Well, we arrived at Costa Maya this morning but were unable to dock. The weather was so bad there they actually closed the pier. So all the shore excursions there were cancelled and will be refunded. I was a little bummed since I would have liked to go diving again, but at least I got to go in Cozumel. The other people in our group were more bummed since this was the port they were going to swim with the dolphins. I’m making the most of it tho, got a small nap earlier so I’m feeling refreshed, tho the sunburn I got earlier in the week still stings.

Went on a ‘Dolphin Encounter” today in Belize. Learned a lot about dolphins and the area around Belize.

Afterwards we got into the water with a couple of the facilities dolphins and interacted with them. The two we saw were Bill and Ronnie (the girls were in another area) and we got to pet them, and see a few tricks and even got a kiss. Lots of fun.

Saw a cool show last night on the ship. The first act was a juggler from Mexico, who was very entertaining.

The second act was Dai Andrews, one of less than 50 professional sword swallowers, as well an escape artist. I have to give him props for not only actually doing sword swallowing, but doing it on board a cruise ship, especially since last night the boat was really rocking.

Also, both were funnier in my opinion than the comedian the other night.

Went on the first dive of the trip today. It was a two tank dive in Cozumel, Mexico. The water was nice and clear and very warm. It did rain but not until after the second dive. I did have a bit of trouble on the first dive since I didn’t have enough weight I had to work to stay down and ran low on air before the dive was over and had to go up early.

The second dive went a lot better, I added some more weight and didn’t have any trouble and was able to stay down the entire time.

We also met a nice couple from our cruise ship who just got certified on labor Day and are going diving at every port, so a good chance we’ll see them in Costa Maya.

Went to another show on the ship last night. The first part of the show was a performer who balanced all sorts of things, including a bicycle (the back wheel was on his forehead and the front wheel was turned and in the air spinning), a giant metal pyramid frame on his forehead, a golf club balanced on a golf club which was balanced on another club and then the top club was spun, and a dagger and sword balanced end to end.

After him a comedian came out named Michael Macy. He was pretty funny but I think between the two acts I prefer the balancer.

Went to a show on the ship last night, it was a Broadway style musical called “Generations.” It was pretty good, it was a montage of old rock & roll songs as well as dancing.

Arrived in Grand Cayman today and went on the first shore excursion of the trip. We went swimming with the stingrays in “Stingray City” and were able to pet and feed them. Surprisingly they’re really soft. We then went snorkeling at a small coral reef for a bit before heading back.

Took a tour of the ship’s galley this morning. Was interesting, they had a list of how much food is used on the ship, which is a lot! The one I remember is 5000 pounds of ice cream. They also had someone carving an ice sculpture, another was carving jack’o'lantern, another was carving flowers out of vegetables and one more was making flowers out frosting.

Just did some exploring around the ship. Walked around one of the top decks. Also found the shops and the library, which also has the internet cafe in it.

Found our rooms without too much trouble. We then had lunch, which was a buffet with all sort of things. After that we had a lifeboat drill (which we hopefully won’t need).

We’re leaving port now and I’ve finished calling people to say goodbye.

And the first “cool” note of the trip: I saw a dolphin in the water while leaving port.

Got to airport & had a loooong check in line. Took a while but we got through without any hassles, we’re now just waiting for our flight.