Family Cruise 2019--Day 4, Costa Maya

Costa Maya! I had booked a “two reef by boat” snorkel excursion through Shore Excursioneer for just mom and me. She, incredibly, had never snorkeled before! I’ve enjoyed it in the past, but on our last cruise, we had a semi-private snorkel excursion with a pro, in Bonaire.  Her little tips really helped improve my comfort in the water. I really thought Mom might enjoy this “once in a lifetime” experience of snorkeling on the Meso-America reef, the 2nd largest reef in the world. I had snorkeled in Cozumel but that wasn’t the greatest experience (I got sea sick, IN the water!).

We were up bright an early, there was a time zone change I believe, so I have no idea what time it was now. Mom's cabin had a view of the looooong pier. You can just barely see it here in the morning light.

I had recently watched Tony’s video of the Costa Maya port area, and knew it could take us 15 minutes to get to the taxis. We were able to take the tram ride down the pier and then we meandered through the port. Things were just starting to open up and store keepers were friendly. 

We couldn’t find our way out though. We met up with a young couple with a stroller who were also looking for the way out. We both thought the signs for “Emergency Exit” might be a lead, but no, they actually were for emergency exits. We asked a couple times and got very general hand waves, but eventually made it out. 

I knew we had to go to the taxi stand right outside the official area, and it was then easy to find. We quickly got a taxi, $8 for the two of us, into the town of Mahahual. The taxi driver was fine, but didn’t talk at all. Some speak good English, some speak none. He knew where “Doctor Dive” was though. We got out and weren’t too sure about his general hand wave. I saw a sign for “Ya Ya Beach Club” and knew Doctor Dive was “next to” it…but really, from the road, it’s through it and on the left side before you cross over to the beach area.

In the shop I let the lady know we were there. It was 25 minutes before our meeting time, and the meeting time was 30 minutes before departure. So, plenty of time! We saw a fine young man loading up a boat. I noticed what looked like a fence in the water, about 20 ft out from shore. There were boats in an area on the other side of the fence. My first thought was a shark fence. But would you have to battle sharks to get to the boats?!

We had some torrential rain while waiting .  It almost seemed chilly, at least by Mexican standards. It doesn't really look warm and tropical in the photo. The rain stopped but it was still quite breezy. Finally, the young man came over and introduced himself as Luca, our guide. He told my mom that she’d hang on to a rope attached to a ring buoy, and he’d pull her along. Not fair! He led us to the beach and into the water, towards the boats.

Then I remembered. Costa Maya had a seaweed problem. The fence stops the seaweed from coming up on shore. The boat we were going to…beyond the fence. Mom had her flop flops on, and I had my good “sport” sandals. I was able to keep them on, but I could still feel the icky. It’s too bad the Google Satellite map images are very washed out for this area. A quick Google search led to this https://www.journeymexico.com/blog/update-on-sargassum-seaweed-affecting-mexicos-beaches  Costa Maya is a bit south of the areas in the article. Google “Sargassum Costa Maya” for some scary pictures! Wow. The fences really do help. I was worried though what it would be like out on the reef. It was fine.

And then we got to the boat. How to get in though?! Through pantomime and some English, we got the message. This was the first time I had this sort of experience. Usually we board a catamaran from a dock! Sometimes it goes to a beach and you can climb down a ladder into the water, sometimes you just jump off. I’ve never had to climb in the boat from thigh deep seaweedy water. It wasn't too bad--sit on the side, facing out, and swivel over. I didn't want to bend my knee that much but it seemed okay.

It was a short boat ride to the site, and during that time, Luca and his helpers got us suited up in life jackets, flippers and masks. He gave my mom some tips and instructions, and then we had to swivel over the side and jump in! What on earth had I brought my mom to?! LOL.

Within a few minutes she was complaining about the mask, and getting water inside. She kept trying the tips but she was getting really uncomfortable; the salt water was burning her eyes and nose. Finally, Luca gave her his mask. This made all the difference. She was able to relax and enjoy the underwater world!

 There weren't huge schools of fish like in Bonaire, but the lettuce coral was really vibrant! There were parrot fish and other fish. There must be some reason I took the picture below. Maybe something living in those rocks?

However, it was quite rough out. Large swells would raise me up and down a couple feet. I got some water down my snorkel and of course, started feeling sea sick! Like, retching, thinking I was going to throw up. Not again! I was ready to give in, but we were a distance from the boat, and Luca and mom were too far from me to say anything. Then I hear him yell and point down. I look down, and there’s a sea turtle!!!!

 It was so awesome. There were two or three in total.

 My first one!!! Mom’s first, and on her first snorkel!!! There were actually two or three in the area. It was so cool! They nibbled on the sea grass, and we saw them stick their head above the water too. Exciting! Then, he pointed again, and there was some sort of sting ray!! No way!! It really blended in!

And then a puffer fish, just to finish off the snorkel! As usual, later in the cruise I was exploring options and settings on the camera and found the "underwater" setting again! I should put a sticky note on the camera so I don't keep forgetting!

I was pretty much done. It was supposed to be 30 minutes at each location, with a short boat ride between them. That’s not what we got, but it was still worth it. We swam over to the boat. On the way there, I thought, how are we going to get in? From deep water?! When we got there, Luca told us to hold this rope and take off the flippers. Mom climbed a little ladder first. Where was this ladder when we first climbed in? While waiting for her, I bashed my knee against the boat when I got swooped up in a swell. The day before I bashed my shin on the pool ladder. Typical stuff for me LOL.

I got to use a little of my Spanish and say I was “poco cansada”. LOL. Luca asked where we were from and he was excited to hear Canada because he likes to see snow. He was from Argentina, so had seen snow there. It was kind of neat, because we go north to see snow, and he’d have to go south!

We got back to the seaweed fence and had to figure out how to get out. Turns out it’s similar to jumping over the side…but it’s not deep LOL. We made it back to the shop, where I gave the lady a tip for Luca, and we headed to the washroom and freshwater showers.

Rustic, Mexican charm!

We headed back out to the street, wondering how to properly hail a cab. A man saw us, asked “Taxi?” we said “Si” and could see some up the street. He pointed to them. Thanks! LOL. We walked to them and then saw all. A woman came to get us and we headed back. On the way back, there was a man standing at the curb with a suitcase. She pulled over and we thought she was going to let him in! She spoke to him in Spanish but I couldn't understand except it seemed like she was going to pick him up on her way back to town. 

Like other ports, the taxi could come right up to the actual buildings. There were some cool dune buggies in the parking lot. Next time?

We wondered around the port, keeping an eye out for the girls and Rob. We saw the flamingos

the parrots

the dolphins

No girls and Rob.  We walked all around the big pool (which the girls told us later that it was freezing).

We passed a shop and bottles of vanilla caught my eye. 

They were the ones the members of the cruise group recommended! Mom and I each got a bottle--she got clear though. The sign said $20USD. I had to follow a girl into the shop where she got a calculator and did some math showing me how much the peso is worth and something about what it would say on my credit card bill. I believe, in the end, the two bottles were $56Cdn. They are 500ml. I recently opened mine and oh man. It smells so good, and tastes really good too. 

We headed over to the pier and had a seat at the security booth to wait for the tram. There really should be actual seating. It came and Mom and I got on the first car. We waited a few minutes and then I saw the girls! They didn't notice us and actually climbed up and were sitting down before they clued in! Pretty crazy!!

They had had a good time in the port, but they said the pool was FREEZING. They really wanted to go to a beach. If I had known how the whole week would go, I would have had us all go into the town and the girls could have gone to the beach there. I really wanted to do something independent though, and show my Mom it's not all that scary if you're prepared.

I don't have many details for the evening! I have some random food and menu pictures--some from my kids--but no dates for them. This was the night of the '80s party and I remember trying to walk up the Royal Promenade with either Mom or Rob and it being a zoo. We probably went swimming. Maybe we went to bed early cause we were so tired from the early mornings? We did like to walk the upper decks and the jogging track in the evenings.


One thing I see, looking at the Cruise Compass, was that we went to Jazz on 4 to see the High C's Horns. That was at 10:15. We got down there just after 10 but needed to meet up with the girls. We peeked into Jazz on 4 to see if they were there, and were shocked! The place is tiny! Seats maybe 50 people, in these gorgeous massive chairs. It was totally full, and a lot of people were standing in the doorway because there was no where else to stand (the chairs went right to the back wall). The band started up and it was extremely loud. My ankle couldn't tolerate standing too long at that time of day, so we gave up. We sat in "The Entertainment Place", but we had to sit on the edge of a statue base. There was no where to just sit. I found that in many places around the ship. Waiting to go in the theater or the MDR? Be prepared to stand.

We were really disappointed to miss out on seeing this band.