I wasn't expecting this

On board the ship there is an art gallery. Not a wall where they have some animation in frames hanging up. It is an actual art gallery filled and run by west End Gallery out of Ft Lauderdale. And all of the art was for sale. The on-board art guy's name was Gordon and he was a trip. Gordon had a pocketful of raffle tickets and if you walked up and said "Hi Gordon" he gave you a ticket. He also ran a history of art seminar that was thoughtful and well presented. Gordon also ran the art auctions. Yes, i said art auctions. Imagine you are sitting in this grand lobby under this incredible Chihuly glass light sipping champagne and looking at wonderful and diverse pieces of art as Gordon tells you about the artist and then the piece and then auctions it off. I've never done such a thing. But it seemed fun and different. If you register for a paddle you received a free lithograph of your choice from the modern French impressionist Duaiv. And champagne. Plus if you stayed through the auction Gordon held a raffle with all of the tickets we had been collecting. I was number 105 and had a blast bidding on pieces. Douglas would nudge me if he wanted a piece or if we were getting toward our limit and it was okay for me to keep bidding. We won a lovely Matisse-like lady in red by an Israeli painter whose name escapes me at the moment. And in a move that flabbergasted me, we bought a Peter Max painting called "Angel With Heart" that i was in love with after the lady behind us leaned up to Douglas and said "You should buy that for her." It was the most surreal part of the entire trip. I cried off and on for about an hour including into high tea at Palo's. [note - at really nice restaurants no one stares at you when it is obvious you have been crying, but they do shoot hard, sideways glances at the boy you are sitting with ;-)] Now i am anxiously waiting for my art to arrive. I'll share more and show them to you as soon as they get here.

Cozumel

My first real impressions of Cozumel were from the water since we went from the ship into a taxi onto a boat into the water.

Of course, looking at it from the water makes sense it is an island off of the coast of Mexico.
Just like in Cayman, the cruise port in Cozumel caters to tourists with a large mall surrounding the point of entry.
 Cozumel is the jewelry retail capital of Mexico and we spent a lot of time in a jewelry store looking at silver and opals. Retail in Mexico is odd cause there are no prices on anything and it is expected that you will negotiate. I was trying on a rose quartz ring that was lovely, but not quite the right size. When the salesman quoted a price a friendly gentleman leaned near to my ear and said, "Counter offer. He doesn't really think you are going to pay that much." It was weird and kinda fun to work prices.
 Through out the mall and adjoining plaza there were street performers.
 If you've ever traveled with me you know i loves me some street performers.
 When i go into DC i try to have a pocketful of bills to drop in buckets. I am always amazed and humbled by the courage people have to put themselves on display.

 The dancers were on a tiny stage in the plaza and i think that they are paid to be there. 

These two percussionists were amazing. 

I do love a good xylophone. 

And then there is Mr Golden Mariachi.
 I love, love, love the living statue performers. This guy was amazing and when i tipped to take his picture he insisted that i needed to be in the photo.


We went to a little tequilaria factory store where they allow you to taste different brands.
 I bought a wonderful Reposada by... hmmmm... some company i've never heard of... yeah, i can't remember the name, but the tequila is the smoothest i have ever tried.
 The ceramic bottle came with matching shot glasses. You can tell that they cater to tourists cause when i was dithering trying to decide which to buy and how to get it home the uber-helpful salesgirl chimed in that she would bubblewrap it for me.
I really wanted to get a passport stamp, but the immigration office wasn't quite as obvious as it was in Cayman. We asked around and were told that it was "2 blocks down and 2 blocks over" from the far corner of the plaza. So we started to walk.
 And walk.
 And walk.
It did not take long to see a marked change in the area. We passed a federal building with a guard out front carrying a rifle.
We kept walking.
 And walking.
 I was sure there would be a sign or something. Finally when it was obvious that we were in a mostly deserted neighborhood I decided that we should ask for directions; of course a mostly deserted neighborhood is mostly deserted so who were we going to ask?
 I spotted a real estate office and figured that there would be 1) people inside, 2) they would know directions, and 3) they might speak some English. And i was right. The very nice receptionist told us we were close, only one more block to go, but it might be closed.
 So we walked.
 And walked.
 And walked.
 No one bothered to tell us that "a block" is from one major street to another. There might be 6 streets in a block or 2 or 1 or 5; it all depends.

 But at long last we found it.

Notice the bars on the windows.
 The door was locked tight, but they were still open. An armed guard let us in and said "passport stamp?" and gestured towards a counter.
 Another guy smiled at me and gestured to which page i wanted my stamp; i think he must see his fair share of clueless tourists.
 The guard smiled as he opened the door, let us out and locked the door again.
 Now we just had to get back to the ship.

I was tired, sore, dehydrated and hungry by the time we arrived at the gang plank of the ship, but happy with my purchases and the short adventure in Mexico.

yes, i did say "underwater scooters"

Ahhhh... the underwater scooter. Look at it. Marvel at the awesomeness that is the underwater scooter. The day after the Cayman Islands we made port in Cozumel, Mexico. Instead of sightseeing first, our shore excursion is the first thing we did. Douglas and I were the only people from the Disney cruise going to underwater scooters and we were running late because we had to wait to get off of the ship. The tour company representative put us in a taxi and sent us across town to where the boat full of guests from other cruises and the crew was waiting. As soon as we were on board we launched for open water. Our guide was super cool and funny, but after the excitement of being late, the Mexican taxi ride (no pictures cause i was holding on for dear life - that driver should be an amusement park ride) and trying to fill out the requisite medical forms and waivers on a moving boat i totally never heard his name. After an informative video (really, who makes those awful things?) he walked us through the basic structure of the scooter and how you get into it - remember : hold onto the back of the bubble, carefully walk your hands around to the bottom lip, take a deep breath and swim up into the scooter, head first. Once we arrived at the proper spot it was fascinating to watch the crew load machines and people into the water from the back. On each side there is a winch which is attached to a scooter, lifts it over the side and unceremoniously drops it into the water, where a diver attaches it to a buoy line, checks the equipment and brings it around back to get a passenger. There were 18 guests on the boat so they divided us into 2 groups : one to scooter and the other to snorkel until their turn to scooter. We were obviously in the second group, being the last ones to arrive. I've snorkeled in my pool, but never in open water before. Speaking of water, let's check today's color. Just a touch greener. Once flippered, snorkeled and be-goggled i set out around the boat and was surprised to see ships. Cozumel is such a popular cruise destination that there are 3 different cruise ship ports. Look at how they are parked like cars in a lot. Incredible. I really enjoyed snorkeling, even though my mask had a bit of a leak. I wasn't too keen on the fins, though, cause they made my ankles tired; I assume i was doing something wrong. It was fun to see different fish from the day before like this rainbow parrot and this cool blue fish. I have no idea what it is, but i dove down and chased it to get its picture. There were two guides with the snorkeling group : one in front and one in the back. I was so fascinated with everything underwater that on several occasions i got separated from the group and the rear guide fetched me to take me back. opps. Finally it was our turn to scooter. Would it surprise anyone to know that i was the first one on a scooter in our group? It really wasn't that hard to get onto it, but the diver must have thought i was taking too much time after i dove under the water because as i was swimming up into the scooter he took my hips and just put them right on the seat. Our guide had told us that they've had people freak out half-in and half-out of the scooter and so they do not mess around getting you situated. Each scooter is lowered by the divers and hooked onto a line until all 9 are sunk. Then they use weights to make each one neutrally buoyant, unhook us and off we go. There is a guide who leads you past a number of cool things, but it was really hard to take pictures since the camera is like 2 feet from your face. You can't go very fast, but you are definitely moving around underwater on a scooter. There are multiple divers swimming around the group, keeping tabs on people and checking to make sure everyone is okay. Toward the end of the tour they have you maneuver your scooter into a circle (not nearly as easy as it sound) and hold hands so that everyone is together. They release feed and the fish swarm around you. With the number of fish and the weird round-vision of the scooter bubble it really looks like you are inside of the aquarium. Plus, if you have an underwater camera with you, like we both did, the divers take it from you and shoot pictures off you. The coolness factor is off the scale. Once we resurfaced and had all the gear stowed it was back to the port. Douglas and I were wondering how we were going to get home since we had been put in a taxi to get to the launch and had no earthly idea where we were. But I was unconcerned; we'd figure something out and it would be an adventure. As we docked i got off of the boat and one of the crew looked at me and said, "Disney?" referring to the sticker on my shirt and when i nodded he continued, "No, no. You don't get off here. Far away." Okey-dokey, back on the boat. We unloaded about half of the passengers and then set off for another dock where we unloaded the other half. The guide came to us and said, "If you don't mind waiting while we drop off the equipment, the captain will take you back to your ship." That sounded duckey to us so we launched again and docked at a third pier. This time we got to watch as the crew stripped the boat completely down. It was fascinating how much stuff they needed to do underwater scooters besides the scooters. They were efficient; it really was quite impressive. As each crew member left the boat they came over and shook both of our hands. It was sweet. Then the captain launched again and took us around to our ship. And when i say he took us to our ship i mean right to our ship. We literally pulled along side of the Magic and got out. There wasn't even any place to tie off the lines; one crew member held the side of the railing and another helped us up onto the sidewalk. It was ridiculous and fun. You should have seen the looks we were getting from people walking by. If you eve have the chance SCOOTER, baby!

Helmet diving

In Grand Cayman Douglas and I decided to go helmet diving. There were 2 other people from the boat with us on the excursion. Jozeph from Hungary and Christine from France were both wait staff from the boat who had won the excursion as part of the Disney employee incentive program (BTW, if i haven't mentioned it yet, all the staff name tags had only a first name and country of origin (Disney is committed to having at least 50 countries represented on each ship at all times) so when you referred to any crew member it was almost always by name and country). After filling out medical forms and signing some alarming sounding waivers we hooked up with our guide, Chris, who took us out onto the reef and explained the helmets to us. Each helmet weighs 90 pounds and has a separate airline feeding it from a compressor. You jump into the water, swim over to the back of the boat and they put the helmet on you. Immediately you start down the ladder so that the water is supporting the weight of the helmet instead of your shoulders. I was the first to actually go down as Jozeph and Christine both tried it before me, but shook it off from fear. The ladder descended 30 feet to the bottom. You went down 3 rungs and then stopped to clear your ears. The helmet is only resting on your shoulders, so there is water up to about your chin. It is a cool, weird sensation, but you can't really look down cause then your face would be in the water. The only scary part of the entire thing is that at first you don't know how far apart the rungs on the ladder are so you just feel blindly for them. Of course there is a diver in the water right in front of you, checking on you every few step so you're safe. The one step that i missed, he grabbed my ankle and placed my foot where it needed to be. Step by step you arrive on the bottom where Chris is waiting surrounded by fish. Since the reef is a wildlife preserve, companies like SeaTrek pay to run tours on a certain piece of land. It was roped off and Chris led us around the entire area pointing out various things using hand signs. Being underwater on a reef is amazing. Doing it when you have a degree in marine science is beyond words. I was 2 inches from living brain coral for goodness sakes! We also tried sitting on the bottom and jumping around to experience the odd buoyancy. The guide has food with him to attract fishes and they give some to you so that each person is in turn surrounded by these lovelies. Just remember that sometimes parrot fish can't tell your hand from food! it's just a flesh wound Walking around underwater in a helmet is an experience that i can't compare to anything else, but i do highly recommend it!

Grand Cayman

The next port of call was Grand Cayman, in the Cayman Islands. This tiny three island nation is under British rule and is the first place i have ever been off of the North American continent. I was pretty excited. Cruise ships make port on Grand Cayman at the town of Georgetown. It is surrounded by a reef that is a wildlife preserve so the ships have to drop anchor and send guest ashore on tendering boats. I love, love love being on the water. Here i am on my little boat next to my big boat. And check out the water color Man, that is beautiful. The water at the front of the ship where we were catching the tendering boats was about 500 feet deep; at the back of the ship it was about 1800 feet deep. Wowza. And we weren't that far from shore. On one side of the boat you could see the Caymanian shore and on the other you can see the port town. (and some wicked storm clouds that just hung around, but never rained) Tourist are a major source of revenue for the Cayman Islands so there is an entire port area built where the tendering boats land where you catch the various shore excursions. The immigration office is right there as well. Though you don't have to go through immigration at the ports i wanted a passport stamp and by jiminey i got one. In fact, i was so geekily excited about getting a stamp that the lady in the office did the official visa stamp, plus a date of entry and a date of exit for me. This is a horrific picture of me, but i don't care cause it shows my first passport stamp. YIPPEE! All around the edges of the little port village there are shops and artisans working in the open air but i wanted to get out into Georgetown, so off we went. Everything was restaurants and high end shops catering to tourists. It was fun to look in the stores where i couldn't afford a thing, but it didn't really give me a sense of what the Cayman Islands was like. I do have to admit that i did a bit of shopping, though once i found something in my budget. Curiously there were carved figures of pirates everywhere, basically ready-made photo ops. This is my friend, Big Black Dick. He was an African pirate who now sells rum. After the fifth statue i saw of him i knew i had to have a bottle of his rum, but alas i couldn't find any so i settled for a picture instead. In the middle of all of the commercialism i was able to find a museum. You know if there is a museum in a 10 mile radius i will find it. Unfortunately, the museum was washed away 5 years ago by a hurricane. It has taken 4 years to rebuild the building itself, so the museum consists of these nice ladies and a gift shop. We hung out with them for a while talking about Cayman Island history and then i made a few purchases to help the cause. They did direct us up the road to a restaurant for lunch. I didn't want to eat at freakin' Senior Frog's - i wanted traditional island food - so they sent us to Hammerhead's Located right on the beach (it is the blue building), Hammerheads is a mix of beach food and traditional fare. We were able to eat right out on the deck with a nice view of the beach next to us and our ship in the distance. Douglas had conch chowder while i ordered the conch fritters. Unfortunately they were filled with green and red peppers (no death had been advertised on the dang menu) so i had to send them back. Instead i got a traditional potato dish that was like cheese fries covered in curry sauce. It was delicious! We finished lunch in time to walk back to the ship to turn around and walk back to the restaurant as our shore excursion launched from the little concrete pier in the upper right-hand side of the above picture.