Cozumel or bust

PART II-

Day 6: Saturday, June 13

This was the morning of our arrival in Cozumel. It was nice to see land again. We arrived right on schedule at 8:00 am.

Scott and I as well as Jon and Janene and Daryl and Nikki had signed up to do a shore excursion while Joe and Sarah and Brian and Chrisi opted to tour the island on their own. So Saturday morning we separated.

We met our guide and headed off to our destination. We had signed up to do snuba diving. I had never heard of this before and was quite intrigued. Snuba is basically a simpler, less complicated form of scuba diving. It is a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving. After about 1/2 an hour of instruction (which managed to freak me out just a little when he was talking about some of the things that could go wrong) from our new friend Blas we got into the water with our guide Puerto.

I didn't anticipate any problems and was quite excited to begin. However, the first time I went under water with my mask and breathing apparatus I suddenly developed a case of claustrophobia and began breathing very heavily. I was wondering how I was going to make it 25 feet underwater when I could barely last a few seconds under the water right now. Luckily Puerto was very patient with us and we had plenty of time to get used to it all before we ventured out further and deeper. I was relieved that I was able to calm myself down and relax and actually enjoy myself. Scott and I both had a few issues with getting our ears to pop, but otherwise it was a wonderful experience. We were able to see a ton of different fish underwater. We saw a sea horse, a ray, an eel, and many other cool underwater creatures. I am hooked and would love to do this again sometime. Unfortunately there is the small problem of living so far from the ocean that I don't know when that will ever happen again. After we got back to shore we were able to snorkel as well. I had never really snorkeled before and it was a lot of fun.

We are expecting some pictures from Daryl, who was the only one with an underwater camera, when he gets them developed. I am anxious to see how they turned out.


After we were done with snuba diving we decided to ride around the island. We rented 2 scooters and an old Volkswagen buggy and headed off.

Our first stop was at a beach down the road. Our time was limited and we weren't sure how long it would take us to get around the island so we didn't stick around long.

We all really wanted to see some Mayan ruins while we were in Cozumel so we pulled off the road when we saw signs for ruins. We were a little disappointed to find out that it was actually a small replica and wasn't even the real thing. Our "tour guide" said that it was some sort of religious building where the people would come to pray. He said if you touched it you would have "Mayan baby". Scott touched it several times. I don't know where exactly he plans on getting any Mayan babies, but they aren't coming from me! lol Sadly we didn't have time to find any real ruins.

Much of the area that we had been driving through at this point had been very thick with trees and greenery. After awhile it opened up and you could see the ocean. It was so beautiful!

We found this little shop out in the middle of no where. The man had some beautiful handmade blankets. We stopped to take a look and ended up buying some souvenirs to take home.

We had to be back to the ship by 4:00 so we didn't have much time to stop anywhere else, but we did enjoy the ride around the island. We did encounter a small rain storm, lasting under 5 minutes, but we felt each raindrop as it hit us.

By the time we got back to the boat we were all pretty well worn out and ready for a shower, and of course dinner!

Day 7: Sunday, June 14-

Sunday was another beautiful day aboard the ship. Our group tried to observe the sabbath as best we could while being in a constant party environment. Speaking of a party environment, we learned quickly that most people were there to eat, drink, and be merry. Most adult "activities" had that in mind. When we heard that they were having a hairy chest contest we all encouraged Joe to enter. He finally consented which was a big mistake! It turns out it was more like a sexy many contest complete with a provocative dance down the stairs to 3 women "judges". Joe admirably bowed out as soon as he realized what he had gotten himself into.

Anyway, so the atmosphere was less than desirable for observing the Sabbath day. We did manage to find ourselves a quiet corner on deck where we could spend some time sharing stories, testimonies, and experiences. It was a neat experience to find our own peace and quiet despite all the craziness around us.

We did have the privilege of being witness to some of God's creations. Right in the middle of our devotional we saw this....

We were grateful to have been able to see the dolphins as up to that point we had seen no evidence of life out in the big beautiful ocean.

Sunday evening we once again gathered out on the deck. After the hairy man incident we had decided to come up with our own entertainment throughout the week. We all submitted questions in the newlywed game fashion and enjoyed hearing everyone's responses over the course of a couple of nights. By Sunday we were out of questions and were looking for something else to do. Sarah and Joe had some fun games that we played. We were also very entertained by Sarah and Janene's monkey calls.

Sarah and Joe have a motor boat and we have had the privilege of going water skiing with them a few times. Each time Sarah is in the water and is ready for Joe to take off she makes a monkey sound. It has become her signature sound I guess you could saw. Janene gave us all her version, monkey taking in water when it goes down. We were all laughing so hard I am sure that people thought we were drunk!

We enjoyed yet another beautiful sunset knowing that by morning it would be time to say goodbye.

Day 8: Monday, June 15-

Morning brought new views out the window. Gone was the beautiful blue ocean. We were back in Mobile and ready to dock.

I was surprised actually how orderly it was getting 1,700 passengers off the ship. But judging by this picture, most people were as reluctant to leave as we were.

While we waited for all of our group to leave the ship we were able to watch the reloading process in preperation for the next cruise set to leave later that day. During a tour of the kitchen a couple of days eariler we were told that they spend around $80,000 on food for a cruise our size with about 14 semis bringing food and supplies.

See the tiny round windows at the bottom? That is where our room was.

After we all made it off the ship it was time for goodbyes. Scott and I and Brian and Chrisi headed back to Pensacola while the others returned to their homes in Montgomery.

Brian and Chrisi flew out that afternoon but Scott and I weren't leaving until the next day. We decided to head back to the beach one more time.

Later we drove around Pensacola a little more. We were quite familiar with where we were going at this point and ventured away from the same 3 streets that we tried to stay on before. We found a scenic highway along the coast. There was a walkway leading to the beach that we decided to walk down. We were both surprised to find pinetrees so near the ocean.

Having grown up in Utah I had never thought I would ever go to Florida. I always figured that if I was going to go to an ocean it would be on the West coast, not the East. Both Scott and I were pleasantly surprised with Florida. Of course we only saw a small portion of it, but what we did see was lovely. I asked him several times if we could call his mom and have the kids start packing so we could move to Florida. Granted vacationing somewhere is far different than living there. There is the pesky problem of hurricanes to deal with if you live in Florida.

Day 9: Tuesday, June 16-

By Tuesday morning we were both feeling sad about leaving but were excited to be home and see our kids again.

We had a long day ahead of us which included a nearly 7 hour stay in the Denver airport. We could have driven home from Denver and still beat the plane. Next time I will pay more attention to times as well as cost when booking flights. A 7 hour layover in Denver was really very loooooong!

It was a happy moment to arrive safely back in Rapid City and to wake up our sleeping kids to give them hugs and kisses. I am pretty sure they missed us as much as we missed them.