girls wanted to stay in their swim suits because, K especially, they were eyeing up the pool. But the sea lion show was just starting so we ducked in for that while we had the chance. At the end, V decided she had to get in line for a photo. Hey, guess what? Paid for that too LOL.
We went to check out the eating choices as we were getting pretty rumbly in the tumbly. There was a sit down restaurant with a buffet option right there that we opted for. Because it was right there. It was okay – it was food. It wasn’t cheap but certainly not outrageous, all things considered. Everything was priced in pesos which was kind of refreshing, but hard on my mathematically disinclined brain. I’m used to doing the Canadian to US conversion easily enough but to go from Canadian to US to Pesos just about made my head explode! So I tried not to worry about it. K was the only one who ordered off the menu – I can’t remember what and I don’t think she ate much anyway, because she was pouting at having to be inside (shade, glorious shade!) when there was a pool waiting for her.
When we finished up we made use of the facilities, at which point I had to explain to V to NOT put the toilet paper in the toilet. And no, I was NOT joking. She was not amused. Welcome to international travel, my dear…you go with the…er…flow!
Then finally, the kids were released to frolic in the pool. Which they did admirably. I joined them briefly, while Dh returned to the lockers to..I can’t remember why…probably to get the rest of our stuff. The kids loved the pool – and once we realized there was a SWIM UP BAR, then so did we. The drinks weren’t nearly as good as on the ship but hey, it was a SWIM UP BAR!
Eventually I got restless in the pool – after all, we have pools back home (sadly lacking in SWIM UP BARS) so wheedled the kids into getting out so that we could check out the beach/lagoon area.
The deck was packed so we just hung out at the edge to watch. Before long a CM walked through to let us know we wouldn't be able to see the fireworks from where we were so we edged our way out towards the hot tub so that we could see.
!!
DH and I have come to love Cozumel, despite it being considered the "dud" of the Western ports. I guess it grows on you. 
