cruisin' day 4

today we ported in calica (ca-lee-ka) which sounds like a wonderfully exotic place but, in reality is just a quarry with a dock for barges. we learned that the holiday is the only cruise ship that ports there. seriously, this is not a place that you decide to just walk around town. heck, there's not even a shopping plaza - there's about six or seven merchant tents like a tiny flea market. you can catch a taxi (no complimentary shuttle provided) to playa del carmen for $13. if you are on the holiday and have a stop in calica, i seriously recommend an excursion or don't bother getting of the ship.

from this side of the ship, it looks like an inviting place


fortunately, we did have an excursion booked that we were really looking forward to. we went to the chaak tun cenote (cavern) for some underground snorkeling.

folks, the whole time we were in there, i kept saying "this is so cool!". and not just because the water was 72° either. we've been to caverns before like mammoth cave and diamond caverns but there's just something about seeing the stalactites and stalagmites and all that jazz underwater. add in some bats and cool fossils and it was just a good time. most of the time we had to wear life vests which i found annoying and nasty (i'm pretty sure they've never been cleaned and it kept scooting up into my face) but at the end, there was a thirty-something foot pool that we were allowed to take our vests off, at our own risk of course, and do some free swimming/diving.

when we were through, our guide led us out to a refreshment area where we were offered bottles of water, sodas, and cerveza. being in mexico, i figured they'd be giving out some coronas but it was some generic looking stuff called sol which the imbibers didn't seem to care for much - most switched to water or soda after the first. it was a relatively short excursion and, on the way back to the ship, the bus driver was kind enough to stop in play del carmen to drop off those that wanted to do some shopping in town. saved them one of the $13 taxi fares, right?

apparently mexico is too poor for barbed wire
as for us, we went back to the ship, got showered and changed, had lunch, walked around a bit, ran into anastasia and talked with her a while, played putt-putt (i won!), hung out by the pool and relaxed.
windy hair

fore!

when we went back to our room to get ready for dinner we were surprised to see invitations for a past-guest reception (whoohooo! i love the receptions!!!) and a couple of holiday pins. we headed to the reception, then dinner, and the show of the night was the guest talent show. there were six singers and while they weren't all *ahem* talented, it was entertaining.

towel animal du jour: bull dog!