Progresso - Chichen-Itza

The second day on land for the cruise was stopping at the Yucatan Port of Progresso, 2 hours from the famous Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza has been recently designated as one of the 7 wonders of the world. How can you miss the opportunity to see that?

Our ship sent 7 or 8 busloads of tourists to the Chichen-Itza ruins. This was a day of crowds and tour guides during the 2 hour stay.

Here you see the famous Mayan temple to the Sun God on the right with the smaller Toltec temple to the warriors on the left side. The Mayan temple survived the later Toltlec domination because the Toltecs believed in the same sun god, Quetslquatl (sp) represented as a plumed serpent. This large temple is actually built on top of a smaller temple of the same shape (and intact) which is completely covered by the larger building. The temple lines up perfectly with the Summer and Winter solstice, has 364 total stairs with an additional step on the top (for the 365 days of the Mayan calendar) and has a convenient place on top for human sacrafices.

The temple on the right side has the famous sitting area on top where people were placed during the sacrificial process. This Toltec temple is part of the 1,000 columns complex in which each column represents one of the Toltec warriors that conquered the Mayans.

This picture is to prove that we really did go there and that these photos did not come from Chris's trip. This is the backside of the Mayan temple. You can see the plumed serpent heads at the bottom of the stairs on the right side of the photo.

We also got to tour the ball field where they came together to play games. The captain of the winning team was always sacrificed as part of the honor of winning the game.

Conveniently located next to the field is a small platform for sacrifice. In the Toltec warrior

culture, they viewed themselves as being black jaguars or eagles. As you can see from the picture at the right. Both the Jaguar figure (in the bright square) and the Eagle figure (in the square to immediate right of the Jaguar), are having their favorite lunch, a human heart fresh from the sacraficial alters - yuck!

In addition to lots of stories, there was lots of vendors. This vendor was one with lots of colorful blankets, pottery and other souveniers from Pier One imports.

At the end of our tour, it was back to the bus with a box lunch and a 2 hour siesta (for those that could sleep).

This was one of our guides. The spoke English well and were well versed on Mayan, Toltec and other central american histories.

Cozumel

What a glorious day arose on Wednesday. We docked about 7 am with disembarkation by about 7:45. Here's the view of the ship from the dock.

The temperatures were in the low 80's, a little cool at first, but the water was warm enough and clear to easily see 15 - 25 feet without distortion. We had signed up for clear kayaks and snorkeling. The beach was deceptively beautiful. The sand that you see is made of crushed coral which is very gritty and hurts bare feet quickly. As you get to the water, the sand is even coarser and they actually provide steps out to the boats with sandbags sunk in the water as stepping stones to the boats and from coming back from snorkeling.

Because the sand is so coarse and heavy, it stays on the bottom and makes the water VERY clear, so that coral formations, fish and plant life are easily seen as you skim upon the surface breathing through a tube. We saw brain coral, fern coral, orange, blue and red coral. Fish of many colorful varieties - blue, orange, purple, etc. Deb also saw a Sting Ray. I was snorkeling too much on my own. It was a great adventure.

The is a picture of Gringo Jim with our guide, Roman.

First full day at Sea

After a stormy morning, sea-sickness and an afternoon of resting in our cabin, we finally ventured out for the formal dinner evening. By the late afternoon, the seas had calmed somewhat and we dressed up. Here's Mom with her beau in finery.

This is our picture as we made our way to the dining room.

Later in the evening, I tried out for the Karaoke contest by singing Copacabana. It has 58 measures of music that gets filled in by my antics (dancing). It pretty well wore me out but I was named as one of for contestants who were names to compete at the championship round on Friday night (this was Tuesday night).

Here we are Jim, Ted and Rick. Rick took 2nd place on Friday. But that is a blog entry for another day.

After our evening out, we found a pool towel folded on our turned down bed in the shape of a swan. Every night, there was a sculpture done with towels and wash cloths.

Sick at Sea

Seven foot seas don't sound very threatening until you notice the boat moving under your feet. Walking in a straight line includes a certain weaving motion. You have to hold on to the basin to brush your teeth. Mom took a picture of the seas going by our window (I told her that I couldn't look). This was the view from our window on the first morning at sea.

The night before, the captain announced that motion sickness pills would be available from the purser's office. I told Deb that the purser's office was our first port of call. We went up to the fifth deck from our deck on the stairs, weaving all the way. I didn't even make it to their counter before I had dry heaves. I found my way to the first men's room and hugged the toilet with 2 more attempts to empty an empty stomach, then I went straight to the purser's counter, took my 2 tablets and drank down my first 12 hours of relief at breakfast. It took effect quickly, although the ship still kept rolling.

These are the deck chairs on deck 10. Deck 9, the open pool deck is just beyond the canopy and in front of the glassed in structure shown in the background.

Deb an I went to the pool deck (deck 9) and went outside. The fresh air was a great relief. It was raining steadily and over the next hour and a half, I just laid on the deck chairs under the roof watching the rain intensify with thunder and lightning. Huge amounts of water overflowed from the upper deck's roof and floors onto the pool deck, where is sloshed back and forth with the ship's movement. It rather matched my mood and at the same time it was soothing compared to trying to walk with the movement. Not very many people made it out that morning. The rain cleared away in the afternoon and the sea calmed to less severe rolling but continued to roll none the less.

This picture of Mom overlooks the deck 9 pool area, which was my perch for watching the storm the next day.

By the way, isn't she the cutest thing ever. Did I mention that this cruise was commemorating our 25 years of marriage. I'm so thankful for her patience.

Here's the flower I imported from China, especially to surprise her in the room (unfortunately the vase broke on the way to the stateroom).

Getting on the Ship

Well, here we are at the ship. The Grandeur of The Seas is the ship from the Royal Carribean lines. Over 2,000 guests populate the ship with 1,300 crew members. On our 5 day cruise, they served over 50,000 meals. From this picture you can see our cabin level. The double windows on the bottom are on deck 2, which was our deck. We were on the opposite side of the ship toward the front. We were able to watch as the waves rushed by our window while were at sea. We started the voyage during a full moon, so we were able to watch the waves every night and our cabin was lit by the 'light of the moon' as our night light.


Here's a picture that shows us on the bow of the ship with one of those cheesy pictures where I hold the camera out at arm's length and say smile. She did, I did and snap, the rest is history (which is what I will be when mom sees this un-approved photo).


The ship disembarqued at 5 p.m. and took til dark to clear Tampa Bay and find us out at sea. The sunset therefore is over the St. Petersburg penninsula.


While the ship continued out into the open water, we went to dinner, which for us was the 2nd seating, at 8:30 pm.




To get to dinner, we had to go to deck 4 to the Great Gatsby Dining room. It actually covered 2 decks with a balcony. This is the 'Centrum' which is an open area from deck 4 through deck 8. The man in the wheelchair is on deck 5. The administrative offices of the Purser, the photographer, the excursions office, the cruise sales office, the library, computer area, card and game rooms, Ben & Jerry's/Starbucks, dance band and dance floor all face this Centrum area.



While we were at dinner, the captain (who was from Sweden) announced that we would soon be at sea and that the seas were at 7 feet. When I stood to leave dinner, I almost fell over from a swell that came on. We were beat from the day and took an early night, plus I was feeling queezy. One more picture from the evening from the 10th deck near the bow. What you see is the communications and radar sweeps.

Before the Cruise

On the first evening, Debbie and I stayed at a hotel in Tampa. We couldn't believe how cold it was. That night it was 41 degrees.

The next day it was in the mid-70's. My sister, DeLynne and our friend Katherine came down to visit us while we were in Tampa and before the cruise began. We drove around the Tampa Bay / St. Petersburg area, went to a park, ate lunch and got back to the ship by about 2 pm.

Here we are in a lovely park right next to Tampa Bay. Jim, DeLynne and Katherine are in the picture; I can't post Mom without her written permission.

Starting our Voyage

Debbie took this shot on the approach to Tampa, Florida. Tomorrow, DeLynne and Katherine will meet us here before the Bon Voyage on the ship 'Grandeur of the Seas'. Then we'll be off to Cozumel and Progresso Mexico. It's my plan to keep our adoring public informed via this blog.

Tomorrow - Tampa and the ship!