Sunday – 8 December 2013 – Costa Maya, Mexico
118 nautical miles south of Cozumel is not anywhere. There's no nearby town other than a small settlement of the few survivors of a fishing village that was destroyed in a hurricane. Nevertheless, Mexico and commercial interests developed a phony port in the very isolated southeastern corner of Mexico called, "Costa Maya". Its purpose is exclusively to amuse the mass market cruise ship passengers with slick tourist bars, huge shops selling very tacky souvenirs, and two (2) gigantic Diamond International cruise diamond and jewelry stores and an equally gigantic Tanzanite International shop.
The ubiquitous Diamond International chain was said to have built the complex which is closed from the wilderness surrounding it by a fence; the only opening is to provide access to a parking area for shuttle buses for glass bottom boat rides, half day fishing excursions, jeep tours, and a tour of a reconstructed "Mayan Village", complete with an opportunity (for $119 per person) to, "Interact with a local family and enjoy a freshly prepared lunch of traditional Mayan/Mexican cuisine. Bottle water, soda and beer are available." The Carnival Cruise crowd can also purchase for $69 a three hour "Salsa and Salsa Beach Break", whatever that may be. There is no access to the crystal clear water or miles of white sand beaches adjacent to the "cruise port."
Barbara and I elected to stay on the ship except for a quick walk through the shopping complex where I practiced saying, "No, gracious", to the dozens of solicitations to purchase whatever each salesman had to offer. And there were a lot of salesmen for Silver Spirit's 480 or so passengers since the port can accommodate three 3500 to 5500 passenger ships and our ship was the only one in today. We noticed that the line handlers were resting up before their hard work of casting off Silver Spirit's lines so that we could get the hell out of Costa Maya as quickly as possible.
In the evening I had my best success tying my hardest to tie well bow tie. So the day wasn't a complete loss.
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