Sunday afternoon the rain stopped so we went into the lagoon to Oscars to drop off the gas bottle. The docks here are rammed and we managed to find a space – so I stayed in dink while Richard picked his way through all the rubbish and did his mountain goat impression!
Job done we meandered back down the channel and heard music coming from this big thatched roofed bar – we managed to find somewhere to put dink – and climbed onto the rickety dock. The pelicans were circling us at this point looking for handouts.
We went inside and were amazed how large the place was. There was a great live band with lots of dancing going on….. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, had a couple of cold ones, combined with some good fish appetizers.
After a few hours we headed back to Morphie and raised dink back onto his davits. We then headed into the bar to catch up on the internet – the wifi signals on the dock rarely work – and bumped into Mike and Hank so enjoyed catching up with them before heading off out again down the road to catch some more live music.
Monday morning and it’s raining cats and dogs – again!!! Damn…..no diving again…..
We waited for the rain to abate and collected our gear from the shop – that’s it folks – no more diving here with Paradise Divers so time to pay our bill. We’ve had a great time with this small organisation and have enjoyed ourselves a lot – as you can see from my silly farewell photos!
Back to Morphie and we cleaned all our gear in fresh water again and hung it around the boat to dry.
Later on we planned to go back to the pool but the weather was still up and down so decided to stay on board. We had previously downloaded loads of movies and TV shows from Charlie’s hard drive – and settled down to watch – and that is where we stayed!
Tuesday morning we did our pre-passage engine / navigational / weather checks before we headed to Oscars for the cruisers bring and buy sale. We laid out our table – we had agreed prices in both US dollars and Mexican pesos – and awaited the crowds.
Well, of course, the numbers failed to materialise and, when they did, they didn’t want to pay what we were asking for our stuff. We sold two courtesy flags – and one guy wanted all the others – so we rolled them up and agreed a bulk price. He was supposed to come by later to pay….guess what….he didn’t show so glad we didn’t trust him with the goods. Never mind. Oh yes, and our gas bottle was returned, but empty!!! The guy couldn’t fill it for some reason – more sighing…
Back to the marina we were amazed by the sheer numbers of frigate birds who were hanging out on the large boat opposite us – and they have been causing havoc around here with three wind instruments broken so far by their heavy bodies sitting on top of masts!
Back on board we unloaded our bags and went to the pool where we had a great afternoon bobbing with Mike. We said our farewells to him – as we were leaving in the morning – and quickly got cleaned up before heading out to dinner with Saundra and Charlie. They had reserved us a table at a highly-regarded restaurant.
The table was lovely – and the starters were great – although we were a little disappointed with the flavours on the mains. It was nicely presented though.
Back to the marina and we had a few cocktails before turning in.
Wednesday morning we were up early and got ourselves ready to leave. We’ve had a great time in Isla Mujeres, have met some great people and hope to bump into them again in the future. At the agreed time of 10 am, Charlie and Saundra came by to release our lines and we waved farewell……
We motored out and, once we were through the entrance buoys we went head to wind and put up full genoa and main. The wind was blowing at 15 knots – absolutely lovely!!!
Great sail….apart from dodging ferries and booze-cruise catamarans which made us change course a few times.…
The current against us was strong in places but we were fascinated by the sights of the Cancun hotel zone so we didn’t mind being a bit slower than we’d hoped LOL.
Sadly the wind died for the last few miles so we had to motor sail the final part. Great to be back on the water.
We arrived into El Cid marina around five having done 33 miles in seven hours. The marina actually answered the radio on our approach and gave us great instructions on which slip and which side for the fenders – and there was a guy on the dock to collect our lines. Pretty impressive welcome! The marina has huge floating docks – really long – which are well protected behind a huge breakwater.
We were checked in very efficiently and purchased tokens for the self-service laundry, got our wifi codes – which actually work on the dock, woo hoo!! – and found out about the hotel. We also got branded by wrist bands to give us access to the resort…. Long time since we’ve worn these, that’s for sure LOL.
We had an early night on board having watched our first Puerto Morelos sunset.
Thursday morning and we had our early morning tea in the cockpit watching the dolphins in their prison interacting with their trainers before the tourists turn up. Sad…. Not keen on this at all.
We then headed to the laundry – time for some domestic duties!
Everything clean and fresh smelling we went back and put everything away. Then we went to the hotel to explore and to purchase drinking vouchers – this is an all-inclusive resort so they don’t take cash but we are able to pre-pay at reception. We walked along the hotel beach towards the large main pool and were surprised that a foam party was underway along with techno music – not sure that this is really our scene LOL.
We found reception and got the vouchers – 50 pesos a drink, which is about £2. Not a bad price although a bit more expensive than the 35 pesos per beer in Isla Mujeres. But….and here’s the interesting bit….these vouchers include any local drinks so we can drink anything we want for that. Cocktails in Marina Paraiso were 90+ pesos each so looks like we’ll have to change our drinking habits while here to make the most of it LOL.
We wandered to the smaller infinity pool and had a nice time there for a while before returning to the main pool and enjoyed a few hours at the swim up bar. Not the nicest bar in the resort but had a novelty factor for us – and we engaged with a lot of very drunk and loud people!!!! They were stunned when they found out we were on a boat and suddenly we were ‘awesome’ LOL and we ended up having to turn away rounds of shots.
Back on board we had an early night.
Friday morning and we were up at a reasonable time as we wanted to go exploring. Sadly the shuttle buses that were supposed to be supplied by the hotel have been discontinued – and the taxis here on the mainland are much more expensive than in Isla Mujeres. So we decided to walk into town – which according to google maps would take about half an hour. Well, that was about right, but the road was long, dusty and very hot!!!
We explored this small fishing village before having a late Mexican lunch on a shorefront property which was great. Richard purchased his first t-shirt of the trip but we had to bargain hard to get it at a good price – the hotel wristbands mark us down as tourists with cash to flash.
We then decided to find the supermarket – a Super Chedrui this time – and got on a local bus to the main road. After a successful shop we cabbed it back to the hotel.
We then had a lazy afternoon on board before having dinner and wandering into the hotel for the evening show being held in the convention centre. You cannot buy drinks in the venue so we went to the infinity pool bar to get drinks to take in with us – and the guy encouraged me to speak Spanish so I did. Felt great to be understood….. Armed with drinks we went to the 9pm show and couldn’t believe it when it was called the ‘British Invasion’. How funny is that?!?
They asked who was from Canada – half the room – and who was from the US – the other half. We were the only Brits there…. They started off with a Beatles tribute going swiftly through James Bond, Dame Shirley Bassey, Robbie Williams, Elton John, Jessie J(!), One Direction (!) and Queen. Strange mix but really good fun – great voices and pretty good dancing…..
After the show we retired to the hotel reception and enjoyed the band playing there too – along with frozen White Russian drinks…… Yummm……. And so we ended up having quite a late night.
This morning – Saturday – and I’m blogging while we’re making water. The water in the marina is clear and you can see the barracuda checking out the bait fish by using the docks as cover so we’re happy to use the water maker here. The water on the docks is not potable so don’t want to fill tanks with that. Later on we are planning another bobbing kind of day…..
Looking forward we hope to get a car and explore a little – we particularly want to get the ferry to Cozumel to check out the marina facilities there. We’ve failed to get any accurate information and so eyeballing is the next best thing. The anchorage we know for sure is nasty so if we want to go diving over there then the marina option is the only way forward…..so watch this space.
Bye for now
Jan