DAY 43---COZUMEL, MEXICO

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                                                 Today we are in Cozumel, Mexico

COZUMEL BACKGROUND INFO

         Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.  The island is 51 miles south of Cancun and just 12 miles opposite from Playa del Carmen on the mainland of the peninsula.  The island is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide with a population of just over 100,000 with over 77,000 living in San Migel where we are docked.  Large parts of this flat island is covered with mangrove forests.

        Cozumel is surrounded by coral reefs that is home to over 1,000 marine species.  The reefs are primarily found on underwater cliffs.  Because of this scuba diving here is considered one of the best in the whole world.  Tourism, diving, and charter fishing makes up the island’s economy.  It is a very popular port of call for cruise ships. There are many hotels and over 300 restaurants on this small island.  All food and supplies are shipped over to the island and 3 desalination plants supply it with water.

        We are just going to miss the Cozumel Carnival, one of the most important carnival festivities in all of Mexico.  It starts the week before Mardi Gras which is March 1^st.  So it begins just 4 days after we are here. 

LAST NIGHT:

                                      I had these panko crusted fried shrimp for my entree.

                            Rebecca had farfalle pasta with tomato sauce and shrimp.

Something new for dessert.  Malva pudding with scotch butter sauce and butter pecan ice cream.  It was very good.

                        Comedian was not funny so walked out after about 10 minutes.

Note the glass of water.  I put it there so others would think someone was sitting there and not sit right in front of us.  That happened a couple nights ago.  The glass of water worked!!

TODAY:

                                           Pilot coming on board at 9:15 this morning.

                                                      About to dock at the pier.

                                 Looking at terminal and shops just off our pier from deck 12

                                               Two more cruise ships at pier next to ours.

                                              View of the shopping area off of their pier.

At the same pier we are on is the Sky Princess.  We were on the "old" Sky Princess back in 1995.  This new one was christened in 2019 and can hold 3600 passengers.

For lunch I started with a big Caesar salad with lots of anchovies.  Then some sweet & sour chicken and a slice of seafood pizza (shrimp, mussels, calamari).

        I was supposed to go on a tour at 10:45 but decided to not go on the 4 1/2 hour tour.  We will be returning here again on March 27th.  We did our normal treadmill time and when we returned to the suite we found the new revised itinerary for our next segment beginning in Miami on March 16.  Originally, we were supposed to go up the Amazon River to Manaus in Brazil but when Jason Montague was on board he warned us that Brazil may not be open yet.  He asked for suggestions on where we would like to go if Brazil was indeed closed.  We suggested New Orleans & Galveston.  We were pleased to see that we will indeed be overnighting in New Orleans and Tampa plus a stop in Galveston.  There are only 160 passengers on board this segment and heard an additional 300 would be boarding on the next segment because it was supposed to be going up the Amazon.  Now I suspect many of those will be cancelling.  Jason had told us they would be allowed with no penalty if Brazil was a no-go.  Even some more of the world cruisers may leave.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

        We will be in New Orleans on a Monday & Tuesday.  So many great restaurants for cajun seafood 

but most are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.      

                                                   

       Ok, you will probably have to click on this photo to be able to read it.  Sorry it is sideways.

        We will be having cocktails and dinner this evening with Karen & Burt Schraga from Santa Clara, CA.  Karen was a TWA flight attendant who also worked for American Airlines after American bought TWA.

        The production show "Tuxedo" will be at 9:30 in the theater.  We saw it last segment but will certainly be front-center for it again.  I'll say it again--great cast!!

        We will be sailing again at 7pm for our 130 mile cruise to Costa Maya, Mexico, where we will be docking at 8am tomorrow.