January 14, 2012 – At Sea

 

The cruise is almost over.  Today was an “At Sea” day and we took advantage by having a very leisurely morning.  After breakfast, we went to a lecture by the Staff Captain on the building of the Solstice.  It was very interesting with step by step photographs of the construction process.  Near the end he was discussing the helicopter deck and the focus on safety and the preservation of life.  Someone asked about the Costa sinking.  The Staff Captain began his answer, started to tear up and left the room.  Clearly, the mariners really care and are members of a tight fraternity.

After that lecture, we went to a ship’s version of Iron Chef between two of the Executive Sous Chefs with passengers as their assistants.  Judges were chosen from the audience and I managed to be selected.  Both chefs presented dishes with scallops, prawns and steak.  The first dish was marked down on presentation, it kind of looked like a filet sitting on top of a pile of barf but tasted really great.  The second was very pretty, but everything was over cooked, so bad that the filet was hard and stiff.  The good tasting food won.

After lunch we read and relaxed until the 49er game was on the TV.  We left at the half for dinner so I missed the exciting end.  GO 9ERS! 

We have just finished packing and leave the ship early tomorrow for our drive to Sarasota.  All in all, a very good cruise.

January 13, 2012 – Costa Maya, Mexico

 

Bob:

If you build it, they will come!  Apparently that applies to both baseball fields and cruise ship ports.  Someone decided that the Yucatan needed someplace for cruise ships to stop since Cancun was getting too crowded so they poured a bunch of concrete near a small fishing village and called it Costa Maya.  There is really nothing here except an ocean and mangrove swamps.  There are Mayan ruins but they are almost an hour drive away.  Even the scuba shops are 10-15 minutes over dirt roads to the fishing village.

Maxine went on a bus tour to the Mayan ruins while I went scuba diving again.  Since the Holland America ship came in earlier, they got the 8am scuba trip and Celebrity had the noon slot.  I had tried to book independently, but there is only the one shop servicing the cruise port, and the ships have that fully booked so I had to book with the ship.  I like small scuba boats where you get more personal attention and are able to dive mostly the way you want.  In Cozumel I was with three other divers and in Roatan with two others.  Today there were 13 divers on the boat with two dive guides.

Because of the large groups with varied skills and experience levels, the dives were quite shallow and short.  On the first dive they didn’t want us below 60 feet (the level that PADI likes for a newly certified diver) and limited time to 45 minutes.  On both dives I surfaced with over a third of my air left in the cylinder.

There were none of the exciting fish, like eels, sharks and rays, but there was a fairly good representation of the smaller and very pretty fish.  There were several varieties of parrotfish and butterfly fish.  We found several large lobsters that would have made and excellent dinner, but you aren’t allowed to take them on scuba gear, free diving only.  Once again the lionfish were present and once again the dive guide didn’t bring along a spear to do some eliminating.  She did say that they are now having regular lionfish hunts and killed over 250 at the last one.  I don’t the human hunting is going to control the population of a fish that lays 30-40,000 eggs every few months, but it seems to be helping in some areas.  One guide said that some of the larger fish now follow them when they are hunting and are willing to eat the lionfish when they are pulled off the spear.  Perhaps they will develop a taste and start to hunt them on their own.

This was our last port.  Tomorrow we are at sea and then on Sunday we return to land and the more real world.

Maxine:

Today I went to see the Mayan ruins at Chacchoben.  It took about 45 minutes to get there, driving through green jungle punctuated by the occasional small village.  Our guide,  David, led us through the ruins while doing an excellent job explaining Mayan society, government, politics,  and religion.  We saw two large pyramid-shaped temples and the foundations of a very large house, along with many good size mounds that were covered with rocks and trees, waiting for archeologists to come and search for more buildings that are surely hiding beneath the surface. 

I was very impressed with David’s expertise and knowledge as well as with his communication skills.  I really learned a lot and now have a much deeper understanding of an ancient people and their complex culture which he brought to life so effectively. 

Today was very warm and humid, with occasional rain showers, so I was very glad to get back to the ship and relax for the rest of the day.

January 12, 2012 – Roatan, Honduras

Bob:

Another day for scuba diving in a new place.  We have never before been to Honduras and Roatan is one of the premier dive locations in the Caribbean.  There are several resorts that are basically just set up for diving.  I had booked a dive trip with Subway Watersports based on their ratings in several internet sites.  There were a couple with good ratings, but Subway was one of the few that would come and pick me up at the cruise port.  They asked that we get to the pickup point promptly after docking and I did, but there was no van to get me.  While I was waiting, another couple came along also looking for them.  A nice person called the shop and discovered that they had sent their van to the wrong dock.  Instead they put us in a taxi and the shop paid for it when we got there.

The couple had just completed their open water training in Austin so these were to be their first salt water dives.  There were just the three of us, so the divemaster told me to stay close but I was free to do my own thing.  The boat to take us out was a small Boston Whaler, big enough for the three of us, the DM and the captain, but not for much more.  After getting geared up, the ride to the dive site was only about ten minutes.  The dives are all buoyed, so that there is no need to anchor and risk damaging the corals.

The first thing I noticed when we dropped in was the beautiful corals and scarcity of fish.  Cozumel didn’t have as much interesting coral, but way more fish.  There were a fair number of smallish fish, but nothing like we saw in Cozumel.  In neither dive did we see turtle, eel or shark.  I did see some interesting shrimp and one fairly large lobster.  The dives were without any current or surge so they were very easy and pleasant with water temperature about 80 degrees.  Lion fish have infested most of the Caribbean island reefs and Roatan is no exception.  Near the end of the second dive we came across three quite large lion fish.  Normally, the divemasters spear them to try to limit the population, but our DM had neglected to bring his spear.  He was upset, both because he left the lion fish behind, but also because they would have made a great dinner.  The picture might look upside-down.  It isn’t.  The lion fish was “hanging” on the roof of the little cave.

Maxine:

Maxine didn’t do anything except relax today.  She had a leisurely morning reading on the balcony, then did a little shopping in the collection of shops and souvenir stands at the port.  All in all a very chill day.

January 11, 2012 – Cozumel

 

Bob:

We stopped at Cozumel once on a previous cruise, but never actually went ashore.  We transferred directly to the ferry to the mainland and took a tour to Coba to see the Mayan ruins.  This time, Maxine toured the island and I went scuba diving.  The ship docked about three miles out of town so I needed a taxi to the dive shop.  It was easy and the driver took me right to the door.  After the usual paperwork, we walked to the boat where the captain already had our equipment set up for the dive.  Aldora Scuba provided an excellent briefing on both safety and the dive details.  The dive guide asked what we wanted to see.  I have been wanting to see a seahorse ever since I started diving, so that was at the top of my list.  The other people just wanted to see lots of sea life. 

The boat ride to the dive site was about 20 minutes.  During the ride the guide explained what he expected to find and warned me not to expect a sea horse until the second dive.  The first dive was quite fabulous.  Everything you would want to see:  moray eels, turtles, sharks, and lots of pretty fish.  I am used to seeing the moray eels in Hawaii where one about four or five inches in diameter is a big boy.  The first one we found made those look like a babies.  It must have been 15 inches from top to bottom and at least six or seven feet long.  Not the the guy you would want to meet in a dark alley.  The nurse shark was about the same length, but was a distance away and didn’t seem to care about us at all.

After an hour for the surface interval we went in for a shallower dive.  More beautiful fish, eels and turtles.  Our dive guide Edgar had promised a sea horse and he delivered.  I don’t know how he found it since it wasn’t in a place that you would expect to find a sea horse.  They are usually in grassy places, but this one was clinging to a small rock in the middle of a sandy area.  Amazing.  At the end, they were able to drop me off at a dock very close to the ship and I was able to take the short walk.  All in all a very nice diving day.

Maxine:

My tour began at around 9:30 when our guide led us to the bus we were to board for an around the island trip.  Our lovely and knowledgeable guide, Margarita, told us that Cozumel is not a large island, about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide.  She pointed out that the island’s main industry is tourism, and that the vast majority of its 85,000 inhabitants work in some way with tourists. She also gave us a brief history of the island, which in Classic Mayan times was the place where prospective brides went in to be blessed by the fertility goddess in order to insure a large family.  When the Spanish arrived, everything changed, and the island was eventually deserted by all except for a few rebels and refugees who established a village in a very remote area.  Cozumel remained dormant for several hundred years until it was “rediscovered” by Jacque Cousteau in the 1970’s.  Since then, the tourist industry has grown to include luxury resorts, scuba diving, snorkeling, parasailing, fishing, sailing, shopping, restaurants, condos and, of course, a large cruise port.  Four ships were here today. 

As our bus drove around the island, we made three stops.  The first was at a reconstruction of a Mayan village.  Here, we were able to learn more about Mayan history, culture and people.  We saw a typical house, ate freshly made tortillas, watched a woman weave on a hand loom, learned about the many ways plants were used for both medicine and daily life, and saw a typical home altar, which included both Catholic and Classic Mayan elements.  Of course there was a shop that sold jewelry and other souvenirs. 

Our next stop was at a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the ocean.  It was quite dramatic with waves crashing onto limestone rocks.  We were there just long enough to take pictures and visit the (what else?!) shop.  We continued on the drive around the island, which in parts is quite wild and undeveloped.

The last place we visited was interesting for its history.  We were now at the most distant point from where we began, and the village where we stopped, El Cedral, is the place where the rebels and refugees went in the early 1700’s to get away from mainland wars.  They were so happy and thankful to have succeeded that they celebrated the first Catholic Mass on the island and soon built a church next to the small ruin of a Mayan temple dedicated to the fertility goddess. The church burned down sometime in the early 20th century and was recently rebuilt.  We looked around the area for awhile, and then returned to the bus for the last leg of our journey, which took us back to the cruise port. All in all, a very interesting trip.  Tomorrow, while Bob is scuba diving in Roatan, I am planning to relax and perhaps go ashore to walk around the port area.

January 10, 2012 – Grand Cayman

We have tried to get to Stingray City twice before to experience the interactions with the Atlantic rays.  The first time the cruise passed by Grand Cayman and didn’t stop because the weather was too rough for a tender port and the second time we were staying on the island and the weather was so stormy that the Port Authority wouldn’t let the boats go out.  Stingray City is a sand bar where the fisherman used to stop and clean their catch.  The rays figured out that there was always a free lunch  and started to congregate.  Today, the tourists provide the food in the form of squid and the rays oblige by allowing the tourist to hold and handle them.  I usually don’t like activities where wild creatures interact with people in an unnatural way, but these rays come on their own and none are harmed.  

Betti had suggested a private company, rather than the ship conducted tour, and had been able to experience the trip just four days ago when her cruise stopped here.  She gave a great recommendation and she was right.  The company met us promptly at the arrival pier, had a very nice bus to take us to the boats and it wasn’t crowded.  I’m sure the boats could hold 25-35 people but we had only about 10, so there was a lot of space and very personal attention.  The ride from the pier to the sand bar was about 20 minutes.  We weren’t the only tour and when  we got there probably 100+ people were already in the water experiencing the rays.  It didn’t take long for the tour guide to find an agreeable ray and hold it up for us to touch.  Then came the opportunity for each of us to hold the ray.  Once everyone had a chance we then got to feed them the squid reward.

We then moved the boat to a location called the “Coral Garden”.  It is a sandy bottom area with scattered coral heads, each one with a pretty collection of fish.  It was a nice place to snorkel with 10 or so varieties of fish within easy viewing from the surface.  While we were there, a ray decided to visit, perhaps a person in the water has come to mean food.  He circled around, coming close enough to brush against my legs.  Since rays don’t normally hunt fish, they paid no attention to her.  We know it was a “her” since the females are much larger than the males and this one was larger than males ever grow.

The final stop was for star fish.  It was a grassy area with a few star fish, not many and probably not worth the stop but the tour promised three stops.

After that, back to the ship for a shower and lunch.  The ship sailed about 5:00pm heading for Cozumel.  Scuba tomorrow while Maxine tours the island.

Starting a New Year

Dan has convinced me that it would be better to just keep adding our various trip blogs to one long list rather than keep creating a new one for each trip.  He points out that if any of you actually subscribe to the blog, the posts will trigger your systems and you will know what we are doing.

January 7, 2012

Arye picked us up at a God-awful 5:30 am to take us to SFO to catch a 7:50 flight.  Timing was a bit conservative, but better to be early than miss the flight.  Virgin America was everything people have said.  The counter clerks were friendly and efficient, the boarding was quick and smooth and in spite of a small problem with a radio, departure was almost on time.  In flight service was excellent, clearly no meals, but the drink service was frequent and friendly.  Arrival was on time and the bags arrived quickly.  All in all a good experience.  We called the Sheraton for a pickup and were told the van was right outside.  It was and we were able to get on with no waiting.  Ten or so minutes took us the the hotel and the desk was quick and we were in our room within 45 minutes of the airplanes arrival.  The hotel was sort of in the middle of nowhere, so dinner was at the hotel restaurant.  We were on the “Club” floor and had access to the Club lounge, but since it was the weekend it wasn’t staffed or stocked so they provided coupons for a free buffet breakfast.

January 8, 2012

Betti’s Panama Canal cruise arrived in Sunday morning, so we had arranged to meet for some sightseeing.  She got off the ship, got her car and called to say she was waiting downstairs.  When we got down, no Betti to be found.  Turns out there are four Sheratons in the Fort Lauderdale area and I had sent her to the wrong one.  It took about 20 minutes for her to get to the right one and we were off to Bonnet House.

Bonnet house is one of those homes built in the early 1900s by the rich northerners as snow bird hideaways.  It isn’t a Miami Beach mansion, but rather built as a Caribbean style plantation house.  It is very similar to a Spanish hacienda, four sides of rooms built around a courtyard with plantings and fountains.  One of the most amazing things is that it was donated intact to the historical society when the property taxes got to be too much for the owners in the 1980s.  The donation included all the furnishings and even the many complete sets of china.  Apparently the owner was a bit of a collector of china and there are perhaps a dozen complete sets.  It is set on 35 acres of prime Fort Lauderdale beach land, now surrounded by high rise condos, so you can understand why the last tax appraisal before the donation was  one million dollars per acre.

Betti took us back to the hotel and we caught the shuttle to the Celebrity Solstice.  Again the shuttle was efficient and the check in process at the ship went quickly.  The room was available and by the time we had had lunch, our bags were at the room.  Dinner was very nice, an interesting preparation of lamb shank with all the usual cruise ship service and accompaniments.  The introductory show was way above average, not quite the production that Disney does, but very good.

January 9, 2012

I don’t know where the day went.  It was a sea day and we took it pretty easy.  Leisurely morning so that we barely made it to the sit down breakfast before they closed, followed immediately by the galley tour.  In fact, we never even left the dining room since the dining room was the meeting place for the tour.  From there we went to a talk where the captain spoke about the way they operate the ship.  It is amazing how much the modern navigator depends on his electronic assistants.   He never even mentioned a sextant.  Most of the morning we were sailing down the coastline of Cuba.  I’m sure they were at least 12 miles offshore.  After lunch, were was a talk by a retired professor on the Mayan calendar and the theory that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012.  He attempted to disprove this by pointing out that it isn’t even clear that the number of years that people are using to show that the calendar ends in 2012 is correct. That date might be 2086 instead.   The afternoon was perfect clear blue, sunny Caribbean.  I guess the only way the world will end in 2012 is if Newt gets elected President.   Dinner and another good show, this one in the style of Cirque de Soleil.