Missives from the 6th Floor

We docked in Costa Maya - which must translate to "tourist money extraction machine" just after noon. Pictures start about here.

We wandered around a bit - it's basically a shopping mall - and met up with some friends at the
snorkeling booth. Signed up for a 1 hour trip - "regularly $30, I'll give it to you for half-price"- if anyone ever actually paid $30, I'll eat my hat. While there, I bought a pair of counterfeit Oakley's for $20 - I forgot my real ones at home and needed eye protection while wearing contacts. When we get back home I plan to compare the counterfeit to the genuine article, just for giggles.

The trip to "down town" Majahual was 10 minutes - $3 down, $2 back per person. The "town" was basically a string of dilapidated buildings along a bit of beach. Rose was in search for the perfect taco, so we ended up at a small restaurant (I think the word I'm searching for is "dive"). Dawnise and I had a canned soda, and I had an on-the-rocks margarita (I figured I'd chance it, just had to remember not to chew the ice). Rose was less than impressed with her tacos (to the point that she fed most of them to a wandering stray dog), and we went over to the snorkel outfit.

We brought our kit, but the three we were with got kitted up, and we packed about 10 people, plus pilot, into a tiny little boat with a two-stroke outboard and went to the "main reef."

The great barrier it was not.

I realized that the biggest difference between eco-tourism in the first world (Australia) and the third world (Mexico) is that the first world can "afford" to protect the thing they're exploiting.

When we snorkeled the barrier reef, they were up-front and very serious about not perturbing the reef.

You were not to touch it, and you were to remain horizontal, so you didn't kick the crap out of it accidentally. No such admonishing here - and we saw an Asian couple, clearly afraid of the water, standing on a coral out-cropping. I yelled at them to stop, but they just smiled - either not understanding or choosing to pretend they didn't.

We got back to the beach and wandered briefly before heading back to the docks, re-boarding the ship, and showering. As I type, Dawnise is re-doing her braids before we head back out on deck and pass some time before dinner...

...

Dinner was the best meal we've had on the boat so far. It was "Italian" night in the dining room -
and the prosciutto was a bit thick, and not terribly robust, but not bad. I skipped the Minestrone
soup fearing it would go horribly wrong. The salad, main - I had shrimp with a spicy red sauce -
and desert (tiramisu, of course) were all quite edible. The dining room was sparsely attended,
probably because we left port at 7pm, and folks ate on shore.

We started the evening alone at our table, but ended up moving and sitting with a group of folks from Valve and having a very pleasant conversation.

After dinner a group of us went to see the night comedy show - after the magic show of last night, I wasn't expecting much - but the guy was actually pretty good. It wasn't comedy, exactly, more juggling, and what he did he did well - including balancing on an 8 foot free-standing ladder while juggling - try that on a rocking ship.

After the show, on the way back to the room, we caught the last 4 or 5 acts in the karaoke competition, including two guys from the office doing a very ham-handed, and pretty damn funny rendition of "I've Had The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing. Laughed so hard my face hurt.