Mahogany Bay, Isla Rotan (Honduras) and Grand Cayman

Sorry about the delay in posting about the rest of our vacation.  The weather is nice and let's face it, I'd rather do things outside than sit at a computer.  Anyways, let me share with you about the last two days of our cruise.

 Of course it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.  We were not interested in any of the excursions at Mahogany Bay so we just stayed at the area they made for cruise ships, checking out the shops and relaxing at the beach.

 There were all sorts of fun photo opportunities along the walk to where we decided to park ourselves for the day.  We ended up at the furthest point on the beach area and with lounge chairs in the shade.  Many of the chairs and part closer to the ship you had to rent chairs and they were in rows without shade or views of the ocean for the most part.

 Luke enjoyed the water for many hours and ended up extremely burnt.  Since there were a lot of people stirring up the sand it was a little cloudy so I decided to just enjoy the shade and nice view.  The water was warm as well.

 About two hours before we had to be back on the ship we decided to had a quick bite to eat and a drink.  We shared some nachos, Manfriend had a local beer and I had a mango slush/margarita.

 More photo opportunities on the way back to the ship.

It was nice to have a relaxing beach day after our two long excursions the days prior.  We did not plan an excursion for Grand Cayman and lucked out that there were quite a few offerings at the pier and they were way less expensive than the cruise ones (but to be honest probably not the same quality).  We paid $40 and we both went for a 2 hour tour of the island.
Our first stop was the little town called Hell.  Yup, we went to Hell and came back to tell about it.

 We bought postcards from the little shop next door and mailed them.  2 post cards plus postage cost us a whooping $1.50.  I'd say that was well worth it.  The town got its name because of the rock formations that were behind the post office.  The sea had likely been higher and when it receded left behind the rocks that were black and hot.  Someone decided that would be what Hell must look like it so the name kind of stuck.  Just down the street is Hell Elementary.

 After our stop in Hell it was time for the Tortuga Rum Cake factory.  It was just the shop part we were able to see but the factory was connected.  I love me some rum but just not in my food.  I don't think I'd mind working at the factory though since this is the view from the back porch of the place

 We were also able to walk to the turtle farm and dolphin swimming experience from the Rum Cake place but didn't take any pictures there.  Our last stop of the day was at 7 Mile Beach.  It was gorgeous. It would have been nice to stay but Manfriend wasn't feeling it after being a little crispy from the day before.  If we stayed we would have to pay for a taxi back to the pier anyways.  I walked in the water and picked out a few small shells to bring home.  The water was warm and crystal clear.

 Back at the pier we wandered around shopping and tried a local joint for lunch.  Manfriend tried a turtle burger and said it kind of tasted like meatloaf.  I had plantain chips.  they were ok but I would have liked them tossed on the grill after so they would be a bit crunchy.

 So after our trip to Hell we ended our day in Paradise (the restaurant).  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

 We took a tender back to the ship to get ready for our last formal night at dinner.  Well, I tossed on a dress and Luke tossed on jeans and a shirt.

 He watched the movie Thor on the seaside theater screen and I went to the sit down dinner by myself.  Other guys at the table were jealous cause they wanted to watch the movie or go and finish watching the NFL draft.

Ruins of Tulum

Cinco de Mayo in Mexico... doesn't really exist except in a small part in Western Mexico.  To the rest of Mexico it is just another day incase you are wondering how awesome it was and were the margaritas that great?  To start the day we took a ferry from Cozumel over to the Mainland of Mexico.  The crew on the boat were entertaining...offering to sell us shots of Tequila (out of glass shotgun bottles).  When we finally arrived I could not get off the ferry fast enough.  I thought I might throw up on the ride over since it was extremely rough.

Once we were off the boat we were escorted to a bus for an hour and a half ride to the ruins of Tulum.  Our guide Angel was amazing.  He told us all sorts of facts and the history of the Mayan culture.  We even learned that to be a guide he needed to go to college and take classes in a variety of content areas to be well versed in the culture and history of Mexico.  Even after graduating he still needs to take so many classes to maintain his guide certification.

 Yes, it was absolutely gorgeous.  Yes, it was also over 100 outside and we were quite toasty.  Good thing I brought a bottle of Powerade with us.  I also know that Luke is always saying, "take a picture of that."  I gave him one of our cameras for the day and had one for myself.  His ideas of pictures are of things and I like to put people in the photo most of the time since I think it makes it more interesting (people I know anyways).

 The building behind us was the decoy light house.  They would light it up and people would crash their ships/boats into the reef so by the time they swam to the shore they were captured and too exhausted to put up a fight.  The Mayans actually had their real channel to the area further down the beach where they had broke through the reef for a secret entry.

 Of course Luke was a little disappointed we couldn't climb on or go into any of the ruins so he had to sit on this part that wasn't roped off and have me take a picture of him.  Such a silly man.

This particular tree is hallow except at the base where when you thwack it you hear a thud sound instead of a knock sound.  That is because it is filled with water at the bottom.  If you are ever stuck in the jungle this is the tree you want to find, kind of like a cactus in the desert. (Hello informative tour guide Angel!)

Crawling all over the place were these giant lizards.  When I say all over I mean all over.  They were everywhere and fortunately for us they were a bit intimidated by people or I'd have been freaking out.  We happened to catch these two fighting over a spot on the ruins.

Despite it being very hot we really enjoyed our trip to the ruins and learned a lot about the history and culture of the Mayans.  We had a little bit of time before our bus and ferry trip back to the cruise ship so we enjoyed some beverages and tried the fish tacos (I liked the ones in So. Cal. better).  I didn't have time to finish my drink so it was put in a classy to go cup for our bus trip.

 The excursion was 7 hours in length and we were told to bring water with us.  For the bus ride back we were provided a towel soaked in ice water to wipe off with before boarding the buss as well as a bottle of water, bag of snack chips and a cookie.

 Adios Mexico!  We are sad that we didn't get to spend any time in Cozumel but maybe someday we will make it back and get to do that.