Well then, we've been back a month now, and I've had sufficent time to take it all in, so here goes....
We arrived in Cancun at 1500ish on Thursday. While I had no trouble clearing customs, my future inlaws did not fair as well. The customs offical wanted to see their marriage certificate. In 6+ trips to Cancun they had never come across this problem. After so fast talking, they (along with my fiancee) got to enter the country and our adventure began.
The bus ride to Cancun Palace was what I expected. Trying to booze us up and get our money already, the "tourism liason" attempted to draw the shy out of their shells by asking people if they knew and Spanish. Thankfully he skipped me because I am a firm believer that all the Spanish one needs to know, you can learn at Taco Bell.
Check in at Cancun Palace was interesting. First off our reservation was wrong and we wond up in standard rooms rather than superior. They handed us all sorts of cards and wristbands to allows us access to various things (free food & booze) with the warning that if we lost anything, it was $100 to replace it. $100 to replace a wristband!?!?!
Our first night on the island (yes, Cancun is an island in case you didn't know) was spent taking our first adventure... Wal-mart. Anytime you visit Wal-mart anywhere it's an adventure. It seems the world over, there are certain constants that are true whereever you go. The mother dragging six kids ages 1-6 through the store, barefoot shoppers, bleary eyed men shopping for tampons, and my favorite kids playing ball in the toy department. Shopping in Wal-mart was not really any different. The layout of the store is the same as an American Wal-mart one can expect to encounter. But, the biggest adjustment is seeing everything priced in pesos. Once you get used to the idea of moving the decimal place over once place, the prices for everyting is about the same. One thing that Mexican Wal-marts have over US Wal-marts is booze. Real booze. None of the near-beer, wine coolers, and bottles of wine you expect to see as the only alcohol here. Tequilla, lots and lots of tequilla. Viva Mexico!
Day two found my fiancee and one a bus to Chicen Itza. If you are going to do one non-diving related thing, do this. Well worth the 2 1/2 hour bus ride there and back.
After arriving back at the hotel the phone rang and it was my father-in-law to be. We had givien up on diving since neither of us had the money to do so. They had other ideas about it. We were to be at Aqua World at 0730 the next morning for the 0800 boat. After V (my fiancee) got done jumping up and down like she was on a trampoline, we went about gathering our masks and cameras.
Aqua World is about a ten minute walk from Cancun Palace, so we saved our pesos and humped it there. 20p per person to help the reefs and we were on the boat and on our way. After hearing various people complain about Aqua World's cattle boats , but I only have this to say about that... there were only 6 of us on the boat.
The dives themselves were wonderful, and loaded with life. Barracuda, sea turtles, angels, jacks, and nurse sharks abound. Really nice swim throughs, but my fiancee being mildly clausterphobic didn't enjoy them as much as I did. Vis was around 80-110 feet and water temp was mid 80s. All around a wonderful couple of drift dives. The only down side was somewhere during the first dive I lost my camera. Luckily the diving gods were good to me and someone one the boat grabbed it for me. Extra tip to Jose. The crew was wonderful and courteous. I'd dive with them again in a heartbeat.
The rest of our trip was amazing. We visited the La Isla mall, somewhere I suggest everyone visit at least once, we ate at Outback (the in-laws choice, not ours), and on our last morning there we attempted tp snorkel off the beach of our hotel. I say attempt because I guess the Mayan gods expected a sacrifice from me and ripped my mask and snorkel off my head. Gone. Never to be seen again.
All in all it was a great trip. Anyone visiting Cancun, I offer this advice/observations:
1. Get pesos from a bank and pay for everything in pesos. You'll only get ripped off paying in dollars.
2. Get out of the Hotel Zone. Go see some real Mexico.
3. Don't be afraid of using Aqua World. Big boats yes, but lots of divemasters per boat.
