After 3 days of seeing city sights, we change it up a little and are treated to a little of Cuba's natural beauty. Maria la Gorda is a sleepy seaside town with just one hotel, one restaurant/bar, and a dive shop (guess that qualifies as a dive bar since they were connected). I did entertain the thought of diving, but we had just been to the Caribbean and the cost of the dive was steep ($135 for a single tank dive). I decided to pass and go snorkeling with my mermaid/wife. We walked on the beach for about a mile and was amazed by the abundance of shells and coral ..... a lot from the remnants of hurricanes Ivan and Wilma. We decided to go out where we could see a dive boat had stopped, about 200 yrds offshore. Turns out, that was the snorkel/dive boat from the ship's excursion! The snorkeling was good but not great, so I'm glad I opted out of the dive. Still, I don't want to sound like we're complaining; a bad day of snorkeling on a deserted beach is still better than the best day of work.

After snorkeling we walked back on an upper road that was lush with mangroves and wildflowers .

We hopped on the next tender just in time for lunch. The food on the ship had been pretty good. Not a huge selection like larger ships, but still tasty. Every meal had a fresh carver and today's selection was listed as turkey breast, but you could tell it was a pork roast all the way. Even after asking, we were told it was turkey.... could be a scary moment for anyone Kosher on board.
 
Our next stop will be the city of Cienfuegos.