Central America: Cozumel

Another crazy santa...with penguins! How interesting. I found this over on Cozumel, where I spent the day today. I was up very early (7am) and knew that the group had been out very late last night, and likely wouldn't be up anytime soon. So I made an inquiry about snorkeling, bought a package out of Cozumel, and hopped on the ferry over. I have mixed feelings about the whole day on one hand, it was nice to be by myself and have a little adventure. On the other hand, I kinda got seasick on the small boat that we went out on for the actual snorkeling trip. The boat stopped at 3 different spots, and midway thru the second stop I knew I was in trouble. By the time I made it back to shore 2 hours later, all I wanted was a nice quiet place to recouperate. Eventually I made it back to the ferry and then over to Playa Del Carmen again. Some photos below were taken while out on the snorkeling adventure, and sure enough, the darn thing really IS waterproof!
Rob should get a kick out of this one, it was a "Princess" day! This was the small boat that took me snorkeling.

Maybe I needed to relax a little, but clutching the snorkel tube in my mouth really hurt after awhile. Yeah, probably too much pressure...I was on the lookout for sharks. (Didn't see any, just some fish.)
The boats all say that they have "glass bottoms". Well, they do. It's just that the bottom is really small! I got a kick out of the marketing, though. They really seem to play up the glass bottoms as an alluring factor. And that crudely written note within the botton area? A sign telling us that "TIPPING IS NOT A CITY IN CHINA". It took me a few minutes to decifer it, and then when the meaning kicked in I had to laugh. And yes, I did give the guide a tip even though I spent most of the time pointedly looking at the horizon and gripping the side.
A ferry abstract of mops. (Whaddya think, Geoff??) :)
Looking back at Playa Del Carmen as the ferry left. The water looks very dark and navy blue here, but part of the areas we went thru were turquoise, all shades of blue and green. I have never seen water like this before. It is truly gorgeous.
This little VW bus looking thing was where I got my breakfast from today. They converted it into a tiny kitchen. BTW, breakfast was 2 beef tacos.
Last night we all went out for dinner as a group. The place was very popular, and they had to rearrange lots of tables to accommodate 15 people, so we were all peeking at the menus trying to decifer them while we waited. It was a good meal. We had appetizers of cactus, tomato and onion salsa, green chili salsa, radish, cucumber, and chips. An interesting assortment to say the least! BTW the tour guide is the guy to the left. Tomorrow we are looking at 10 to 12 hours of transit time, 3 hours to the border, an undetermined amount of time clearing the border, then 4 hours on a bus into Beize, then an hour long boat ride to Caye Caulker. Wish me luck with that leg of the trip, back on a small boat again. Uuuugh. As I sit here typing, I am swaying...side effect from the damn boat. This always happens to me, even if it is a bigger boat. When my friend Susan and I took a ferry to Prince Edward Island years ago, I was sick for a week. I kept having sudden attacks of...I don't even know what to call it. I'd be standing somewhere, say washing dishes, and I'd have to grip the edge of the sink and counter to keep myself from falling over. Lovely side effect. As an additional side not, this also happns to me when I ride in elevators.