The Dr Who Cruise Part 4

Oct 25, Wednesday, - Cozumel, Mexico

We got up at 7 and had breakfast in the buffet. We had a shore excursion to learn about Mexico’s Day of the Dead. We needed to be on the shore by 8:45 at Station 4. Just before we left the ship, Hubby realized that he had left the camera in the cabin and ran back to get it. Sensory overload hit me as I reached the end of the dock and tried to find the sign for Station 4. I finally found it, hiding behind Station 5, which was hiding behind Station 6. Oberto was our guide, and he had paperwork for me to fill out. I found a table and chairs in the shade and started filling out the paperwork. Hubby showed up, so I started filling out the paperwork for him, and showed him where to sign in.

At 9AM, Oberto gathered us all together and walked us out of the crowded business section to a place where buses and taxis were waiting. He divided us into 4 different groups and put each group into a taxi van. The taxis drove us to Playa Mia, about 10 minutes from the terminal.

At Playa Mia, there was a tour put together by a cacao company, and that was what we were there for. We walked along a wandering path through a small patch of jungle. Along the way, we were shown a ‘typical Mayan hut’ and given a tiny tostada with a daub of filling as our first taste test. We were shown examples of the various spice plants they add to their cocoa drink and given a small wooden spoon with some cacao candy on it for our 2^nd taste test.

 After that, we climbed to the 2^nd floor of the cacao shop and were given a few minutes to decorate an altar for the Day of the Dead. Then we got to cross a bridge to the 2^nd story of the next building. They handed out small wooden skull faces that we could color using sharpies. And when we finished that, they had more things to taste; enchiladas, toquitos, a deep purple water made by boiling a certain type of flower, regular water, and some Mayan cocoa. The food was okay, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about spicy cocoa made with water and not milk, but I tried it, and it was good.

We were given 20 minutes to shop in the various stores, and there were several in the area. Hubby went down the street far enough to find 2 swimming pools and the shoreline. Then we were put back in taxis and sent back to the terminal

Sensory overload again as we made our way through the first building and its myriad shops. When we came out into the sunlight, I asked Hubby where he wanted to go, and he said ‘to the ship’. I said, “Come on, it’s this way,” and he said, “Go ahead, I’ll catch up.” I thought he wanted to find a bathroom, so I walked forward about a short block, and then waited for him to ‘catch up.’ I must have waited at least half an hour before I decided he was a grown man and the location of the ship was obvious, so I made my way to the dock and walked most of the way to the ship, then paused to sit on a bench and rest for a moment. And that’s where he found me. He was angry that I’d ‘gotten lost’ when he had OBVIOUSLY told me to go ‘back to the ship’. Not the way I remembered it at all.

Having found each other, we went to our cabin for our special tumblers, and then went to the buffet to hydrate and eat some lunch. That’s where we found A, another DW cruiser, so we sat and talked for a while.

Afterwards, we went to our cabin and worked on our stories for the afternoon. I laid down for an hour nap, and Hubby got up and went walk-about a couple times. He’s not one to stay sitting for long periods at a time. I also took a quick shower to wash away the sweat from our shore excursion, but by the time the ship pulled anchor and left Cozumel, I was deep into my writing.

When I decided to go to the group’s social hour, the boat was rocking. I felt like I had lost my sea legs. This was a bit alarming because I ‘lose my balance’ entirely too often, even on dry land. But I got to the Schooner Bar safely and found a seat on the fringe of our big group.

Before long, it was time to go to dinner. We had 2 go down 1 deck, and the elevators were mobbed, so we walked down the stairs, some of us gripping the banister as if our lives depended on it. When we got to our table, we found that Tim and George were the ‘monster’ guests for our table tonight. Tim is very outgoing and lots of fun. George has worked with Tim on lots of DW episodes, but this was his first time on the DW cruise. He seemed to be warming up to the group’s off-beat camaraderie.

We did have a touch of drama during our meal. Apparently, a server somehow dropped a bowl of soup. Some of the soup bounced as high as the ceiling, other splatters landed on 3 of the diners at our table. Hubby had a couple drops land on him. The lady next to him went through two cloth napkins wiping off splatters that hit her. Tim got so much soup on his shirt that he went back to his cabin to get a fresh shirt. Many jokes were made about the incident.

Several members of the table decided to go do the onboard zipline. I don’t know if they got their nighttime zipping done; the ship may have been swaying too much for that activity to be available. If not, they were looking forward to barhopping after that, so I’m sure they had lots of fun. Hubby and I didn’t have a beverage package that included alcohol, so we went back to our cabin to write, but that didn’t last long before we started yawning and decided to go to bed.