Cancun . . . The Final Entry

This post will close out the Cancun Vacation 2008. Time has crept up on me and trying to complete this has been hard to get things done to spend the time to finish writing this out. This will cover the last few days of the trip and there will only be a few pictures this time as I know the load times are hard on some of you.

Friday –August 22, 2008 was a laid back day for some of us while Scott & his family rented a Jeep and drove themselves into the city of Cancun. Another adventure in Mexico and another great blog in the making as the first policeman they passed once downtown while seeing their Avis rental changed the light to red and proceeded to pull them over. Avis provided only one rear seat belt for the kids leaving two unbuckled so there were the possible tickets for two seat belt violations. Add another charge for the traffic light violation with total fines of $ 250 US dollars. The policeman quickly noted that there would be a $ 50 US dollar ‘fee’ to make the charges disappear and they would be on their way.

Fun in Cancun . . . Jeep Rental - $ 120 bucks . . . Police corruption ‘fee’ - $ 50 bucks + an Engine light coming on for a possible bad engine = Fun in downtown Cancun for about two hundred dollars US = priceless.

There rest of us after a long night Thursday decided to sleep in and just hang out all day at the resort. We did a little swimming, a little walking around, and just rested most of the day. Room service made several trips to our room and the good news was we were able to stay the rest of our vacation at the Moon Palace not moving over to the Cancun or the Beach Palace for the last couple of days. There was a convention arriving for the weekend filling us over 1600 rooms but the staff worked their magic and remained in our rooms the remainder of the trip. Thanks Moon Palace!

Saturday – August 23, 2008

Scott’s crew rented a shuttle and headed out in the morning for a trip to the Cozumel Palace for a day of shopping and exploring with their kids. Staying back at the Moon we ate breakfast, swam for a bit and then took the shuttle back into town along the hotel row back to the Beach Place to resume our shopping from several days ago. We found everything plus a few other items for Deb’s work crew then returned to the Moon Palace for a steak dinner. We went to the Italian restaurant but decided we really wanted a steak so after a quick salad changed and headed over to the next one. That’s one of the great things about the Moon Palace is thirteen different types of food and many places to go, each with its own theme so there is always something for any pallet or whim.

Scott’s family spent the day in Cozumel shopping, checking out the Cozumel Palace where they ate lunch and took the ferry back to Playa Car Palace where they ate dinner and hit the shops there before returning around midnight.

Sunday – Pool & Crafts Day – August 24, 2008

Taylor & I had breakfast while Deb headed for the pool. We leisurely finished and joined her at the pool where we met several people. An easy thing to do since the layout is geared for talking or hanging out around the pool. The water was cool and the sun shining brightly with not a cloud to be seen. Deb & Taylor left the pool and headed to buy a few craft’s they had seen in a small hut kiosk located at the other end of the pool area from where we were. Two local girls had a booth set up and while I stayed at the pool they never returned. I found them several hours later sitting there enjoying themselves painting several items and having a great time. I brought them lunch and several drinks while they finished hoping to get the things glazed before time ran out. It was late in the day when we left the pool area and came back to the room to clean up before heading to Japanese cuisine for dinner. Out of all the different places to eat we found this to be the best and the presentation by the staff was superb. Chop sticks for everyone and the prodding to have Scott, Kim, and the kids try this place before the vacation was over so it was great to find out they went in after we had finished eating. They loved it too.

Monday – Up, Up, and Away . . . Parasailing – August 25, 2008

The last morning before an afternoon departure around 5 pm found some of us by the pool but Taylor and I decided to go Parasailing after breakfast. We were first in line for the day to go airborne when they started at ten o’clock in the morning. There were several other groups gathering behind us as the beach crew prepared us with a quick briefing and gave us our floatation gear. The boat crew was preparing the canopy about a quarter mile from the dock when Taylor and I boarded a small skiff that shuttled us over to the Ski Nautique Ski Boat which would launch us into the air on a tow winch.

There was no wind or breeze this morning so getting the canopy inflated meant the boat had to be moving forward slowly filling the big yellow “smiley face” that would take us aloft.

The tow boat uses a winch with a huge roll of ski line that lets out as the parasail goes up in the air. When all is let out there is about 2,000 feet of line trailing behind the boat with the ‘smiley face’ about 1,800 feet above the water.

The crew strapped us in . . . took our picture . . .

Taylor and I were going up, up, and away from the boat. We quickly gained altitude as we headed up the beach towards the Wet ‘n Wild park about two miles away. After we were aloft Taylor commented how quiet it was and not what she expected. We sailed along and tried to take pictures holding the camera, a la ‘Scott’ looking back at us and hopefully getting the big smiley face above us.

We had a nice long ride up the beach before making a wide turn back towards the Moon Palace Resort. The water was a contrast of the beautiful aqua green that is common here and the brownish color from the seaweed beds below the surface. You could clearly see bigger fish swimming below and there were several circles from where the flounder or stingrays were bedding down.

The boat was making its way close to the beach giving us a bird’s eye view of the resort and the swimming pools below.

There were the two ‘hut’ restaurants at each end of the pools and the great beach bar where we spent many nights sitting watching the moon rise out of the Caribbean Sea. The funny thing looking down from above is that we were only seeing about half of the resort . . . looking at the Sunrise compound where we were staying. I could see the golf course inland in the distance and the Nizuc side further down the beach.

Being here for ten days left us still with plenty things to see and do and a great vacation memory of all the fun things that we were able to do. Taylor and I going parasailing was a wonderful end to share with each other.

The rest of the day was spent getting our luggage out to the front desk, arrange for our transportation to the airport and the long flights back home. Later at the airport Deb decided she would be ‘bumped’ and stayed in Cancun for two more days for some alone time and the ‘prize’ of a round trip ticket. She would eventually make it home a couple days after we did but for this day it would become a long flight home . . . an almost fitting end to a wonderful time.

Ice