Cozumel

We had the buffet for breakfast and lunch. The lamb in the lamb stew and french fries were good at lunch.

We were docked at the Punta Langosta Cruise Terminal, which is close to downtown. We have been to this Cozumel port before; it is where you have to enter the shopping area on the second floor. This time they had the escalator at the beginning of the shopping area blocked off, so that you could not skip the shopping coming or going and had to walk all the way around to get to street level. This became even more important to me later when my feet were killing me when coming back due to a poor shoe choice. I brought croc-like shoes for before and after snorkeling, but they were killing my feet. After getting to street level, there were many taxis available for hire.

After getting out the port we walked left to the Coral Statue. I loved this painted, capsized boat.

I remembered my license plate picture, but forgot it in Costa Maya. Though we only saw a couple of cars in Costa Maya when we peeked out of the cruise port area. Luckily, it is in the same Quintana Roo state as Cozumel, so I did not miss a new state. I just liked this little vehicle -- scooter with a car built on top? Maybe officially a tuk tuk, but no room for a passenger. Our ship and a no longer functioning boat.

We passed be the ferry dock, and some soldiers got off the ferry and marched to an army office a little further down. The airport with cool painted planes. Next, to the airport was a larger military base. So, the most military that we have even seen in all of our previous 5 stops in Cozumel.

Some pretty flowers with a long seed pod. A little green bird. A condo designed to look a Mayan pyramid. On our walk left or northeast, along the coast, from Punta Langosta there were multiple condos available for rent. We had also arrived at where I was going to snorkel. Travis had tried swimming in the ship pool the day before and found that it hurt his rib too much, so he was not planning to snorkel. The recommended beach to snorkel from was Playa Casitas. We found another beach labeled with a different name, right past the Google Maps label for Playa Casitas. Playa Casitas access was blocked by a restaurant and a guy with an area roped off with chairs setup. Just past the beach, not labeled on Google Maps, with a wall to the ocean was another military facility (3rd one spotted) saying not to cross into their land/water. No one else was snorkeling for me to know where the good areas were. And, it was just me, so I did not try to snorkel. When we came back by there were people in the paid area of Casitas, but they were not snorkeling. (All beaches in Cozumel are supposed to be public access by law.) So, I do not know if there was good snorkeling or not. Our dinner mates noted bad snorkeling today due currents stirring up the sand and reducing visibility. They were on a boat excursion. She also saved a guy, who maybe had his first drink that day, drank too much, and fell off the boat. She alerted the crew to pull him out of the water and get an ambulance. She said his wife was so angry and embarrassed that she was not talking to him. I'm looking forward to snorkeling at Great Stirrup Cay soon since this one did not work out.

We then walked to a viewpoint. On the walk, it started raining. We had one umbrella; we first hid under the trees near the viewpoint and could still see it. We went to the viewpoint.

Then it rained harder, so we hid under the same trees a little more and then walked back. I found a cactus tree; cool. A postbox picture like I have taken in the past in different countries.

We had a plan to stop at a grocery store. The first grocery store was downtown with big or something like that in the name, but when we arrived, it was a tiny store that you really could not even step into. So, Travis found another called Mega Soriana. It was big; it has other stores at the bottom and a ramp (non-stair) escalator like we saw in Ireland too. We got some cookies (me), candy (Travis), some Mexican candy for our son's upcoming birthday, Travis some flip flops, and some pastries from the panaderí (pastry shop section of the store where you get a tray, tongs, pick what you want, and take it to the counter for packing and price tag) for now. I was not very impressed with either; I had better luck picking tasty ones when we were in Mexico City.

With my hurting feet and the long walk through the shopping area to get back, Travis let me wear his new flip flops. Though I did not change until after the escalator into the port dock, they felt much better for the long walk down the pier. I later realized that he had his old flip flops for the beach that I could have used earlier and not gotten his new ones dirty. I washed them later since I got them dirty.

This was Mexican night at the MDR. I don't find that I got the menus tonight or the last night :( ; I must have forgot to screenshot them.

What we ordered:

• Caesar salad - good

• Tortilla soup - good

• Chops Grille Petite Filet - this was on the MDR menu nightly for a $20 upcharge. Our waiter offered it at half price, so I went for it with some green peppercorn sauce. Very good.

• Chile-lime Salmon - I looked for salmon each night on the MDR, and this was the only night. I did not think I could get past strong chile-lime flavor to taste the salmon. Travis, he likes chile-lime flavored things, ordered it. I got to try it and the seasoning was not me. Travis's review -- good for salmon; he is not normally a fan.

• Ice cream and cookies - my normal

• Tres Leches - okay

  

We went to the Magician-Comedian show; the show was okay. Our sea turtle towel animal.