Friday September 18- Cozumel
This is of course the day of the swimming with the dolpins. We got off the boat around 9:00 (8:00 island time) and took a taxi down to the shopping district. Most of our days at port we hadn't had time to do any shopping. Today was our day to find the rest of our souvenirs. It was fun, but the locals are quite pushy. Most shops have a lot of the same things and they want you to buy theirs. You can talk them down a little bit, but not much. I got a cool necklace depicting a mayan calendar and a nativity set.
It was at this point that Dan came up with the crazy idea of renting a scooter to do the rest of our traveling. We knew we'd have to get at least 3 more taxis so we rented the scooter for $25 and had it for the rest of the day. However, as we were signing the papers for the scooters it started raining. We had a 20 minute drive over to Chankanaab Park where the dolphins were, and it was a good thing we were already dressed to get in the water. I hung on for dear life and had my eyes closed most of the way b/c the rain was hitting me right in the face.
Once at Chankanaab we got all signed in for our Royal Swim. See, since this is something I've been wanting to do my whole life I spent a bunch more $$ to do everything I've ever wanted to do with them. Some of the packages you can only pet them and hug them, and the more you pay, the more you get to do. I didn't want to be in the water and be envious of the other people around me doing things with the dolphins that I didn't pay to do, ya know? So after waiting, going through an orientation which included a video about the proper hand signals for the dolphins, we finally got into the water. And yes, looking at the pictures, it was storming all around us. It was a little nervewracking to be out in the middle of the water with lightning off in the distance, but this was a once in a lifetime thing. If they weren't cancelling it, neither was I.
The swim with the dolphins was very organized. There were 7 of us in the group. She'd have two people swim far out into the water. While they were swimming the people who stayed did the hug or kiss or pectoral shake. Then the dolphins would swim out and perform one of the far away tricks. While this made the whole thing go way too fast, you were never bored wishing you were doing something else. So, we got to do a hug, kiss, pectoral shake, dorsal tow, and a foot push. If you ever do this, we learned that if you do it wrong the first time, you get to do it again. So, just to get more time with the dolphins you should do it wrong on purpose! I got to kiss them twice b/c the first time I didn't hear them tell me to look at the photographer. Another guy got to do the foot push twice because he didn't get up out of the water the first time. So what was it like doing the dorsal tow? Salty! Once you grabbed onto both of their fins they dragged you through the salty salty water. You wanted to smile and shout exclamations of joy but then you'd get a mouth full of salt water and want to gag! Other than that it was pretty cool. My favorite part was the foot push. You start far out in the water laying on your stomach. You see a flash of dolphins go past you and suddenly their noses are on your feet pushing you up out of the water. I just couldn't believe how strong they were! I got the furthest out of the water of anyone, meaning my feet almost surfaced. How cool is that? This is where we also learned not to wear a two piece bathing suit. One of the girls was wearing a bikini and, well, when she did her foot push she couldn't put her hand in the air like you're supposed to.. she had to hold onto her bikini bottom. Poor thing!
After the swim they took us into a room (still wet) to watch the video they shot. It was amazing how quickly they put it together. It was fun to relive the moments. When we got downstairs our pictures were ready and we could purchase the video for $50. I knew I wanted a picture and it was $20. The were very sly and only took pictures of some things and video of the other so if you truly wanted the whole experience professionally captured you had to buy everything... for the low low price of $120! At the time I was in sticker shock and decided just to get the picture. Now I wish I had gotten the video b/c it shows our foot pushes. Oh well! They delete the video and pictures after you leave.
After that amazing experience we were hungry! We found a local mexican restaurant that was loud and crazy! They came and took your picture, made you balloon hats, did magic shows and had a dance floor, all on top of your waiter coming. Of course all of the extra people wanted tips for their service. Haha.. and there were some guys running a little store by where we parked our scooter and they washed it for us. Umm... it had been raining all day. It didn't need it! But they got their tip and us to look at their store.
So it was also my birthday that day and I woke up to Dan shuffling through stuff under the bed. He plopped some cards down on the bed. I opened up one from Jenn and then the next one was kinda thick. When I opened it up I heard Cade's voice say, "I love you mommy! Happy Birthday!" It was one of those cards that you could record onto and Dan had had Cade say that the night before we left on the cruise. I listened to that cute little voice so many times before we came home! Dan also gave me a coupon book for things like a night out to my self, a movie of my choice, folding the laundry, sleeping in, massage, etc! I've already redeemed quite a few. Thanks Dan!
That night at dinner it was a night of celebrations. Phillip proposed to Christine during dinner and the waiters sang to Dee and Jon for the anniversary and to me for my birthday. Wow, what a great day. I don't think I'll ever be able to top it!
{Oh! I forgot to mention that the dolphins sang Happy Birthday to me! After we did all the tows and foot pushes we all swam out into the water and formed a half circle. It was me and another girl's b-day so we sang and the dolphins swam by us making lots of dolphin noises as if to sing! It was cool.}
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