My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Oh, Cozumel. We were frequently in Cozumel and it was one of my favorite ports– and surprisingly not because it reminded me of Europe. It didn’t. I liked Cozumel because we were there ALL DAY (usually about 12 hours– from about 9 or 10 in the morning until about 9:30 at night. Which meant that if we were off, we didn’t have to come back as early as we do when we sail away at 3pm or 5pm. And there was a lot of really cool stuff to do.
The first time I came to Cozumel, it was raining. It was also my only day off so Stef and I went out anyway and found some really good nachos and 2 for 1 margaritas. Some people went on tour to Chichen Iza (or chicken pizza)– the Mayan ruins that are a 3 hour bus ride away. My friend went and he said it was really hot and the best part was sleeping on the bus. So when I was craving some culture, I signed up for the closer mayan ruins that went with a chocolate tour. That was fine. The ruins are interesting, but I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and as much as I wanted them to be, ruins are no old town. I believe I’ve written about these experiences in previous blogs, and if I were a really savvy blog writer, I would include links to those stories, but I’m not. They’re somewhere on this site.
My very favorite thing I did in Cozumel was the Rio Secreto, or Secret River. That’s also a previous blog post. I swam through a river in a cave and it was a spiritual experience. It also ruined a lot of future cave experiences because nothing has yet measured up. If you are in or near Cozumel, this is the thing I most highly recommend to do.
Then this year, I drove the go carts with Ana (which I’ve posted more recently) and done a lot more hanging out in Cozumel.
One time Ana took me and Melhia (my port buddy, the Fortuna Luck girl) to the mainland. We took a cab to the city, and then Ana took us through the sketchier parts that I wouldn’t have explored on my own (being a white girl in Mexico) and we found a taco market (like a farmers market or another kind of market except there were only tacos). We took a ferry over to Playa Del Carmen, walked through the fancy shops to the crowded beach. We bought food from a guy walking along the beach. Ana bought some converse which gave her blisters at the deck party that night. We stopped at No Name Bar for the first time that afternoon and I was hooked.
The next time we were in Cozumel, we docked right in town. The places I’d heard about that were a taxi ride away were now within walking distance. We could see No Name Bar from the ship. I’d heard that the best food in Cozumel was at La Choza, so a group of us went there
The first time I went I ordered something vegetarian. It was okay. Everyone else was raving about the fajitas. The next time I had learned my lesson. Wow. Those fajitas were incredible. This place was totally worth the taxi ride. Plus we could walk to No Name Bar from there.
One week, my mom’s friend Betsey was in Cozumel with her family for their annual vacation. She invited us to their all inclusive and we chatted over “included” drinks.
No Name Bar (or as Matt calls it, The Bar with No Name) was created for crew by crew. With a swim up bar, pool, sandy area, a place to get in the ocean, the No Name Bar was a great place to hang out. Crew from our ship or other ships made their way over, so if you weren’t able to coordinate a group to hang out with, you were still likely to run into people you know here.
The buildings were covered with name tags from various different cruise lines.
We could go swimming in the ocean out to a floaty thing. On the last day my friend Ashleigh was having lunch next door and sent me a video of me hanging out on the floaty thing.
My favorite part was that everything on the menu was named after a position on the ship. As I write this, I realize that this place was a great place to hang out as crew– expensive drinks, adequate food, wifi, a pool if you prefer chlorine, ocean access if you prefer swimming in the sea, loungers if you want to hang out, an exotic vibe, but mostly good company. If I weren’t crew I don’t know if I would love it as much.
On the last day in Cozumel, the walk to the ship just seemed too long so Matt and I had the guy on the bike with the buggy drive us back.
