. . . from Ft. Lauderdale to Costa Maya and Cozumel with Dayle and Daryl aboard the Caribbean Princess! This was my second time on this ship. The first was with my brother Bob several years ago. This time we went to Costa Maya and Cozumel. Paul and I had been to these places two times before, so we didn't do any sight-seeing. We went mainly to be with our friends, Dayle and Daryl. They had never been to the Western Caribbean. It was fun just walking around the port at Cozumel and going window shopping.
Believe me - we have too many tchotchkes. All I have to do is look up as I type, and there are lots on the top of the bookshelves. They originally were on the lanai, but when we had that done over, we eliminated their shelf home. It's ridiculous. We have to get rid of them
Costa Maya is prettier than Cozumel and it is growing a lot. They're even adding on a second level to their shopping area. I heard Costa Maya is owned by the cruise companies and that it was built after a hurricane damaged Cozumel. Our ship was even able to dock right at the pier. There were trams to take passengers to the end - a good trek for those who are handicapped.
. As you approach Costa Maya shops, there is a beautiful beach with lounge chairs, umbrellas, and tables and there are water sports areas. Costa Maya has thatch-roofed, brightly painted buildings near the water and pretty brightly colored lounge chairs in the sand. Enough seating, just there, for at least a hundred or more people. The main attraction is the shopping area with a BIG open-air restaurant that has an out-door (naturally) free-form pool attached. Lots of steel drums,playing calypso music, which could be heard throughout the port area. Here you can also get balloon animals, delicious looking drinks and Mexican food.
Interestingly, after the cruise, Dayle and Daryl left our ship and went to Miami and got on another ship for a seven day trip to the Southern Caribbean. And before we went on this cruise, they'd been on another. So, that's three. Not only were Dayle and Daryl doing this, but also several other people on our ship stayed on board. Our cruise was 5 nights to the Western Caribbean. After we got back, it continued on with a 4 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Princess cruise line docked at a different spot from Norwegian, so these were new shops but with the same old things.
Cruising is an nice low cost way of vacationing. We noticd that some snowbirds spend the winter doing this. Some cruises cost as little as $400 a person. And we've seen some even lower. If you've flown or driven down, that expense is done. Since you're down here, why not continue on to other places? You can't get a hotel for that low a price and it includes three meals a day, entertainment, and seeing new places (for a nominal fee.)
We've had cloudy, cool weather here. Sometimes it's sunny. No humidity. I would like to go to the pool, but I've developed a common reaction to one of my medications - thin skin, easily bruising forearms. Can't go in the pool with wounds. If I can get that under control, I'd be really happy.
Paul is putting in new baseboards. He's pulled out the fridge and is doing that area now. It's amazing how much stuff falls back there, etc. Gross. The air compressor is working well - it's quite noisy. He and Gracie went to Lowe's earlier this morning to get another piece of wood. Paul says they know Gracie. The salespersons love to greet and pet her.
Paul's eyes are doing well. He thinks he needs glasses for reading. The lettering some times comes in fuzzy on the tv at night, but we both think it may be because his eyes are tired. He's due to see the eye doctor at the end of the month - he saw him the day after surgery and a week after. The end of the month will be a month from that date.
We're headed off to the movies tonight to see Unbroken. We've both read the book and want to see it. From what I've heard, it's very good. But, they seem to downplay the end when he comes back home and that's what I was most interested in. We'll see. It'll be fun to do it anyway. We have a brand new Carrabas (opened on the 2nd) and we're going to try it afterwards at 6:30 - they have call ahead seating. Paul looked at their website and it says it has a lot of gluten free items on their menu!
Okay - now it's Friday. We didn't get to see Unbroken. It was sold out. We have missed it. That's a bummer. Paul checked the website and said it's not playing any more. Guess we'll have to check Pay per View.
So we ended up at Carrabas - two and a half hours early! Luckily - because when we got there at 4, it was starting to get crowded and when we left at 5:30 - there were a LOT of people waiting for tables. We had a really good dinner and they had a full gluten free hard copy menu that I could choose from. Both dinners were great - Paul had a shrimp pasta dish and I had a chicken dish with green beans. Caesar salad beforehand. As I said, we were glad we were there early because there were a lot of people waiting for tables when we left. It did feel strange eating so early though. The evening was long.
We're headed down to Port Charlotte tonight. We're meeting Bill for a fishfry at a place called Boomers where we met a couple of weeks ago. It was an open air restaurant with good food served on paper plates. Just heard that Unbroken is playing in Port Charlotte at 7:00. We may get there! We're meeting Bill at 5:00. We have some errands to do in Sam's Club. Yes. It definitely sounds possible!
Bill has plane tickets on March 15th to go back to the Philippines. So he's busy getting ready to leave and begin the new chapter in his life. He has a new friend, Flora, whom he met on the internet.
