I Belize in MAGIC! MITSUGIRLY revisits the Western Route. My Novel.
Day 7: Costa Maya, Mexico
COSTA MAYA Day 6 on the ship: 7-2PM
We knew that during the entire cruise it had been calling for sunshine in Costa Maya and we were looking forward to a nice sunny port day finally. I just hated that Carnival only stays here until 2pm. I have never really understood why Carnival does this. I mean they are no different than NCL and have the same distance to "drive back" to the port so what gives??? It's such a waste. I love this port.
Arriving at 7am meant we would be getting up early if we wanted to make the most of the day here. However, we really didn't have anything planned. We (Kendra and I) looked for something interesting to do here and I attempted to find a new place to visit, but wasn't getting the response I was looking for. Someone had mentioned a fairly new place called Shipwreck'd and I was going to check them out. My only concern was the water (looked like most of the other beach clubs with murky brown water and lots of seaweed) and that I had read their snorkeling was a little ways out. I emailed them with no answer. I finally messaged them on the social media site. I finally received a generic answer, which really didn't answer my questions. After messaging them back and telling them who I was and about my reviews (and the possibility of bringing more cruisers there for business with a review because I haven't seen anyone here yet or a review) they messaged me back with...............another generic response. Well, I like someone that answers my questions with a personal response. Let me know that you read it! Let me know you want my business! Show your potential customers you care! I didn't get that.
So...back to Blue Kay we would go. Blue Kay was pretty much unknown to the cruisers when we first went there and although it is located on the Malecon, it is so different than the other little beach clubs around there. It feels more secluded, it's a huge beach, the snorkeling is actually pretty good and in fairly shallow water, the water isn't murky brown even though there is sea grass in the area here and there. The service was friendly and the food was good. We just really enjoyed our day there last time that I knew I wanted to return again.
I set the alarm for 6am and went outside to check things out. It was still dark. It's always weird when this happens and I feel like I should still be in bed!
I remember last time we were here with Carnival and it was 7am, we actually got off the ship and it was still dark out. It was very weird to do this and honestly I don't like it much.
We all headed to the buffet for breakfast and I got my usual.
We were just a few days away from returning home and for some reason I decided to check the weather back home. I guess I wanted to remind myself that even though we had rain and "some" crappy weather on the cruise, it was still better than being home.
It started to lighten up a bit.
Once again, Kendra told us to meet her in the casino. When we arrived, I didn't see her. Is this going to be another mixed up day? Could she be waiting on deck 6 again? Nope, she was just being her normal slow self.
She told me that I needed to see the pool deck and we slipped off without everyone else noticing. There were towel animals on every chair and around the pool. I love when Carnival does this. I guess the chair hogs are out in full force this morning.
Kendra has found a new love:
Once again, there was no announcement that the ship has cleared and we were able to get off.
Hmmm, something looks different ?????
There's a lot of brown...why do I not remember it looking like this in the past?
My notes say we got off the ship at 9am. Did we really wait that long to get off? I'm not really sure.
We were able to get our port pictures done-in the daylight, so I guess that's a good thing.
Coming down the port dock, it was still looking really weird to me. My husband actually said "are you sure we have been here before?" He just didn't remember any of it and then ask "Are we at a different port in Costa Maya?" There are no other ports in Costa Maya I assured him.
Yea, I'm thinking things have changed since we were here last. None of this is familiar to us.
None of this was here last time.
There's the people dressed up that Kendra likes to get her pictures taken with.
We waited our turn and decided all to get in the pictures together. They take your camera and take pictures for you with it and you just tip them.
I had no idea Sakari did this...
I really like what they have done with the place. It looks so different.
You are going to get comparisons from here on out because the change in this port just blew me away! I could not believe the difference since we were here last in 2013.
This used to be the entrance. None of the props, bar and so on was here last time. The color scheme was different too. Before it was like stucco at the entrance and now it's like metal.
Before:
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Now:
The "streets" looked a little fuller than it did before and more lush.
Last time we were here, everything was so colorful from bright yellows to reds to blue and pink. Now everything was more rustic looking.
Here is what the tower used to look like:
Now it looks like this:
What a big difference!
Eeevvveryyy thing had changed. It didn't even look like the same port anymore. When did they do this renovation? Why did they do it? Did a hurricane destroy it or something? I would never get a straight answer from anyone. When I asked people there, the taxi driver and even the people at Blue Kay, they told me 2007. LOL...not. I wasn't even cruising in 2007 and the last time I was there was 2014 and it looked way different. I have pictures to prove it...trust me. Then at one point someone said they redid it around 2012. Nope, try again. I DID NOT look like this the last time I was here in 2014. How can the people that live there not know when the change occurred?
It was absolutely gorgeous. The only way to describe it is that it reminded me of something you would see at a place like Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. I felt like I was walking onto a movie scene and some dinosaurs were going to come out at any given moment.
Then there were these wooden swinging type bridges everywhere. What they heck was that? Where did it go? What was it for? It looked like we were in the jungle. Where are the raptors?
I noticed they kept the alligator head and used it a different way as a prop. We always get a picture of the alligator head eating Sakari.
They have added a fish spa. Oh how I really want to do that. I have only seen one in Cozumel at Mr Sanchos before. But there just wasn't enough time today.
More buildings that looked like cages above. I wonder what is in there.
Circling around to the pool area. Even it had changed. They now had some type of waterfall in the pool.
The building used to be red. There was no water fall.
There was now a huge bridge going directly over top of the pool.
No bridge before.
There were old trucks sitting everywhere as props.
Before, there was a sidewalk from shop to shop. There was only a small area around the pool that had some packed sand and beach chairs.
Before:
Now sand was what you walked in around the stores.
This used to be the exit out of the port compound. But now it was closed off and has a truck there. I started wondering if they have locked us in and we were now trapped under their spell.
What is used to look like:
Then we came across this...flamingos? At the port?
And birds too.
Ah ha! This is what all of the bridges and buildings on top of the buildings was.
I believe I over heard someone say you had to pay to go up and it was $10pp. That's pretty expensive if you think about it. We were a family of 7, so $70 for us to walk up and play chutes and ladders just to see birds and stuff? Although I would have loved to take Sakari because she's such a bird lover, we were on a mission to get to Blue Kay.
This was the bird house and entrance.
Ok, so how the heck you get out of here now? The entrances/exit that was right there is no longer there. Everything was blocked off. Then I found a sign. "Shuttle to Town". Great. It was actually going in the wrong direction. It was taking us toward the water area, which is opposite of where we needed to go. This is weird.
This area is along the water. They have a wooden sidewalk and shops along there. I have no idea if there was anything back there before because I never walked back in that area other than to view the dolphin swimming area.
There were shops up and down this area. Of course every cruise compound you are forced to walk by every shop along the way while you just try to get out of there.
Everything was so pretty here now.
Outside the restroom...these are the wash sinks. How cute.
We circled around and we were almost out of the compound.
WE MADE IT! We finally escaped Jurassic Park. The shuttles were lined up to take people to the Malecon but we knew from reading the boards that they will take you where they want to take you and probably where they get a kick back from the beach/restaurant owners to bring people there. We were going down the street to get our own cab and go directly where we wanted to.
Outside the compound there is a sidewalk that is right down the middle of the street.
There's even area's with some shade, which makes it nice on a hot day.