I had researched the options for excursions in Cozumel online months before, and we'd decided on one of two options: The private beach at Paradise Beach, or the Mexican state park, Chankanaab. Well, Paradise Beach sounded like a great place and all, but we wanted to do some serious snorkeling, and even they admit that their snorkeling isn't so hot out there. But Chankanaab has a coral reef to swim near, and a friend of ours had been there a year earlier and absolutely raved about the snorkeling, so that's where we decided to go.

The cab fare from the pier to Chankanaab was $10 a couple, and we split a cab with a couple just off the Grand Princess for the 10 minute ride to the park. They said that they had been to Chankanaab 8 years earlier, and were amazed at how much the area had grown since that time. They also asked us about our ports of call and the amount of time we had in each port, and were thoroughly jealous when we told them where we'd been and how long we'd had in each port. (Apparently they'd had about 4 hours in Costa Maya, and not much more than that in Belize.) We just smiled and hoped that the rest of our trip would remain envy-worthy.

We finally got to Chankanaab, and after buying a couple of $12 each wristbands for admission, we went in and looked around. The park is a nature reserve and is HUGE, but fortunately they had maps set up around the park showing you were you were and how to get anywhere you needed. We made another restroom stop, then went to look at Chankanaab's dolphins. Yes, this is the place were you too can have a "dolphin experience", where you get to swim with the friendly porpoises. Of course, for the honor of doing so, you have to drop nearly $200 each for the privilege, but hey - watching others is free! So that's what we did for a couple of minutes. It seemed like those who'd ponied up the cash were having fun floating with Flipper and pals, and it was cool to watch the dolphins jump out of the water (but darn hard to photograph - they move pretty fast!), but after a while we decided to move on to the beach.

Chankanaab on the beach

We walked up the sand to an area that was mostly still empty and we claimed a shaded palm frond hut and a couple of the park's unique plastic beach chairs. The chairs were long, white, hard fiberglass chairs, bent in sort of a lazy-S shape. They were comfortable in their own way, but were a challenge to get in and out of. The way that they were configured, if you tried to sit in the middle of the chair it'd flip you back and throw your feet into the air. So it was fun trying to figure out how to get in (and out!) of these things, and twice as much fun to watch newcomers try to figure it out.

There were a few dive booths set up behind the beachfront, so Mary and I went over to rent a set of fins and a mask. To rent the pieces individually was $4 for a mask and $4 for the fins, but only $6 if you got the whole set, so Mary and I got the set and split it - she needed the mask, since hers broke in the Caymans, and I wanted the fins. See how well that worked out? We then went back to the beach chairs, lathered on another fresh coat of SPF 45, then made our way across the sand to the steps that led into the sea.

There was a coral reef right up next to the shore, so there were only a few spots that had been opened up to access the water. Each had a hand rail to help you get in, but the steps were pretty drastic, as they were carved from old reef. Step one could be about 6 inches deep in the water, but step 2 was often about 4 feet down. Step 3? You'd better be ready to swim by that point.

The waters at Chankanaab

We sat on the first step, put our swim gear on, and eased our way into the chilly water. The skies were partly cloudy, and when the sun was hiding behind a cloud it was downright cold, but then the sun would come back out and warm us up.

But what did we care about a little cold water - we were swimming with the fish! And immediately we noticed them - they were everywhere! They had a small area of live coral that lined the shore roped off, but you could swim right next to it, and that's where the fish were. Hundreds and hundreds of them. It was like swimming in a fishtank at your local pet store, only without the risk of arrest.

We spent a good hour out in the water watching the fish and snapping pictures with our underwater cameras. It was incredible to see the coral and fish, and I would've stayed out there all day if my lips weren't so puckered from the salt water and breathing through the snorkel. I was desperate for a drink of fresh water, so I got out at the closest set of steps and made my way back to our beach chairs.

Under da sea, under da sea...

But where was Mary? Somewhere out in our snorkeling adventure, I'd lost her. I assumed that she'd be back here, but nope. So I sat down, had a drink of water, and waited for her, soaking up a little sun in the meantime. Sure enough, she showed up about 20 minutes later. She'd been so enthralled by the fish that she'd floated all the way down to the far end of the park, down near where the dolphins were kept. Oops. We stopped and rested for a while, then when the beach waiter Jose came by, we ordered a couple of plates of nachos and some more ice water and enjoyed watching the people go by. The park was starting to fill up now, and there were lots of families (young and old) out enjoying the sand and/or snorkeling.

After eating I took the beans and weasel with me for a few photos, and sadly only came back with the weasel. You see, there was this well, and...well, I set the beans on the edge to photograph them, and a gust of wind came along and...I'm sorry to say that there is now a can of my beans floating in the bottom of Chankanaab's well. If you're ever there, be sure to look in and say hello to them. At least I didn't lose the weasel.

It was time to go snorkeling again, so back into the sea we went. Still cold, but we still didn't care. The sun was out a little bit more now, and the visibility was even further than before. I dove down several times to the sea floor (about 15 feet or so) and took pictures of the coral and little fish hiding in it, and then I swam out to the floating dock about 50 yards from the shore. It was nice to lay in the sun, but it was really windy out there, so I didn't stay long.

More underwater views of Chankanaab

While there a couple with British accents showed up, and after hauling themselves onto the deck (they had a hard time, for some reason), they asked me if I'd seen the statue of the Mayan woman yet. No, what was that? Well, apparently out in the middle of nowhere there was a statue of a Mayan temple with a woman on top. They pointed in the general direction of where it was, and since I had one photo left on my underwater camera, I went in search of this mysterious statue. Sure enough, I found her, about 12 feet under water. So I held my breath, dived deep, and snapped my last picture. Pretty cool, isn't she?

It was almost 3:30, and rules say that we need to be back on board the Miracle no later than 5:30, or else we'd have to swim to Belize to meet up with them. So we dried off, got dressed, and said goodbye to our perfect little spot in the sand. Snorkeling with the fish had been a thrill of a lifetime, and another memory I wanted to keep for a long, long time.

After turning in our rented equipment, we walked around the park a little bit, taking the scenic loop around Laguna Chankanaab, which was a really green pond with a path through the trees around it. Every so often while walking we'd come across a giant iguana in the woods, and eventually came across a pair of them - one green, one orange - that we're either about to fight or mate; we really couldn't tell. We then stopped by to see the parrots, then made our way out of the park and to a waiting taxi.

Just a couple of the plants and animals that inhabit Mexico above sea level.

10 minutes and $10 later we were back at Puerta Maya. We looked around the shops for a minute, and Mary did eventually buy that silver ring she'd wanted ($15). I also went into one of the many "4 t-shirts for $20" shops, but most of the shirts on sale at that price had slogans about being flat-drunk on them, so instead I ponied up a little bit more and bought a tasteful "pirate shark" shirt for myself, and one with grass-skirted iguanas for Katie.

Oh, yeah. I did pick up a little something for the weasel, too. I know, I know. Spending money on a stuffed rodent. But it was cuuuute, don't you think? And for $5, it was the biggest laugh Mary had on the cruise. A weasel with a sombrero. If that doesn't mean 'party', I'm not sure what does.

The weasel shows off her new sombrero; the duty-free area at the port.

We then ran into Ron Jons, where I picked up a t-shirt and yes - my car window sticker. From there it was almost 5:00 - time to head back to the ship, so we made our way to the duty-free mall (the only way you could get back - you had to go through it), showed our ID, then headed through. We weren't interested in buying any duty free cigars or cigarettes or perfume or...

Booze! All week long we'd been enjoying those fine raspberry daiquiris on board. And look - you can each bring back to the States one liter of alcohol duty free! And those price are indeed tempting - tax free, duty free. So we stopped and bought two bottles of rum - one vanilla rum, one coconut rum - our allotted hooch limit. They bottles were only $8 each - Super Shopper Lacey would be so PROUD!

Booze Footnote #1: When we got home, I went to the local liquor store and priced the exact same stuff - it was $11.99 at home. So I hauled those two bottles all that way to save $3.99 each. I'm not sure it was worth the effort.

Booze Footnote #2: Buying rum in Mexico? Hmmmm. The bottle said it was a product of the USA. Palm Beach, Florida, in fact. Around the world and back again.

Fountains and cruise ships - oh, my!

Okay, so we finally got out of the mall with our money (mostly) intact, and we made our way back on board the Miracle at 5:15. You see, we didn't want to be late for the show from our balcony. One of the joys of a starboard-side room was that you could see the entire dock, and you had a front row balcony seat for the post-Cozumel drunk crawl.

So Mary pulled up the chairs on the balcony, and I ran upstairs to get us some - yep - fries and ice cream. Only it took me a little longer than expected...

Spill #2 - I set my fries down to get the ice cream, which promptly slid off the top of the ice cream machine and smashed to the deck, breaking the ceramic bowl into 10,000 pieces and spewing fries everywhere. One of the Miracle busboys saw it, came over, and told me not to worry about it. I felt horrible - I made a huge mess that this nice young man was going to clean up. I would've cleaned it myself if I had access to a broom, but he smiled and told me again not to worry - accidents happen. So I thanked him profusely, got another bowl of fries, and held onto it better this time.

Anyway, back to the drunk crawl. You had to be back at the ship by 5:30 for the 6:00 sailing. And since a large portion of our fellow passengers visit Cozumel for the sole purpose of drinking heavily, it's quite the sport to watch them stagger back to the ship at the last second.

At 5:30 the ship's whistle blew, and a large cheer went out from the crowd that was making its way down the pier. Some ran, most swayed. The raised one of the two gangways, and the security officers stood near the ship, knowing what was still to come. At about 5:40 the purser's announcements started. "Will the following passengers please report to the pursers desk, located on deck 2, or call the purser at extension 7777." Ah, the missing person's roll call. The list started with about 20 names, and by 5:45, the purser was down to about a half dozen. We watched as a few others came rolling down the dock, each arriving to a thunderous round of applause from everyone on both ships that were enjoying the show. Finally, at about 5:55 the purser's missing list was down to three names. And sure enough, here came a couple running at top speed. That was two, there was still one. And here he came - courtesy of a guy peddling a rickshaw-type bicycle as fast as his legs could carry him down the dock. The guy almost fell off the rickshaw in front of the guards, handed the now-winded bicyclist a wad of money, and to a huge round of applause, climbed on board the ship. Talk about your last second victories...

Getting back to the ship with only seconds to spare - not a wise move.

Anyway, right at 6:00 we cast off, leaving the Princess ship and their possibly missing passengers behind.

There was no time for a nap tonight - showtime was at 7:00. So we got dressed for dinner, then went back out onto our balcony to watch the sunset. Man, it was beautiful! Why can't we have sunsets like this every night at home?

The 7:00 show tonight was a hypnotist, who after babbling on for about half of his allotted time about the mystical powers of hypnotism (all in a preparation to sell you his CDs after the show) and how he never ever works "blue" and feels it's not necessary to curse or embarrass his volunteers, finally got around to the hypnotism part. He invited 6 women onto the stage - the first 6 that could get up there - and you should have seen the ladies clambering to get on stage to be hypnotized. It was a near stampede. He then asked for 6 men to join him on stage, and once again, they almost rioted to be the ones chosen.

So there were 12 of them up there, and after giving them his hypto-countdown, he decided that only 7 of them were really hypnotized - the rest were just playing along. But for those 7, he had some fun. He made them take off their shoes and socks, then put their shoes on first, with their socks on the outside. (Probably would've been funnier if more than 2 of them had actually been wearing socks, wouldn't it?) He then convinced them that the napkins he was passing out were $100 bills, and they should hide them somewhere on their body, which was kind of funny, and even funnier when he told them that the money was on fire and they should take them out now, now, now!

Feelin' hot, hot, hot!

So after about 15 minutes of hypnotism show, followed by another ploy to buy his CDs after the show, we were on our way to yet another fabulous dinner in the Bacchus. Tonight's feature? That would be scallops, veal parmesan, or filet mignon. Excellent! And yes, there was more dining room dancing to be had. Tonight we shook our bon-bons to "Hot, Hot, Hot", the obnoxious Buster Poindexter song that was popular for about 10 minutes in the late 80's, but has since become a tropical cruise / island favorite. Right up there with 'Kokomo' and anything by Jimmy Buffett. Regardless, we still managed to dance our way through the dining room as part of the conga line in a show of unity and support for our lovely wait staff. That, and it meant we'd get to have dessert.

Dinner was done, and we made our way to the Raven library to once again put man's greatest technology at sea (e-mail) to good use. Isn't modern science fun? Just think - in the olden days I would've had to have thrown a note in a bottle off the balcony to send news home. Nowadays, we just drop 75 cents a minute and send it through space. It's much faster, and pollutes a lot less.

That finished, we went back upstairs to our cabin and to bed.

But wait - it was only 10:30 PM! What are you doing? You can't give up the ship (figuratively) so early! Are you MAD???

No - we're not crazy. We're just wiped out. So we'll see you in Belize in the morning. Good night!