A Western Caribbean Cruise And Our Winter Escape Is Over

We checked out of our Tavernier condo and headed for Tampa to board our cruise the following day. The drive to Tampa was only a little over 5 hours, so we were in no hurry to arrive and spend extra time in a motel room.

Great Cypress Preserve Visitor Center

Normally, our trips to the Keys are routed down the Florida Turnpike by our GPS (fastest method); a route we have taken numerous times. By turning on the feature to avoid toll roads, our route was calculated to take us on U.S. 41 through the swampy portions of the Everglades and up the western side of Florida to Tampa—a much more scenic passage.

When we got to Florida City we were routed to a state route that took us through an old, historic section of Homestead.  

Mighty mean looking gators

We enjoyed the old southern Florida architecture style on many of the buildings and the art deco motifs that adorned many of the structures. Outside of Homestead we started to travel through south Florida’s agricultural area.

Middle gator scared Capt. Larry

We saw fields of various vegetables, fruit orchards, ornamental flowers and shrubs, and all sorts of palm and tree nurseries. This went on mile after mile with a slew of roadside markets offering the plants, fruits, and vegetables to the public, and we knew where we would revisit on our return trip next year. When the farming activities started to peter out, we made a turn onto U.S. 41. Heading west, we left the farming activities and entered into the swampy regions of the Everglades. Every couple of miles we saw tourist operations offering air boat rides through the swamps and wondered how the ecosystem could support so much human activity. Then there were the Indians: the Miccosukee tribe. The tribe had similar swamp offerings plus a casino, so one could count tourism as a major tribe activity. On the whole we felt that there was too much human activity in this section of the Everglades, but realize that until some eco-crisis occurs, the status quo will prevail.

We continued driving along U.S. 41 until we came to the Great Cypress National Preserve and a change from a lily pad and sawgrass landscape, over which airboats could traverse, to a thickly wooded, cypress stands that represented this part of south Florida.

Back in Cozumel

We drove until we came to the Great Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center, and decided to stop to see what it was about and collect another stamp! At the center, we got our stamp and viewed the exhibits which were mostly about Seminole Indian handicrafts that we didn’t find very interesting.

Spanish lessons and beer!

Outside the center we found a boardwalk over a portion of the swamp. Walking along the walkway we spotted some gar fish and catfish suspended in the water. A little further along, we spotted some rather large alligators that were sunning themselves on the shore. Capt. Larry started to take some pictures of the alligators, when directly below him a large, 11-foot alligator snapped at a duck that was on the other side of a separating fence. The burst from the alligator caused Capt. Larry to jump nearly out of his skin, thinking the alligator was coming after him!

Jane driving a bargain

We left the preserve and drove the scenic remainder of U.S. 41 until we hit I-75 which would take us to Tampa, but decided to stop for the night at Sun City—about 30 miles outside of Tampa.

Arriving at the cruise terminal the following day, we passed through security and registration. As we were getting ready to board our ship, Vision of the Seas, a member of the embarkation crew excitedly asked us if we knew who singer/songwriter Rod Stewart was, and told us that he was aboard.

Elvis performs!

We acknowledged that we knew who she was talking about, but didn’t really think too much about it. That is until he walked past while we were waiting for our stateroom to be readied. We also noticed a number of Elvis look-alikes or impersonators, but didn’t really know why we were seeing so many of them.

Who's the real Elvis?

We later learned that there was an Elvis tribute that was sailing with us and they would be performing throughout the cruise. Anyway, we had some lunch, waited for the announcement that our cabins were ready, then got settled in and explored the ship. We sailed out of Tampa Bay, recalling the sights and structures that we had encountered when we brought Bavarian Cream through these waters on our Great Loop trip. At dinner, we joined our tablemates Josh and Brittany from Missoula, MT, and Cam and Rebeca from Boston, all first-time cruisers. We turned in that night heading for Roatan, Honduras.

Rod sings a song

We awoke the next morning in Cozumel, Mexico. As soon as it was decently possible, the captain made the announcement that we were docked in Cozumel, because during the night it was necessary to evacuate a passenger with a medical emergency. According to the ship tracker on the TV, we had actually sailed a fair distance past Cozumel, then backtracked which made us think that there were no suitable medical facilities further along our itinerary. We hadn’t planned any shore excursions for Cozumel, so we thought that we would get off and peruse the shops near the cruise terminal. After a couple of hours ashore, we returned to the ship for some lunch and a nap, before returning to a little café that we had spotted to have happy hour. Capt. Larry was also able to practice his newly acquired Spanish language skills on our waitress, who was very helpful in helping him phrase his drink requests. After a few rounds we headed back to the ship and got ready for dinner as we sailed for our next stop, Belize.

How Starfish Island gets its name

Relaxing on Starfish Island

We learned that evening that Roatan would be dropped from the itinerary, because there was no way we could make that port and still be able to return to Tampa at the scheduled time; the sailing distance being too great.

At Belize the ship anchors out and passengers tender into Belize City, but knowing that there are few offerings in the city, we opted for a shore excursion—a beach break to the private Starfish Island. The boat that would take us to the island met us at the gangway. We boarded and rode the short 4-mile distance to the island, received a short orientation, and were turned loose to do whatever we saw fit.

Glimpse of Starfish Island

Beach sets, kayaks, and a swimming area were available to use. We chose to just relax, read, and people watch with a bucket of beers.

Starfish Island

Lunch was provided and we enjoyed coconut rice and black beans, a spicy Caribbean barbecued chicken, potato salad, and an onion, carrot, and habanero pepper relish that Capt. Larry found really interesting (seconds were had). After spending about 4 hours on the island, we headed back to the ship.

Our boat Alex

We took a nap and watched an old movie before getting ready for dinner. At dinner, Capt. Larry was presented with a birthday cake and the wait staff presumed that our younger tablemates were our children. From then on we always referred to them as “the kids.”

Capt. Larry gets a birthday cake

We were also joined by Jane and granddaughter Julia from upstate New York who was dining with us for the first time. It was a lively table and a fun evening. Next stop, Costa Maya.

Costa Maya was built by the cruise lines to get passengers nearer to the Mayan ruins that pepper Mexico’s Caribbean coast.

Happy birthday!

We had never been here before, and from the description in the shore excursion listing, there didn’t appear to be many offerings.

"The kids"

We opted for a glass-bottomed boat ride over the coral reefs that extended out into the bay. The viewing was OK given the rather unhealthy condition that a major portion of the reefs were in. Only the very deep-water coral formations that remained untouched from the snorkelers provided excellent viewing.

Jane and Josh

We returned to the cruise terminal and had a beer, but at $6 each (they were $1-2 in Cozumel), we quickly felt that the tourists were being gouged and returned to the ship.

Rebeca and Brittany

 

At dinner that night we learned that “the kids” paid $79 for nachos and two beers apiece. We doubt if we would ever consider going ashore at Costa Maya again; being taken advantage of just makes a return so much less desirable.

We return to Cozumel for our final port-of-call. It was a beautiful day, so eschewing a cab ride to the downtown shopping district; we walked for the sights and exercise.

Rod & Jane

We walked along the main drag with the hawking merchants calling “just take a look,” “now it’s my turn,” “almost free today,” “I have what you want,” and “just tell me what you’re looking for!” It’s relentless: it’s wearing.

Jane and the Elvises

And one has to ponder the question: just how many Diamond International stores are there? Is it possible they could start building mini-Diamond Internationals inside the restrooms for that spur of the moment diamond (or the rapidly depleting tanzanite!) buy?

Welcome to Costa Maya

Give us a break. We walked until the “Pick-Ur-Gemstone” International stores petered out, and then we went one block off the cruise-ship strip to the Plaza del Sol. Here we find local vendors and artisans with all sorts of hand-crafted souvenirs.

Mayan performers

Granted, they still hawk their shops and offerings, but they’re just not as odious as the cruise-line hawkers. Jane started snapping up gifts and souvenirs, and in short order she had her list filled with fast-talking bargains galore.

Dolphin tricks

It was lunchtime so we wandered over to a little sidewalk café we had eaten at on our last visit to Cozumel. The waiter didn’t speak much ingles, so Capt. Larry worked his Español.

Costa Mayan art

It must not have been that good; because after a short while he brought a sheet featuring pictures of the menu items and pointed to one particular ink-dotted item (must have been the special). Capt. Larry said, “si,” and off the waiter went to place our order. Jane asked what we ordered, and was told, “Just wait.”

Julia

Along with two Sol beers and a pot of homemade tortilla chips (authentic because some were burnt!), came three garnishes for the chips: chunky tomato salsa, a Serrano pepper and onion relish, and some habanero pepper and onion relish similar to that on Starfish Island. Jane was wondering if this was our entire lunch. Capt. Larry dove into the relishes and soon regretted his haste.

Memorial on Cozumel waterfront

The habanero relish was at least 3 times hotter than that on Starfish Island, and within minutes his lips went numb, started swelling, and his stomach rejecting the delivery with a nauseating knotting.

That's some hot stuff!

The beers couldn’t come fast enough! To Jane’s relief, a tray of food arrived: four enchiladas, 2 soft tacos, a large chili relleno, black beans and rice, fresh guacamole, and a sprinkling of some of the best battered onion rings we had ever tasted, along with 2 mores beers. It was delicious and the meal and drinks came to $17.50 U.S.—the “kids” would be amazed and proud.

Lunch is served!

We finished our lunch and walked through the remainder of the plaza we had not visited, before heading back to the cruise terminal. We decided that Capt. Larry needed another Spanish lesson, so we went to our café and found our waitress.

Jane and Cam

She was delighted! We ordered (in Español) two beers and a bottle of water (Quisieria dos cervezas, Sol, y una botella auga, por favor), and out everything came. Jane decided she wanted a pina colada, so Capt. Larry told the waitress, “one pina colada.” It pays to be bilingual! We finished our happy hour (hora feliz), thanked our waitress and told her we’d be back on our next visit to Cozumel. Back onboard we got ready for dinner to cap off a great day.

Our last day of the cruise, was a sea day spent relaxing in the cabin, reading, working on the blog, and packing for tomorrow’s disembarkation. It was very windy, high seas (6-8’), and considerably cooler temperatures as we headed back to Tampa. Sadly, it looks like the wild winter escape has come to an end.

That's all, folks!