Continuing on After a Short Break

Today we are docked at Roatan Island, Honduras. To catch us up we need to go back and visit Belize and Cozumel, in some detail.

Wednesday we were in Cozumel. Al and I decided not to do much of anything except shop. He was tired and did not want a beach day since we had two coming up. We were off the ship early and into town. Our goal was some tequila, kahula, and vanilla. We managed to find all three but not without some pain. We were almost taken to the cleaners by one shop owner on some tequila. We found the same stuff at a much lower price and went back and confronted him about it. We ended up getting our money back and moving on. We enjoyed a nice lunch at a restaurant overlooking the water front.  Needless to say beer and liquor flow freely in Mexico, our waiter said that the drinking age was five, unless they wanted it when they were younger.

  

 

After lunch we went back to the ship. We took a bicycle propelled rickshaw down the dock  because the heat was sapping us. Al remembered he wanted a shirt so it was back into town for us. Thank goodness we were docked right in town at Punta Longusta pier. We went in got the shirt, some cervezas and were back on board for sail away with plenty of time to spare.

A couple of observations about Cozumel: While it is recovering from the hurricane hit from Wilma a couple of years ago, it is not there. It is really struggling with its infrastructure, more than with the buildings. The entire city smells, and the large chain stores that you see all over the Caribbean are taking over. It seems to me to have lost the character that it had before the storms.

The ride from Cozumel to Belize was bumpy to say the least. The winds in this area have been running about 25 kts from the east. Since we are basically sailing south they are pushing on the ship and making the ride rough. The seas have never been above 3 feet that I can tell but the winds are here.

Thursday was spent in Belize. We did not go into town, instead opting for Carnival's excursion to a private island, Bannister Cays. This is a small man made island with a beach, a bar, restaurant, gift shop, and all the necessary facilities. It was uncrowded (about 100 of us from the ship were there). There were snorkeling tours offered out to the reef for $20. The reef in this area is beautiful. I am waiting to see the pictures when I get home.  The only problem here was the surge which made the water cloudy. This reef though is not to be missed, it is one of the healthiest ones I have ever seen and it is second in size only to the Great Barrier reef in Australia.

Some random thoughts about the cruise so far: Carnival seems to have changed the menus from the last time I was with them in the spring of 2006. If I remember correctly they have gone from 3 courses at dinner ( a soup, salad, and entree) to a two course dinner, starter, and entree. The food, while hearty, can only be described as OK. There is not much else that can be said and that includes at the Golden Fleece. It is amazing that a steak house cannot cook a steak to the correct temperature. We wanted medium rare steaks; They came out medium, really there is no excuse for it.

More to come later.