Snorkeling in Cozumel February 23 2019

Sometimes plans come together perfectly. Sometimes there need to be adjustments. Today was one of those times. The original plan was to meet a contact in front of a Sporting Goods store at 11:45. Things changed.

We slept in after yesterday’s activities until 8 and had a leisurely breakfast before venturing out to grab a taxi. We soon found ourselves with two First Class ferry tickets to Cozumel that lies a half hour from Playa del Carmen. I am not one to go First Class very often but the two buck investment seemed worthwhile.

The ferry ride was so deluxe that were serenaded across the passage to the tunes of Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra sung in Spanish of course. Mexicans must love his standards like “My Way” since we have heard it at almost every venue. Nice song. The musical tour was soon done and we embarked at the port of Cozumel. The entire island seems ringed with resorts and hotels. We took another cab ride to our designated meeting place near the cruise port. Since we were early, we indulged in a Carl’s Jr. Hamburger and returned to designated contact point and waited and waited.

Finally I decided to track down our tour contact. This proved elusive until i went to the fancy hotel across the street. They know her and managed to find her for me. By this time we had missed our scheduled time of departure. Somewhat hot but still under control, I found her. She had her son take us to the debarkation point back at the ferry terminal that we had left an hour ago. We were placed on “glass bottomed” boat along with 16 others. The glass bottom was 12 inches wide and 5 ft long and filled with life vests. It was very snug but we left the dock.

The Spanish instructions were about 10 minutes long and the English instructions were about 30 seconds. That was OK since I figured that there were only so many things that you really needed to know. Like if the boat catches fire, you need to get out. This came to mind when I noticed that the hose leading to the engine was wrapped in a plastic bag. The guy who spoke English had to prime the engine constantly. What can go wrong.

Despite all of the potential mishaps we made it to our first snorkeling spot. We had our own masked and were thankful as there was no effort to de-germ the loaner snorkel tubes from the bucket. There were also no flippers but that didn’t bother me as the water was still and we just floated pretty much in place. Now the good part. The fish were plentiful and of many different sizes. There was a photographer there chumming schools of photo props. He was covered and we eventually succumbed to having him take pictures of us. They should be good as we were covered in hungry fish. Jaws did not make an appearance. I would love to post the pictures but first have to find a CD. Reader that works with my stuff. Oh well.

We went to another spot with less plentiful fish but it was OK. We finally boarded and received our reward of a weak beer and a ride back to the dock. We had to hurry to jump back on the ferry back to Playa del Carmen. The band going back was much better than the morning. We caught a Mayan trike-taxi back to the hotel and showered in time to meet our tour guide for the next three weeks. She was dropping off 15 or 16 folks who just finished what we will start tomorrow. They said it was fantastic. It will have to be smoother than adventure today.

We finished the evening walking through the touristy port area. Since it is Saturday night, celebrations and partying are in high tide. We got to see little kid dance contests, along with numerous variations of Mexico Has Talent performed on the street. I managed to buy a floppy hat that fits that has a cool bit of embroidery on the front. I may wear it backwards. We had a Margarita and enjoyed some guacamole prepared at the table. The meal wasn’t close to last night but was acceptable.

We plan to sleep in tomorrow and spend the day wandering on our own.