Ever Spent Time in a Mexican Prison ?

Much like my plan for the Progresso stop - my plan for our Cozumel stop was met with a healthy dose of skeptisim and trepidation by my better half.  The plan was to rent a jeep and tour the island.  Sure I had read some stories online of people getting in minor fender benders and spending the better part of a week in a Mexican prison but you only live once ! 

Karen's mood did not improve when we departed the ship and she asked how we were suppose to get the jeep and I told her that I was suppose to meet a guy in a yellow shirt in front of a 7-11.  Everything turned out fine - with the exception of not being able to get a Jeep Wrangler due to the fact that we came in a day later than anticipated.  So we had to settle for a Jeep Patriot.  

The island of Cozumel is pretty easy to navigate as there is a road that runs along the outer edge away from town.  The guy at the rental car agency told us to stay right at the fork to follow the road along the coast.  Unfortunately at some point I missed a sign that would have put us back on the main road. So for a long stretch I was traveling on a road reserved for mopeds and bikes.  This was made clear to me by an short tempered member of the Mexican constabulary that pulled me over.  Luckily beyond giving me a hard time for not speaking their native tongue he did not relieve me of all my cash or throw me in jail.  

So we headed out on our way and stopped at some nice vista points along the way.  

We then stopped at nice spot for lunch and some beach time.  We got a great table right at the beach. 

Kelsey was very annoyed that we came ashore to Cozumel and she was the only one that brought a bathing suit.  If I had remembered I would have gone in with here but frankly not a huge fan of salt water - so was not all that disappointed that I missed the experience.  

After dropping Mom back off at the ship (she had enough of navigating Mexican streets) - the rest of us headed back into town to shop and explore.  We had limited time but were able to drop some money on a ring (Kelsey) and cuban cigar (Jake).  Cozumel gets a ton of tourists - so the downtown is packed with semi-authentic shops and American stuff (Starbucks).  

We returned the car without issue and walked back to the ship to get ready for the New Years Festivities.  One of the disappointments of the ship was the inability to take much advantage of the basketball court.  For some reason it closed at 5pm and overtime we checked it out it was mobbed with kids.  There was a nice mini golf course but that also closed at 5pm - so it was difficult to find the time to use it...

We started out New Years Eve off with another nice dinner and some additional props.

They did a nice job of having a balloon drop at 11pm and then a nice celebration with band and DJ that culminated at midnight on the deck. Both of the boys ended up jumping in the pool at the stroke of midnight with some other kids.