Vacation Time!

 I know, I know.  I'm late posting this Monday update on Tuesday afternoon.  But read on and find out why.  No, I have not yet been kidnapped - keep up the wishful thinking.  There is, however, a Go Fund Me page established in the event I do get kidnapped.  It's collecting funds to pay the kidnappers to Keep me.  So far it's well over $100k.  Check out #KeepCraigConfined... The day started early.  Sandy took a beach walk and got a picture of the sun coming up over the ocean.  We were on the sun deck by 8 am and then grabbed a bite to eat at the buffet for breakfast. Adam did get his parasailing trip in this afternoon and survived. We stayed on the sun deck until about 3 pm when it started to sprinkle.  The smart ones went to their rooms while those wishing to get drenched in a cold downpour stayed out too long.  The Seagers and Martins are in the smart group. We showered (separately, unfortunately) and then went for the Mexican...

 After sleeping 12 hours the first night and feeling like an old man (because I am), I logged only 6.5 last night - up and ready at 5:30 this morning.  Even watched the sun come up. We all met on the sun deck about 8:30 and laid out by the pool until lunch at 11:30.  We ate at the restaurant next to the pool, again. It was warm today, so lots of time was spent in the pool to keep cool.  Alex and I hit the ocean.  Adam was supposed to go parasailing, but the jet ski broke, so he is scheduled for tomorrow.  The jet ski is used to taxi folks from the shore to the boat to parasail.  Now it makes sense? The other four had reservations for a Hibachi grill dinner at 5, so showers were early.  Sandy and I went down to the buffet for Brazillian Night. After dinner, we all met back in the room next to the bar to watch NFL games and have a nightcap.  At 8pm, Bingo started.  Since there were very few people in the room, we all took 2 cards.  Tu...

 We slept for 12 hours, rolling out of bed at 8 this morning.  We joined Alex for breakfast at the buffet restaurant.  Kathy went to save us chairs by the pool.  Adam and Lorra joined us after breakfast at the pool.  The new government rules do not allow the sale of alcohol until 11 am - it was a long wait by the pool. Since we are here for 8 days, we have to change rooms.  Well, except for Kathy & Alex.  So we all put our gear in their room for the day waiting on our new rooms. We had full sun, a few clouds, and lots of drinks before eating lunch at the pool bar.  We watched the end of the Ohio State v. Michigan football game at the swim up bar TV and #5 M beat #2 OS.  Wow.  We left the pool and went to the hotel bar - that we had to ourselves - where we watched Purdue pounce the crap out of Indiana.  Then we ate a late dinner at the buffet restaurant.  It was Caribbean Night with live music. Will & Hadley called to ch...

 So I got about 1 hour of sleep Thanksgiving night.  Sandy logged maybe 2.  We left the house at 3:20 am to head for the airport as our flight to Cancun, MX left at 6:40.  It was 24 oF.  We had a layover in Miami and our gate was right next door.  We grabbed snacks and a drink before boarding to Mexico.  It was under an hour and 20 mins to land in 81 oF weather and sun! We grabbed our luggage and then waited at Margaritaville for Kathy, Alex, Adam and Lorra to arrive - 60 minutes behind us.  Why wait?  We shared a shuttle bus to Playa del Carmen where we are staying in The Royal Haciendas - part of the Royal Resorts chain. We grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at the hotel bar after checking into our rooms.  Then we hit the beds early - like 8 o'clock early as we were all tired. The view looking at the ocean while eating lunch today. Looking N up the beach A panorama pic of the beach that Adam walked through. Makes him look skinny! An ine...

 We spent most of the day just trying to get our CV-19 test results.  What a cluster.  We don't blame the Royal Resorts - they've been very helpful - even gave the testing facility space on-site to help us travelers.  The testing company?  Well, they don't have their sh*t together yet.  Maybe in a couple of weeks it will get better, but today the lack of communication is astounding.  Finally, we got our results and we do get to come home as we tested negative for covid.  So this really is our last day of relaxation in paradise and we took full advantage of it. We rolled out at 8:30-ish and we all went to breakfast.  Afterwards, we covered ourselves in sunscreen and sat by the pool All Day Long.  That's it.  That was our entire day.  Completely full of nothing.  We slept when we were tired.  We ate when we were hungry.  And we enjoyed the moment with the sun beating down on us at 78 degrees F.  And tomorrow w...

 Ah, lovely Thursday.  We rolled out with plans to go get CV-19 tested so that we could actually go home on Saturday.  We arrived at 9 and got yet another run-around.  We know that we are only a week into the process, but there are so many problems with this system of testing down here.  First, we appreciate the hotel hosting the testing for free.  The lack of communication on where, what, how, and why is astounding.  We were told to return at 3 pm.  So what did we do?  We went for breakfast because you are not supposed to eat, drink, or even brush your teeth for 2 hours prior to the test.  So breakfast it is. While at breakfast, we get a text from Lesley that the test facility called the room and said we should go get tested right now.  We sign our breakfast check and hustle to the facility.  We arrive and are 2nd in line which quickly grows to 12.  We get the backs of our heads swabbed and now await our results tomorrow....

 Up again early today because it really was dive day.  We were at the dive shop by 0900 to get our wetsuits and gear.  We loaded up and drove out about ten minutes to the reef and dove to 60' on our first tank.  We had a professional photographer with us who took stills and videos.  We saw countless tons of fish, two sea turtles, two eels, a ray, two types of lobsters and just things you cannot see unless you dive.  The water was gorgeous and Cozumel was very easy to see.  We came back into the hotel to pick up some more divers and then went back out again.  This time we went N along the reef without the photographer.  Again we dove to about 60'.  The current was a bit rougher on this dive.  Glad we did not have to swim against it.  There were no sharks today - which is sad for Todd as he wishes to swim with them - but much safer this way. Sandy hung out here at the resort, taking naps, and eating a good chicken nacho lunch....