Back to the Island-Double Dip Delight!Western COMPLETE~Cruising with a baby w/PICS!

[livingis2me]

Originally Posted by pperfectmom

I'm ready for the "immobilizing beverages"! Is it five o'clock yet? Did you have to pay a fee for using the facilities at the Money Bar or just buy a couple of drinks?

I can answer that... We just bought a couple soft drinks. It really could have been a nice place to hang out at for a while, but we had other things in mind.

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by pperfectmom

I'm ready for the "immobilizing beverages"! Is it five o'clock yet? Did you have to pay a fee for using the facilities at the Money Bar or just buy a couple of drinks?

It's always 5:00 'round here!

[anewmac]

Hey we used to have a table like that at the money bar.. actually it was a picnic table and it was all coins and if you didnt watch where you put your drink... SPLASH LOL. Man that water looks gorgous. Looks more vibrant where you were then where we were. Im thinking it was the rocks. (And I dont mean the ones my margaritas were pours onto LOL.

Tammie great thought about Savanah dancing, too cute!

[wilma-bride]

I am so ready for thos immobilizing beverages - and it's only 10.30 am here

[SweetSpot]

Thank youf for such a fun trip report. I really have enjoyed all of your trip reports.

Originally Posted by anewmac

Hey we used to have a table like that at the money bar.. actually it was a picnic table and it was all coins and if you didnt watch where you put your drink... SPLASH LOL. Man that water looks gorgous. Looks more vibrant where you were then where we were. Im thinking it was the rocks. (And I dont mean the ones my margaritas were pours onto LOL.

Tammie great thought about Savanah dancing, too cute!

Drea are you going to let this trip report get finished before yours? We need the next installment.

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Originally Posted by nenner1

Uh oh! I can see them too, so I dunno! They're on photobucket... let me know if you can see them at work!

OK...saw the pictures at Dave's! I don't think my computer likes me sometimes.

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by wilma-bride

I am so ready for thos immobilizing beverages - and it's only 10.30 am here

I had waaay more than my share last night! (Jimmy Buffet concert! )

Originally Posted by SweetSpot

Thank youf for such a fun trip report. I really have enjoyed all of your trip reports.

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you are (have) enjoyed!

Drea are you going to let this trip report get finished before yours? We need the next installment.

Yea, Drea, what's up with that? You were three days ahead of me at one point! You're slackin' girl!

Originally Posted by TheDisneyGirl02

OK...saw the pictures at Dave's! I don't think my computer likes me sometimes.

Hmmm...It may not necessarily be you, I had too many pictures to put it in one post and then I got them out ot order so I edited both posts a few times before I had it right...weird....
But I'm glad you finally got to see them!

[nenner1]

After a relaxing couple of hours at The Money Bar, we were excited to continue our journey around the rest of the island.

But first, a better shot of lucky #13:




We love trying to compare foreign car names and figure out which make and model we know them as. For instance, this car is a Dodge Attitude, but we figured out it is really a Hyundai Accent.

We headed back out on the road, still heading south along the west coast. We hadn’t traveled very far from the port area yet at all.

We passed Chankanaab, knowing many of our meet friends were inside having a dolphin encounter. We plan to go there someday, not on the next Western cruise, but maybe the one after that!



Watch out for the Mexican speed bumps! It doesn’t look it in the picture, but this bump was about two feet high!







We passed Playa Corona, but it didn't look too appealing to us, and we weren’t ready for more snorkeling or beach going yet. The clouds were moving in from the east/southeast too, so we decided to just keep driving for the time being.




Alto! Notice that the stop sign is at least 20 feet prior to the actual intersection? We were aware this is how the stop signs are in Mexico, but we still didn’t know the proper way to handle them (we stopped twice, both at the sign and at the actual intersection. Those locals had to love being stuck behind us!)


The next resort up the road was Mr. Sancho’s and we couldn’t pass this setup by.
We didn’t actually stop at the beach; we just took this photo opportunity in the median.



These Mexicans sure like their flags BIG!



We drove a little more, and rather quickly reached the southern tip of the island. We had planned on maybe stopping at Punta Sur to explore the lighthouse and do some more snorkeling. The clouds had moved in, and it was now dark and raining. We weren’t sure how long the weather would stay bad, and since it cost about $10/pp to get inside the Punta Sur Ecological Park, we decided to pass it up for now and keep on driving until it cleared up some.





We did get some pictures, this is the best I could do:






Yea MON!



There aren’t many bars and resorts on the southeastern coast. This stretch of beach is notoriously rough and not safe for swimming. Therefore, most of the coastline in this area is natural, unspoiled and undeveloped.

The first thing we encountered on the east coast was the blowhole. A simple notation on the map with no explanation made us curious to this natural landmark. We didn’t know what really to look for from the road, and weren’t sure if we would find it. Well, we did!




There was a large rock formation that stretched out to the shoreline. As the waves crashed into the rock, water shot upward through the “blowholes” and after the wave recessed, a whoosh of air, water and “steam” (not really steam, but I don’t really know how else to describe it) explodes up in a high pressure spout. It was a lot of fun to watch, and even more fun to play in.

Click to see the blowhole in action:




Of course, the kids had a blast. Here is a stop-action photo set of their reaction to one wave and blow from the hole:


























(**continued in next post***)

[nenner1]

It was still raining when we arrived at the blowhole, but we spent a good amount of time there exploring, and by the time we were finishing up there, the sun was back out. (It was a little more than seven minutes, but we weren’t complaining).













Looking back south along the east coastline:



Dune Buggy alert!




Looking north up the road:

This is it. No lanes. Mexican style; Make your own.




The next thing we were on the lookout for was “El Mirador” – The Bluffs. Again we had no clue what we were looking for (we had our money on more rock formations). But we first came upon an area that more closely resembled a beach (i.e. had sand) It was very picturesque. As best we can tell judging solely from the map (there are very few signs in Cozumel telling you where you are), this was Playa Bonita (in English: Beautiful Beach)
























**continued**

[nenner1]

**continued***

Back on the road (we couldn’t take another one if we wanted to, this was the only road there was!), we traveled further up the coast to El Mirador. We were absolutely right about it being more rock, it was. And it was huge!




As we approached the beach area, the first thing I noticed was the sand wasn’t sand at all. It was comprised mostly of coral.









It was difficult to walk along the bluffs. The rocks were sharp, wet, and uneven. In some spots large holes opened up to reveal the waves crashing yards below. Hermit crabs crawled along in caverns of seawater along the top, and the dismembered remains of sea crabs and other crustaceans (some lucky seagull’s lunch) were scattered about.





El Mirador was striking to look at but not very functional. There is only so much you can do on jagged, rutted, super slippery rocks.



















The afternoon was wasting away quick, and soon we would be too!

Up Next: The Coconut(s) Telegraph

[jmefox]

i have been reading all about your latest cruise we will be taking our 4 month old in Aug. on a seven night is there anything that you would say we really need to pack I am really nervous but from everything you have written so far it looks like you were fine any advice would be great thanks

[pamrob]

Can't wait to hear how the rest of your day in Cozumel went.

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by jmefox

i have been reading all about your latest cruise we will be taking our 4 month old in Aug. on a seven night is there anything that you would say we really need to pack I am really nervous but from everything you have written so far it looks like you were fine any advice would be great thanks

Hi and congratulations on your new baby!

We took a whole lot of stuff with us. One thing I brought but didn't use much was a bottle warmer. It took up a bit of space so that's why it was the first thing I thought of. We checked a box of diapers and that was more than enough for the week (It was a 96 count I think) I brought a bottle drying rack and set it up on the little dresser in the front corner of the room across from the bed (we were in a Cat 8).

The stroller...we used it a LOT. If you have a travel system or a "cart" where you snap on the carseat that works really well, because if she was sleeping and we had to go into the theater we would just pop off the carseat and leave the frame outside. They have strollers you can use if you don't want to being yours but they are joggers and I just don't think they are the best option for the real little ones. PLus they ones they provide are very large..I think it would be hard getting it in & out of elevators, down hallways and in other tight spaces. Bringing the strollers in & out of the staterooms is possible, but difficult. Most of the time we would pop out the carseat and then park the stroller in the elevator lobby (there are actually little out of the way nooks off to the side where it stays out of the way of people walking through and nobody messes with them (we've seen before power wheelchairs and scooters parked in the same areas). If you want to keep your stroller in your room (like overnight) try folding it and storing it in the bathtub to keep it out of the way.

Another reason to have a carseat is the highchairs in the dining room are those wooden ones with no neck/head support and no padding that are pretty much impossible to sleep in. Our daughter slept a lot at dinner (we had late seating) so having that for her to sleep in was invaluable. (A smaller stroller would work too, but the big ones might be in the way depending on where your table is).

The Pack N Play Disney provides is smaller than regular Pack N Plays (at least it is smaller than ours), so don't bring your own becuase there may not be room for it.

Gosh, I can't really think of anything else offhand. We had no problems at all but then again I did pack pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. I know Treasure Ketch supposedly has diapers and formula in case you need it (though I didn't see it on the shelves or anything)..really I think as long as you have diapers, formula if you use it/baby food, bottles if you need them, dishsoap to wash the bottles, wipes, infant tylenol, diaper rash ointment (just in case), sunscreen and plenty of clothes you will be A. OK!

Thanks so much for reading and let me know if you have any other questions!! Have a terrific cruise!

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Loved the update! The pictures of the blow holes were awesome!!!!

[anewmac]

LOVE all the pics. You guys really got around the island.

UGG and I know im lagging, just life keeps happening LOL. Ill try and get something up this week! But with working on my mothers and grandmothers day gifts no clue when that will happen or IF lol.