Cozumel

Cozumel meant scuba diving for Alan. We stayed at a small hotel that was next door to a scuba shop and that had a dock where divers could get right in and take off for their dives. Very convenient.

Alan's in the white t-shirt and hat (to avoid more sun burn).

He went scuba diving every morning. The last two days had especially good conditions and he really enjoyed the dives. But he didn't take any underwater photos while diving.

The Blue Angel dive shop was next door to a sting ray adventure establishment. One afternoon we walked to the beach on the other side of the sting ray enclosure and took about an hour to snorkle back to the hotel while we explored the area. The current was pretty strong and we would have been going against the current if we had started out at the small beach by the hotel.

I enjoyed our time in the water and was comfortable allowing distance between Alan and me. We saw some large schools of fish, some of the fish were quite small.

Alan tried, to no avail, to find the head of the eel that was hiding here. If you look carefully, you may see the eel's tail at the bottom.

And, there was a dead octopus that Alan tried to hand to me. I didn't see any need to hold it and told Alan to stay away from me with it!

Like so many good things, our time in Mexico didn't last forever. Here's a picture inside La Mision restaurant in San Miguel where we went to dinner our last night before coming home.

And, this is looking out our window as we were packing to come home Thursday morning. Alan was sad as he watched the dive boats getting ready to go out without him.

After taking the ferry from Cozumel back to Playa del Carmen, a bicyclist with a large cart transported our luggage from the ferry dock to the bus terminal so we could take a bus to the Cancun Airport. Not only did he transport our luggage several blocks uphill from the ferry dock, but he also stopped at a small place that sells bus tickets and told us to buy our tickets. That way we had our tickets before entering the crowded bus station with long lines of people buying tickets. The bicyclist also carried our bags inside and showed us what bus we should board to go to the airport. He got a good tip from Alan.

If you look closely you'll see me in white socks and loafers on a hot day. From all the walking between our hotel and town (about a mile and a half) in my comfortable sandals, I had blistered one foot quite badly. The only way I was going to make it with the walking required to get home was to pad my foot with Alan's thick socks and wear the slip ons. It wasn't pretty, but it did feel good on that sore foot! I learned walking shoes are always worth packing!

Until this point in my life, I had never slept in an airport. In my mind there are so many reasons not to. However, we arrived at Sea-Tac at 12:30 a.m. and had to wait for a 6 a.m. flight to Anchorage. Having been in a taxi, ferry, bus, and airplanes all day, I discovered I could sleep in an airport. It was quite deserted other than security and cleaning staff. I envisioned Alan as my guard and protector - however, he explored the concourse and took my picture! After that I was awake and he took a turn sleeping.

We are now at home and back to the routine of our "normal" days. Hope you find some of the photos interesting and didn't get too bored!