(Miami) Cozumel, Mexico.

We had had a great flight with Thomas Cook, plenty of legroom, sausage and mash(!) and a couple of films....and then the fun started. It took forever to walk through Miami airport, we thought the bags must have been  on the following flight they took so long to arrive, the hotel transfer was a farce, I could have jogged there quicker, and when we DID arrive at THE COURTYARD it was dark, GRRRR ....so we chilled in the bar and I ate my first ever burger, yes you read that right, having NOT seen ANY of Miami. The following day wasn't a lot better either as nobody remembered to come to the hotel to pick us up for our transfer, which meant we had to make our own way to the ship (we doubled up in a taxi with other abandoned sailors) and then joined the longest queue we have ever stood in to embark. We stood for 3 hours. THREE hours. Oh Lordy.  (We actually got to know some people.) Three hours?! It was not the best start to a holiday but it was soon to be forgotten....because the ship was beautiful and Mexico was brilliant fun.  

I think a lot of people walked into the town but we had seen a map of beaches down the coast from Cozumel so we asked the perfectly pleasant taxi driver to take us to SAN FRANCISCO beach wooopiwoop because, well we had to go there didn't we? :)

And then I was IN THAT SEA.

I have never seen water so blue, so turquoise, so clear, so full of fish and I have never been in sea so warm.

Yes, I planked on a paddleboard!

I actually stood up on it, YAY!  I even surprised myself there.

 We had a nice stroll along the beach...

...and when we got back, our neighbour had moved in. He was huge.

And YAY woop woop I did a few lengths. I had forgotten how lovely it was to swim, having not been swimming since I've had problems with my eye. It was a great fun day.

When we got back on board the water was twinkling beautifully...

... and there was a hint of a sunset.

And then the most bizarre evening followed.

So... after some classic Frankie Valli  hits by December63

we were encouraged to get down with it on the real grass in our bare feet with rugs and snugs in a Grasstonbury experience but this Grasstonbury experience turned out to be neither one thing or another. I'm not sure how to describe it really. But anyway we kicked our shoes off and got down on the rug...

The staff were trying hard with their lighty uppy hulahoops, they gyrated and twirled and did mild acrobatics and all the time we were encouraged to dance and get wild  but were we supposed to watch the staff performing? Were we meant to dance on our rugs? How could we sink our toes into the REAL grass when there was no real grass left, it was all covered in rugs... it was all too confusing for our little brains and all the time Cruise Director Alexander was urging us to be wild. Hmmmm.

But whatever. It had been a wonderful day.