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JOY DAY 7 COZUMEL

Day 7 April 13, Thursday: Cozumel, Mexico

Well is it rise and shine time already? I mean have I even went to sleep yet? It sure didn't feel like it. Being up with cramps most of the night left me drained. But, I was feeling a little better when the loud obnoxious sound of my alarm went off and my eyelids peeled themselves open on cue. No more cramps, but my stomach was a little upset this morning.

Since I didn't get a chance to pack last night, it was time to pack this morning. I would check and double check and triple check again. Yep, I have everything I needed this time.

We headed up to the buffet for breakfast and I had three bites of eggs and a few pieces of bacon and really didn't feel like much more. I was afraid that it would upset my stomach more and we had a big day. I didn't even bother to take a picture of the food today.

Out to the deck for a few pictures of pulling into port.

Once we were done, it was time to head off the ship. We were greeted by a scary jaguar, which I didn't realize they had jaguars in Cozumel.

Today, the guys on the bikes would be working the docks and we weren't about to disrespect and say no to a ride. Yep, we happily fit into 1 seat comfortably. Another milestone.

We made it to our drop off point.

Now it was time to start our long journey through the port that never ends. They make it so difficult in this port. Instead of going right out to the street, you go up the escalator, across the shopping area over the street and to the end, then back down and back through the shopping area back to the street. #rollseyes They always make sure that the escalator going from the top to the street is running in the wrong direction each time.

At least there's an escalator to take you up to the top within the port when you first start.

The shops along the way:

Once you make it out to the street you feel this feeling of accomplishment like you had just won a race.

So, now it was time to find a taxi. We walked out to the street and a lady waved at me and said she'd take us to our location. She told us the cost would be $20. I was honestly not sure that this price seemed right but we were ready to get the day started!

We are going back to CHANKANAAB! We fell in love with this place back in 2011 and again in 2012. We've always wanted to return but have been out experiencing other places. When we went to Cozumel on our land vacation in 2021, I swore we would go back...but ran out of time.

I gave Sakari the opportunity to come back here and do something "interesting" at Chankanaab, go someplace new (if that was possible) or go back to a place she really liked (Buccano's). She decided on the "interesting" idea...of course.

So, I told her we could do the SeaTrek or Snuba. She wanted to do Snuba even though we had just went diving the day before. Hey, I'm up for it! Sakari said she loves Snuba because you don't have to carry the tank on your back. Ok, good enough excuse for me.

I did try to google video's or pictures of the Snuba there and I wasn't really sure that there was much to see. I did see picture's around the statues and I figured that was a great opportunity to see them up close. Good enough for me.

I booked using ShoreExcursioneer online. The total price for the Snuba would be $164.97. They required a $49.47 deposit at the time of booking. This did NOT include the price of admission to the park. Our excursion was for 10am. I figured we'd do this early enough to have the rest of the day to spend in the park. Perfecto!

We have arrived

Once we arrived we headed up to a worker to tell him we were there for a booked swim and I showed him my paperwork. They said they would go get someone. We sat at the entrance for a little bit waiting on someone to return.

The hubby went off to find us some pop and I asked to go in the gates and go to the bano's, which is located behind the Chankanaab waterfall at the entrance.

Someone came to get us and they had wrist bands for us to put on. Then in we went.

He led us to the area they do the swims. It was located by the "family" area beach, which is an easy entrance beach to a cove like swimming area.

We paid our balance and they told us we could just hang out for awhile or look around. We decided to go on a little self-guided tour toward the replica ruins.

This guy was sweeping with a palm tree branch. I thought it was interesting.

We circled around and over toward the dolphin swim area.

Here is the pool area.

We headed back around to the SeaTrek area.

Here's some more of the family beach area:

It was time to gear up and get this party started!!!

We headed right over to the family beach and it was time to head in after our instructor went over the instructions of Snuba diving. Now this family beach is easy entrance, so good for little ones. However, it is a bit rocky and ouchie on the feet so beware. There's an area that you go up and over the rock and then it gets deeper and out into the ocean area.

Off we went. I had the GoPro and Sakari had the camera.

I immediately was having problems. I could go down and kept floating back up. The instructor came over and gave me some more weights. All better now.

One of the first things we saw was a pile of rocks that had a bunch of anemone's in it. There were a lot of them.

We spotted a few Four-eyed Butterfly Fish

We came up to the dolphin area and we could see the pens. We were able to stop for awhile and watch them. They were very curious about us as well.

First there was one curious dolphin. Then there were two curious dolphins.

Before long we had three curious dolphins starring at us.

There were tons of fish everywhere hanging out below the deck and some very large Horse Eye Jacks

Our instructor made a motion to take our camera and take a few pictures of us. He took two pictures of us and then started cutting us out of the picture and only taking them of Sakari. LOL

We found a rather large crab.

And then we were handed an arrow crab

I started having issues again and started sinking. I was kicking and kicking the entire time we were diving and my leg was giving out. So, I gave up and just sank so he'd fix the issue. So the instructor came over and removed some weights and everything was better again. This time correct.

We went out and around the rocks dividing the "family beach" from the snorkeling area but there wasn't much to see. We didn't go along the sides and rocks. We didn't go to the statues. We didn't do anything but turn around and come back the way we came. Um....ok. That was weird. There has to be more to it right? Nope, there wasn't. What a disappointment. What happened to the pictures I had seen online that showed Snuba beside the statue's? Chankanaab even shows pictures with the Snuba divers by the statue.

Yep, none of that was done. Did I say how disappointed I was? The best thing was getting to see the dolphins. Sakari didn't take any more pictures...because there wasn't anything to take pictures of. She took all her pictures in the first 9 minutes. All the "pictures" you see from me was taken from the short video I took along the way.

On the way back, we seen a bunch of Ballyhoo Fish hanging out around the pier by the dolphins

They did have us pay an additional amount (for entrance to the park) in the amount of $14 per person I believe. They said it's a lot cheaper than having to pay the full price of the entrance without the swim and they offer it for a reduced price. Well, that's cheaper than using the coupon for $2 off per person that I had brought along with me.

For those not doing a swim and want the discount coupon, you can find it here

Get Coupon Here

Here's a short video of us diving:

Once we were back we gathered our things and headed toward the pool area. We were approached by a guy before we made it there asking if we wanted to buy a "pass" of some sort. I don't know what pass he was selling but I wasn't interested in spending more money on a place I already paid for.

We walked around the pool area and all the chairs were taken. So, we put our beach bag and things down by the wall and over came a guy saying "You have to pay to swim!" Say what??? They make you pay? Seriously? This place cost $26.00/pp and they want to charge even more to use the pool? Ridiculous! Nope!

We picked up our things and headed for a spot on the beach instead where it was free.

Along the way we found a dinosaur and a pterodactyl.

They have some hammocks in the area

The grounds are just gorgeous at Chankanaab and it's really huge there. Plenty of room, plenty of chairs. Yes, there are a lot of palapa's to sit under too. No they do not cost.

I, of course, knew that I had to go snorkeling. Something had to make up for the little adventure we just took.

I gathered my snorkeling gear and I went toward the steps and in I went. These are the steps you will encounter getting into the water. They can be really slippery, so be careful. There are several in different areas along the coast.

Also know that there are drop offs in the water too. When the last step ends, it ends and drops. There's also ledge's and holes.

The best thing I've seen all day...A Triggerfish the ledges

I remember the first time we came here with Sakari. She went snorkeling with us and there were so many Bermuda Chubbs here and I caught the most awesome picture of one coming up and looking at her in the eyes.

I swam out and managed to find a statue. This isn't one that I had seen before. I don't know why I have such a hard time finding these statues. I've looked at maps and I can't never find all 3 of them (I think there's three).

There were a lot of pretty sea fans.

I spy with my little eye....Oh Em Gee! I found a flamingo tongue snail! And not just one but a few! Chankanaab was the very first place I had ever seen one of these snails and I wouldn't see another for years. This is where it all started. They are so beautiful.

Well about now, my camera dies. Just my luck. I should have thought about changing the battery before I went out.

So, I headed back to our chairs to change them out.

The hubby had managed to order some Nacho's and pico de gallo. "Hmmm, are you cheating? You're really having some nacho's?" I would now have the chance to hold this over his head from now on. Gotcha!

Sakari ordered nacho's and cheese. I wasn't really hungry still. I was afraid to eat anything and have my stomach in knots again. I wasn't going to chance it yet.

Here are the menu's and pricing for those that want to know.

This time, Sakari decided she would go with me. We headed down toward the opposite end and went in, hoping to snorkel drift on the way back. Sakari was in shock at how cold it felt.

We seen another Bermuda Chub but this time it had a Remora on it. How cool.

Sakari was off exploring in her usual style...diving down.

Meanwhile off in the distance...

Sakari was off using the Gopro. She's good at diving down and getting close ups, so I'll let her be responsible for that. I just instantly float back up to the top as soon as I dive down.

Three Butterfly fish

More Flamingo Tongue Snails. This place just had so many.

And this is where they were at. Can you spot them on the sea fan?

We headed out to one of the pads they had floating in the water. I hung out on the side of it and Sakari climbed up on it. She had fun trying to stand on it and not be thrown off. Between the waves and the boats going by, it was rocking back and forth a lot.

A Trunkfish and Parrot fish

Parrot fish

Schoolmaster Snapper

It looks like they are trying to grow some coral here

They also had some round ones down there too.

We headed back and I took another picture of the stairs.

Snorkeling video:

Both Sakari and I started rubbing our arm pits and arms and holy moly....we were stinging like crazy. Hanging onto the floating platform out there, there were "things" on it and they obviously had been stinging us.

People were jumping off the side rocks into the water.

Sakari and I decided to take a walk and take pictures and explore around the Lagoon area. Of course, she wanted to take pictures since it was so beautiful around there.

We made it to an area I had never seen before. I started thinking it my be the crocodile area that I had read about. It wasn't there when we were there last in 2012. I seen someone inside of it cleaning it. We ask about it. It was indeed the crocodile area, but there were none. He said when COVID hit, they had to get rid of them. Rid of them where is my question. I have seen quite a few post over the last couple of years on facebook Cozumel that showed a crocodile coming down the beach and into the ocean...right beside people. Yikes! Maybe they released them there? Hopefully they took them to the Punta Sur reserve.

We also noticed that the zipline wasn't going over top of the croc pens either (as I had read in the past). He would also tell us they removed those too. I don't understand why they would actually remove them due to COVID. I mean it made no sense. But people have asked if they had opened them back up again and my reply is...doesn't seem like they will be opening up again or anytime soon IMO.