I woke early and went up to the top deck to have breakfast. It was beautiful, sitting outside near the rail as the ship plunged through the bright blue water. I sat working on the ICML papers I was reviewing, but eventually noticed the people exclaiming and pointing. There were flying fish leaping out of the water! They were nowhere near our height --- they barely skimmed the waves, so they were just little silver flecks darting above the water, from our vantage point. But it was magical all the same. (There are no flying fish in this picture; I failed utterly in capturing them. But the water is beautiful even sans fish.)

A bit after lunch, the boat docked at Cozumel, which is one of the more commercial stops we made. We tied up at Puerta Maya. Here are three shots of the tourist shopping area you had to walk through to get off the dock. Note "Pancho's Backyard."

The fake pyramid was more fun than the stores, at least once you climbed up on top of it. To the left is me being the Queen of the Pyramid, and to the right is a shot of Mom and Nicole.

We dithered a while at the taxi stand, trying to figure out where to go. Mom wanted to see Mayan ruins, I wanted to see iguanas, and Nicole was willing to humor us (she would get her shopping revenge later). Finally we settled on visiting the Chankanaab National Park/Refuge/Preserve (or Mexican equivalent).

The entry foyer/fountain area. Blessedly cool compared to the rest of the area.

This guy was letting people pay to get their picture taken with the (tame) parrot. He let me hold it, and it climbed up my arms into my hair. Then we passed it to Mom. We weren't really interested in paying for the shot, so it wasn't until later that we found out that Nicole had snuck this shot on the sly with my camera. That's my arm on the left, and Mom on the right holding the parrot cupped in her hands.

We walked further into Chankanaab and discovered more gorgeous hibiscus in bloom. Then, to my utter delight, we happened upon this absolutely stunning, real life, huge orange iguana, who was perched on top of a park hut. He was regal, almost arrogant, and completely without fear. Check out those gorgeous spines!

Nicole and I sat down for this cute shot inside the park.

We were also able to fulfill Mom's wish, as the park had a section set aside for bits and pieces of various Mayan ruins. They had parts imported from a large number of real ruins.

Next, a beautiful waterfall and two shots of my little sister.

Once we emerged from the jungley Mayan area, it became hot. Very hot. We headed to the beach, in hopes of cooling off, but it turned out to be a coral reef (sharp!). People were snorkeling not ten feet from where we stood on land. So we sat down in the palm shade and relaxed for a while. Mom went and bought us some deliciously sweet and cool virgin strawberry daiquiris. The pineapples were really like that, just sitting there, before we came.

On our way back, we found a small strip of sandy beach, and waded into the water. Tiny silver fish found Nicole and started orbiting her legs, making her laugh. We then walked down to the pier to see the dolphins squeaking and clicking, jumping up to get their dinner (we had missed the show, earlier). We returned to the boat, had dinner, and then descended back to Puerta Maya to do some shopping.

The fake pyramid by night.

Mom and Nicole in the jewelry shop, where Nicole negotiated an amazing deal on a ring for Alex.

We picked up some late pizza and then stopped by the casino. Nicole and I played with one dollar for almost an hour in the nickel slots. Talk about cheap entertainment! We'd spend our dollar in one machine, then take our winnings and move to the next. We were laughing the whole time, making up noisy and inventive ways to spin the wheels -- it was one of the most enjoyable times I had on the cruise.

That night, we found that the steward had left us a towel monkey.