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Cozumel Island
Island Guides
Mayan Ruins
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Cozumel Trip Report Trip Report-Day 1 and 2 Day 1We get the kids up (8 & 4 yrs)and head to the airport at 4:30am. Quick check, departure and we arrive a bit early with everyone in a great mood! The airport has changed customs since this summer. They now are using computers! I admit I did miss hearing that stamp-stamp echo in customs. I am suprised at the huge new waterfront mall with skyway under construction. It kinda made me sad to see it. We get to Casa Del Mar and check-in, room is not so hot, but we will see how it goes. We call Stephanie at Blue Bubble to have a tracker delivered. Then grab a beer for us and M&M.s for the kids and explore. Tyler (8yr) hits shuffleboard right away, a man from Texas shows him the ropes. Looks like Tyler has pretty good arm and aim for the game. Nick (4yr) hits the pool. He practices swimming under water. The tracker shows up and we are on our way by 1:00! The new road is definetely a smoother drive and shorter. First stop, Paradise Cafe for lunch and margarita's. The boys and Mike decide to play on the beach, which allows me to hit the hammocks. Here I am, listening to Bob Marley, sipping a margie, gentle breaze, looking at an incredible ocean, and watching the loves of my life laughing and playing in the surf. Yep, it was one of those moments, I call it a postcard moment, where it all falls into place. Later the kids relax in the hammocks and Tyler asks to go to Playa Bonita. Sounds good to us! As we get a little closer to the beach, we see that a bunch of seaweed has washed up. We know that it will stink! We see a great spot about a 1/4 mile from Bonita and pull over. It is perfect! It's the soft as flour sand, shallow for two kids, and rolling waves. Good enough for the kids to learn bodysurfing! I had brought along two kickboards-so we used those to surf. Worked out pretty good :). Even Nick (4yrs) was hitting the waves (Postcard Moment)! We play in the waves and sand until 4:00'ish. Then head back to the hotel and get ready for an early dinner. Ever tried to wash fine sand off of two boys? I swear they will have sand in their hair and ears for another month! The kids are opting for DQ for dinner. We grab them hot dogs and fries. Let them eat then decide what we want. Its been about 4 years since we have ate at Sonora Grill, so we head that way. It's a nice quiet restaraunt. Order tortilla soup and fajitas. The soup was good and very cheesy! The fajitas were not so hot. They were bland and not very good. We won't be back to this place. The kids have been waiting patiently to get DQ ice cream, so we finish and get their cones. It has been a long but fun day for all of us so we head back to go to bed. Unfortunately, at the hotel we also realize the room is in a terrible location. We listen to every single person that comes through the lobby to their rooms, phones ringing, you name it we heard it. The noise keeps us up until the wee hours. We will have to change rooms-it's just not going to work for us. Day 2 For some reason the kids decide to wake up at 6 am, hey guys, were on vacation your supposed to sleep in!! Well, it is first things first today. Need to get the room situation taken care of. After breakfast we view a room on 2nd floor facing about halfway to the pool. The room is bigger, bigger bathroom, balcony, and nice TV. We take it. Back to the old room and pack in record time, haul it up to the new room, unpack in record time, whew! Mike takes the boys to the pool and I head to Chadraui for beach essentials. I pick up juice, chips, crackers, bread, beer and check out. Total is $9.50. I hand the cashier a $20 which she puts in a side drawer. She hands me back $.50. I ask her for the rest of my change, she seems to understand me but only speaks to me in spanish. I notice on my receipt she has entered my payment at $10. I try telling her this is incorrect. She gets impatient with me, then turns away, dismissing me. I walk away, check the cash in my pocket to make sure I'm not wrong. I see what appears to me a service counter and ask if they speak english. All of them tell me no. I ask for help, then the cashier comes over to where I am. I can read body language and pick up a few words. She is telling them I won't listen and do not understand that I have no more change coming to me, and then calls me a crazy gringa. I continue trying to explain a nice as I can, I just need my change. Finally, 20 minutes later, the service desk understands what I am saying.I gave her a $20, and she gave me the wrong change. I tell them to look in her side drawer because that is where she put my money. They go and check the drawer and find my money, give me the correct change and say goodbye. I have never experienced this on the island-it was so frustrating!!! Okay-I tell myself to move on and head to the beach. Get back to the room and make up some PB&J sandwiches, pack the cooler, and get the family. About half way to the beach I realize we have no lime for our Dos Equis! Crisis! We stop at Paradise Cafe and Mike talks to our favorite waitress about buying a lime, she gives us one on the house. We head back to the same beach as yesterday. They waves have picked up a little bit but still managable for the kids. Tyler is a natural at bodysurfing. Nick for some reason keeps returning handfuls of beach sand into the ocean. Tells me it's something he has to do, Ok son, do your thing! Time for Pb&J lunch and walks on the beach. We have many laughs between us. It really is a nice afternoon. The kids ask to go back to the Bob Marley beach (Nick has named it the yellow and red beach because of the Jamaica colors on the walls). Our kids play with the children of the bar staff, we enjoy a few margies,the view, and chatting with other people in the bar. OK, I had a couple of margies I should not of had. Mike is the DD on vacations! Kids had a fun time playing and swinging in the hammocks (Postcard Moment). It is the end of the day and time to go back and get ready for dinner. By the time we get back I am not feeling so hot. I need to go to bed. The kids want to go to the pool. Mike takes them out to play and walk around while I sleep. What was it? Three margies? Oh, I am sick, this does not get any easier as time goes by! The kids want pizza so we order in which suits me really well. By later evening I'm over the worst and promising myself to refrain from margies for the remainder of the trip! Mike laughs and tells me not to worry about, reminds me that I had fun. Well, that fun comes with a price I don't want to pay again! We turn on the Disney channel, tuck in the kids, and watch a movie until the kids and I fall asleep. A bit later, the front desk calls and says we have a guest. Mike heads down and finds our friend that used to work at the Bob Marley bar. Erick heard we were on the island and brought his wife and son to see us. Mike talked with them for a bit and made plans to spend a day together. We were really happy they stopped by. Erick has Saturday off, we are looking forward to that afternoon with them. Well, that is the end of our second day. So far, we have had a lot of fun and a lot of water. A pretty good start. Adios until the next report! Trip Report-Day 3 Day 3My husband and youngest decide to sleep in (on this trip that appears to mean to 7:30'ish!). Tyler and I decide to get some fresh squeezed OJ at Ernesto's. So we get up and walk over, were the only two in the place. Order a bagel and OJ and spend some time alone. We get back and find the rest of the crew is up. All of us troup down to breakfast. This was probably the nicest part of our stay. The breakfast buffet at Del Mar is very good. Also, very accomodating for adults and children. It was included in our package deal, which was very reasonable, we figured it saved us an additional $12-20.00 a day. After breakfast Nick (4 yrs) ask to go to the Breakfast Beach. Yesterday we figured out what he meant, the hotel pool. The pool happens to be next to where we eat breakfast, hence, the Breakfast Beach! The boys hit the water and I go and get the days gear ready. Tyler wants to hit Playa Azul, sounds good to us. We are on our way, stop to see our friend Erick at his work to firm up Saturdays plans. He introduces us to their birds in the back. Kids think this is awesome, and then were back on the road. Stop at a small store and get essentials. Arrive at Playa Azul, its early and a weekday so the crowd is pretty light. I order lunch and then settle back on the sand. This beach has good sand and consistent rolling waves. The kids are in their element! Tyler is "riding" the waves with the kickboard. Nick is using his snorkel in about 1 foot of water. A few springbreakers are here, their not to bad, we end up giving them our extra order of fries. We have a club sandwich and cheeseburger, both are really good. Around 1:00 we decide it is time to introduce the kids to snorkeling. We pack up and stop at the hotel to get our equipment, then drive to Dzul Ha. We find a spot with a sloping entry that should work with two kids. Takes us a little bit to get everyone ready. But, were ready! I decide to take Tyler in with me first. We inch our way down (thank you for dive booties with rubber bottoms!) and I sit down and get my fins snapped on. Get Tylers and we stand up in the water. He is scared, I tell him to bend over and look down into the water first, and then were just going to lay down on top of the water. Tyler looks under water for 1/2 a second and BAM! The kid is already 3 feet away from me-hey son-wait for Mom!! Just as I am ready to catch up I hear a splash and noise behind me. It's Mike and he wiped out with Nick, the entry is very slippery. He says they are fine, a little embarrassed, but all is well, whew! I catch up to Tyler and he is really excited. I can see how big his eyes are and he is pointing things out. He is also trying to use Scuba sign language (he is always asking us to show him) to communicate, pretty cool. Tyler is handling himself like he's done this before, I am impressed! Mike and Nick have caught up with us. Nick appears to be OK, I was not sure how a 4 yr old would react. I swim over to him and grab his hand. He is talking a mile a minute in his snorkel! I can hear him saying "I see fish! Mom! I see fish!". And then the sweatheart asks me through his snorkel if I'm doing OK, how could I not be! One of my top Postcard Moments was taking a second to look around me. Tyler and my husband are a few feet away looking around, I'm holding the warm soft hand of my youngest, we have about 8 huge parrotfish around us, the rays of the sun are all around us, I can't describe the feeling I had but it was truly one of those unforgettable moments in life! And then, I hear Nick take a big gulp of water. He gets a bit spooked and has to yak up a little bit, not a big deal, but enough for him to say enough. Mike takes him back in and Tyler and I look around a bit more. He wants to get out so we head in. I tell Mike I will stay in with the kids if he wants to snorkel more. He heads back out and the kids and I just hang. Tyler hits the hammocks and we watch the afternoon fade into that nice shine across the water. Mike finishes up and we pack up and head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The kids want DQ again, so we go through the routine. I want protein as in a juicy steak! We go to Prima's. A small wait for our table and then were seated. We order an Angus ribeye and half order of fetticine alfredo. It arrives and we split it, and boy is it good, the best meal so far! We are stuffed and the kids are waiting for their DQ cones to finish the night. We head over to DQ and get their cones, walk around the square while they eat, and decide to call it a night. A fun day! Tomorrow Mike and I are diving so we go back to get our rest. We settle in to watch the Disney channel and fall asleep. Another great day on vacation! Trip Report-day 5 and 6 Day 5 Trip Report-Day 7 Day 7Today is our last full day of vacation, we leave in the morning. We all wake up around 7 am and decide to eat breakfast early. The kids want to go see the Xel-Ha boat in town. This was one of Tylers favorites last year, and he wants to show his little brother the boat. It is Sunday and very quiet everywhere. We get to the boat and take pictures. Tyler learned on our last trip this was the first boat involved in an accident with a cruiseliner in Cozumel. It was still in the water when Hurricane Gilbert hit the island, and the hurricane washed it up where it still stands today. He loved repeating the story to anyone that would listen. After pictures and buying vanilla we decide to get some ice cream. Next stop is the square. It's only 10 am at this point, buy hey, were on vacation! Everything is still closed, except for a pharmacy, and Nick spots a cooler with ice cream. We get what we need and sit down in the square. The kids are getting wound up (gee, wonder why?). Mike and I decide it is time to get to the beach, so we get back to the hotel. The kids continue to wind up on the way there, while we pack, at the store to get essentials, you get the picture! After stopping at Pemex (and running into someone we met on our trip last February) we head down the middle road to get to the east side. Somewhere along this road both kids had a meltdown-which by this point caused the parents to have a meltdown. Here is where we pull over on the side of the road. Were so ticked, we for some reason decide to build a barrier between the two. We stack towels and bags until they can't see each other. And tell them "you don't look at each other, talk to each other, breathe on each other, or even remember you have a brother in the same car until we get to the beach!!!!!" They comply. The eastside looks good as we drive in silence. Mike and I find a spot that looks perfect and pull over. By this time the kids are tired of getting in trouble, and doing their best to show us their ready to behave and not fight. Mike and I are ready to move on and enjoy our last day. We find a spot, the waves can be managed by the kids, but they are the strongest/biggest we have played in so far. Today is another hot one and the water feels good. On this beach, we notice a lot of local families are showing up. We also see a makeshift bar and BBQ with canopy, tables and chairs being set up. We never made it over to try their food. We all try and catch the perfect wave to bodysurf. I bite it pretty good a few times. Turned my back and had the breath knocked out of me once! Tyler is doing really well, he has figured out when to ride the wave. Nick is holding his own, he seems to have figured out his comfort zone in this water. It's funny to watch them and I can see how much better they are compared to the first day. Mike is having a blast playing in the waves. Sometimes I wonder who exactly is my oldest child!! We spend the whole day playing the waves and in the sand. Lunch today is grape juice, snacks, and beer. Works for all of us! One of my postcard moments for today has got to be when were all bodysurfing. We were all in the water and laughing and screaming at the waves. Nick has his mask on (by the 3rd day he was barely in the water without it), and Tyler's eyes are huge and shining. Both of them are so full of life-it can't help but fill me up with the same joy. The kids slow down to play in the sand and lay down. I decide to walk down the beach a little bit. I find an area of sand that is softer than anything I have walked on. We were laying out on soft sand, but this had an extra "fluff" to it. I must have spent almost a half hour shuffling my feet through it. I zig-zagged, made circles, patterns, anything to keep this warm soft sand moving around my feet, it was that nice and a postcard moment! Well, we play until late afternoon and then decide to leave. It's hard because this is it for our playtime on vacation. We get back and try our hardest to wash the fine sand off. All of us will be washing sand out of our hair for a few days. We go to the square and decide to eat at Prima's again. We order the same steak and fetticine for us, and spaghetti for the kids. Tyler starts to get a headache about this time. The man singing comes by us and he sings 3-4 songs in our area. Tyler is ready to get under the table, poor guy. Our food arrives and the kids dig in and give the food high marks. Tyler seems to perk up a bit-but we can see by his eyes the headache is there. After dinner we head to the square since it is Sunday evening. I love Sunday nights in Cozumel! I love the watching the families, hearing the music, and the overall feeling this one night a week brings. The kids ask for DQ one last time, so we grab cones and find a seat to hear the music and people watch. After a little bit it becomes obvious Tyler is in some serious pain. We call it a night and drive back to the hotel. We give Tyler something for his headache (we know it's bad if he is willing to take medicine!) and goes to bed. This gives Mike and I a chance to pack. Tonight, no Disney channel for us, great luck for us! The Matrix is on a movie channel, finaly, something we can watch! Mike and I pack, watch the movie, Tyler sleeps, and Nick plays micro machines, this was another postcard moment for me. Lights out, since we leave in the a.m. Final Day We wake up around 7 am and head to breakfast. We need the kids to fill those tummies! After, Mike and Tyler take the tracker back and Nick and I head back to the room. We have a few items to pack. We play on the balcony until the guys get back, they arrive and it is time to go to the airport. Our flight leaves in an hour and half. We get into the cab and as were going down the waterfront, Nick says to me "I miss my breakfast beach". Poor guy! Tyler is quiet and in his own goodbye Cozumel thoughts. Leaving to go home feels good, but at the same time, you get hit with all these memories of the week, that can bum you out that your going back home, know what I mean? We check in and find that there is only one pair of seats together remaining. Mike and Nick can take those, Tyler and I can sit across the aisle from each other. Find a spot in the gate to sit down and the kids pull out the Star Wars guys and head to war on the floor. Mike hits the duty free shop for tequila and controy. We noticed that tequila was much more expensive this time around on the island. The duty free shop has a decent price. Six bottles later he gets back over to us. We must look like the lush parents! Now, reconfigure our carry on's to accomodate our boose, now this is bad! My Dad is landing on the plane we are taking home today. We are waiting to see him and wave hello. Mike runs into a couple he did his dives with so we chat a bit. Then we see the airplane land. I grab the kids to go and wave to grandpa. It's fun to watch him climb out of the plane, he looks relaxed. He works with concrete and is usually tired and burnt out. He sees his two grandsons waving frantically at him! He waves and gives them the thumbs up. And everyone waves until we can't see each other. I'm sure he is on a dive as we speak. Soon, it is time to board the plane. The flight goes smoothly. On our descent into Minneapolis, we encounter this wonderful grey weather. I guess they had a storm that had tapered of just before we got in town. Just lovely. Felt good get home, and soon our dog gets dropped off. Dexter is an emotionaly needy dog and he is beside himself. Were told he was bummed out for a few days-it's good to see him too. A few things I missed on this trip: The Chatter Meeting! Mini-Golf Eating out El Cedral Fresh squeezed OJ That wraps up our trip, it was a lot of fun. We picked up our pictures last night and they turned out really good! It was a good vacation for all of us. We are fortunate we could do this, so many postcards are in my head right now. Tyler asked us before we got on the airplane, "could we just change our ticket and stay one more week, do you think that is a good idea?", Tyler, I have never heard a better idea! Lodging Reviews
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