In our 3rd day out of town and our 2nd day at sea, Carnival's ship meetup was to occur in the afternoon just off the coast of Cozumel, well many miles off the coast, enough so that we couldn't see the shore. Anyway, some of the other ships were already at the rendezvous point so we were like the 3rd from the last ship to show up. Of course, they played music on the Lido deck and a lot of people were dancing and having a good ole time, same with the other ships. Of course, it was a friendly competition to try and make the most noise, but we really couldn't tell as our noise drowned out the noise of the other ships. We did get to see the newest ship of Carnival's fleet, the Mardi Gras, but it was somewhat blocked by one of the other ships. Of course, the ship had some decorations inside for their 50th, along with the swag that we managed to pick up some of before everyone else wiped the gift shop shelves clean. Its also sad that a lot of people bought up multiples of the stuff with the intent of reselling the stuff on Ebay and the like, which was a douchebag move since those of us who wanted to get some of the stuff to remember the trip by were unable to. Luckily, we were on the preemptive and staged ourselves at the gift shop doors along with our friend so when the doors opened, we had first pick of everything before everyone else got everything. The biggest part of the ship meetup was to sound off the ships' horns in commemoration to Carnival's 50th birthday before everyone parted ways and we went back onto our respective trips. Of course on this night we continued to enjoy everything the ship had to offer, especially with the weather being very comfortable, being so close to the Equator. Our next stop: Cozumel. The following morning we pulled into the Puerta Maya, Cozumel, the main port that is visited by Carnival. We have been here every time we got on a cruise so the port and to a lesser extent, the city, are known to us but the purpose of our visit in Cozumel was to go to a beach club named Mr. Sancho's. This place is on the beach and offers pools with swim up bars, gift shops, and added parasailing, dolphin swims, jet skis and horseback riding. Food and drinks are included in the admission as well. We chose to do the parasailing and horseback riding while taking a minute to eat some grub and maybe grab a drink and go in the water for a spell. The first thing we did was parasailing. Since this was something that we never did, it didn't make sense to eat anything beforehand. It wouldn't help anyone to rain puke down on everybody after barfing from 100+ feet in the air. So we hopped on the boat and went out a good ways while one of the guys strapped us into our harnesses and explained what the deal was with the rigging. Once at our spot we hesitantly hooked up to the parachute. The guy threw the chute into the wind as the pilot accelerated the boat. At the same time the other guy reeled out the line so we can start climbing in altitude. After reaching a certain altitude the boat moved around, pulling us around while we hovered in the air, high as hell. Whether I was in shock, awe, or both, I kept my eyes open, taking in everything, especially the idea that I was over 100ft in the air because of a simple parachute versus an airplane. After a good while the guy reeled in the chute, taking his time to allow us to carefully land on the aft deck of the boat without even touching the water, which was my concern. The crew did a great job in operating everything and giving us an experience like no other. So in addition to zip lining we can add parasailing to the list of near death experiences. Once back on solid ground we got our senses and balance back and slowly made our way to one of the eating areas, getting ourselves something to eat, taking our time as we were still in a light vertigo from the parasailing. Once we were full, we took a walk around the place, taking everything in. Once we had our fill, we made our way to the horseback riding area, getting ready and hopping on the horses while our guide got on his horse. The guide led us through a trail that took us all over the grounds and along a section of beach. We got to see some iguanas along the trail, as well as a male iguana in the parking lot and a female iguana that appeared to be hiding from the male who was bobbing his head in his mating ritual nearby. After we were done, we picked up some souvenirs and caught a cab back to the port. We took time to get back on the ship at a reasonable time in order to ensure that we were on before check in time. We don't do like the newbs and cut it close by minutes, being one of the so-called "pier runners", making a mad dash back to the ship as the crew pull up the gangway. Besides, we picked up everything we wanted to for souvenirs as well as did everything we set out to do at Mr. Sancho's. We were already worn out and ready to take a nap. We did get up to see if we could catch any pier runners, which we did not. For the rest of the evening, we ate and enjoyed the various forms of entertainment on the ship before retiring for the night so we can get up early in order to go to Costa Maya, our next stop.
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