As with Roatan, Cozumel was an unexpected port of call on the cruise Anna and I took last summer. As with Roatan then, we had nothing planned. We came close to booking a Mayan ruin tour here last year, but it was so oppressively hot in August and the tour was so long, we elected to only shop and hang out around the pool.

In planning for this trip, we had again elected to leave Cozumel as an "open" day . We arrived in port after breakfast, and after seeing four other cruise ships already in port before us, we knew the city would be overflowing. We were lucky, however, in that we anchored at a separate dock, a good half mile from the four other ships, all of which shared a common dock. This meant we pretty much had the southern half of the city to ourselves. We got off early and commenced with shopping. Cozumel is known for its shopping, and it did not disappoint. It has, by far, the best selection, most interesting items, and the Mexicans are all too willing to haggle. We had had very limited success with haggling in Roatan and Belize. Somehow we ended up buying a Turkish rug -- long story -- but we were both really taken, and Katherine proved a very tough negotiator.

As were were working our way from shop to shop, we kept commenting on how much fun we'd had the previous day, snorkeling in Roatan, and decided at the literal last minute to book another snorkel tour . We had just enough time to run back to the ship, change and throw together a beach bag, and then meet a catamaran docked alongside our ship for the tour.

The weather was absolutely perfect, and the water beyond blue. I'm sure the pictures I'm attaching will not do it justice. We sailed down to a small "national park," which protects the reef area, and then proceeded into the water with all our fellow tour-ers. It had a completely different feel than our snorkeling trip the day before, in Roatan. It was more chaotic and, as soon as we did get into the water and look around, we realized that the reefs simply didn't compare. People around us were squealing in delight at what they were seeing on the reef, and I'm sure if we hadn't been snorkeling a day earlier, we might have done the same. Still, we had fun, but did not mind when it was time to climb back aboard the catamaran. Now that snorkeling was done, they broke out the margaritas and the "party" part of the tour began . We sailed about 30 minutes further north, to a private beach owned by the tour company. Now we were talking. It was absolutely beautiful, and we had the place to ourselves. Everyone had to stand all the way forward of the boat, while the crew essentially beached us. We then walked down the funky floor stairs, into knee-deep water, and walked up onto the beach.

We enjoyed a barbeque lunch, but had lots of company -- huge iguanas started emerging from the forest as soon as food was served. They were HUGE, and very bold. I have to admit to being a little uncomfortable, as they kept coming.   I'll attach a picture of two.

We spent another hour or so in the water, swimming and playing on some inflatable slides and trampolines they had anchored in the waist-deep water. This part of the trip made the whole day worthwhile.

By the time we were all back on the boat, and we'd help "unbeach" the catamaran, we had a long cruise back to our ship. Toward the end, the crew started leading line dances and sing alongs. They had definitely done this before, as they came across as a well-rehearsed dance troop, almost.

We were thankful to not have a long walk back to the ship, as we are all thoroughly exhausted. I honestly cannot remember what we did for dinner or entertainment this night after we left port, but I'm sure it involved an early bedtime.