Wow! There are SEVEN cruise ships here this morning:
Celebrity Apex (3600)
Celebrity Ascent (3600)
Carnival/Aida Diva (2000)
Norwegian Prima (3500)
Carnival Valor (3200)
Holland Eurodam (2000)
There is another but its too far away for me to identify
The cruise terminal is a modern, spacious shopping area. Since the island of Cozumel depends almost entirely on tourism, they are well equipped to handle these large numbers of people. The island is very small - only 36 miles long. The interior is mostly swamp land. The road goes around the outside of the island, with a single road cutting through the middle. Most of the resorts are located along the southwest corner. A major industry here is transportation. You see hundreds of new taxis everywhere along with small dune buggy-like cars. The locals seem to use motorbikes - gas is very expensive.
Our excursion today took us to the Mayan ruins called San Gervasio. Its about an hours drive inland from the cruise center. This site is completely different from what we saw yesterday at Altun Ha. It is more recent - 1400-1600AD. Our guide, Tony, was very knowledgable about the culture. One interesting fact: the slabs of limestone used in these buildings came from the mainland - how did they do that? Oddly, the site reminded me of the ruins we had seen in Greece and Israel, with their standing columns.
After the Myan site, we drove along the coast and stopped at a great little place called "El Mirador". We enjoyed a snack and watched great crashing waves along the rocky shoreline - no beaches along here.
Our final stop for the day was a "Chocolate Experience". Cacao is a big deal in Mexico. They make, and sell to tourists, an endless array of flavor options. This place is about the history of Chocolate making in Mexico, but was mostly a store to sell us stuff.
We did some shopping in the Cruise Port and returned to the ship about 3:30. Dinner with our Cleveland friends, dancers in the Main Stage, piano guys, then call it a day!
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