Disney Cruise Part 4: Cozumel, Mexico

It was hard to top our wonderful day in the Grand Caymen, but we had so much fun in Mexico too! Plus, we got into a little trouble so this was definitely a very memorable day :)

We docked in a part of town that wasn't within walking distance to a beach, so we had to find a taxi. Luckily it was a LOT cheaper than Jamaica! We decided to go to Paradise Beach because there wasn't an entrance fee. It was really pretty, but nothing compared to Grand Caymen.

Everyone (except Landon who didn't want to waste the money) got a day pass for $14 to use the pool, lounge chairs, snorkel gear, hammocks, kayaks, paddle-boards, and huge inflatable toys in the ocean. I have never seen a beach with so many fun things to do and we had a BLAST.

First up, we went for a little snorkel. It was a huge disappointment. The water was murky, rocky, and there weren't many fish. But, on the bright side I did see the CUTEST little stingray. I've always had an obsession for stingrays (when I was little I wanted one as a pet) so I just followed that little guy around. He was my friend.

Tanner and I decided to take one of the kayaks out and neither of us had ever kayaked before. Luckily, it's pretty easy and even though I wasn't as good as Tanner, we made it out pretty far in the ocean. Landon decided to hang off the front of the kayak to hitch a ride once we got out further (since he didn't have a day pass he couldn't take his own). He was having a grand old time until he realized that the water suddenly became very deep and then he was pretty freaked out. I, of course being a good wife, felt really bad and immediately told Tanner we had to turn around and take him back to shallow water. Tanner, who is so funny and also a stinker (like his brother), told me that I had to paddle by myself--he was mad that Landon hitched a ride to begin with and now we would be losing our progress. So I paddled my little heart out and we seriously went NO where. Landon ended up letting go and swimming back to safety and I found out later that sneaky little Tanner was paddling BACKWARDS the whole time!!!! Oh my goodness. Tanner! It was soooo funny :)

We got pretty far out and Tanner dared me to jump out (it was REALLY deep and REALLY far from the shore) and I screamed the whole time but I did it! Of course I made Tanner do it too. We were both freaked out but it was so fun. After kayaking we decided to go paddle-boarding... and this is where we got in trouble in a foreign country...

if you look closely you can see Tanner paddling in front of me and Landon swimming beside him

We wanted to go back to the deep part because the water was really pretty out there so we paddled our way out there and again Landon hopped on mine a little further out. We were minding our own business when this boat started coming right towards us. Tanner suggested we wave to the boat to make sure they see us. So I waved but when they got closer I saw they were shaking their finger at us... uh oh! They told us we had to get on their boat because we were too far out. Apparently the coast master called Paradise Beach and told them to come rescue us. I immediately thought that they were going to give us a huge fine and charge us for using their boat so I told them it was okay and I would just paddle back to the shore really quickly. They didn't like that answer and persistently told me that I HAD to get back on the boat because it was dangerous--big boats would have a hard time seeing me. At that point, I turned around and saw Landon and Tanner booking it back to shore--Landon was just swimming and Tanner was paddling faster than I've seen anyone paddle. They LEFT me!!! So, I ignored the people trying to save me, laid flat on my paddle-board and swam with my arms as fast as I could. I couldn't even see because the water was splashing up so much but I just hoped I was heading in the right direction and swimming fast enough to escape. Oh my gosh, I'm sure that was a sight to see... When I finally opened my eyes I saw the boat had gone up to get Tanner and Landon and they got on the boat. What the heck?! I thought we were running from the law! In a foreign country, no less. So the boat came back to get me and they took us back to shore. Daren was pretty shocked to see us being escorted back, and they didn't end up fining us so it all turned out okay I guess. I'm sure the people on the boat think I'm a total lunatic!

After that incident, we decided to be done with the kayaks and paddle-boards. Tanner and I played around on the huge inflatables and had a blast. I'm sure Tanner thinks I'm the biggest wimp because he had help me on almost every one. They were a lot harder to climb they look. I seriously had the best time hanging out with Tanner!

do you see all those cool things in the water?! It was so fun.

Back at the boat we took a nap and got ready for dinner. It was "Captains Gala" night and was semi-formal. It's always kind of fun to get dressed up. After dinner was the best show of the entire cruise--Disney Dreams. Oh man. It was just pure magic. I wish I could've taken pictures or video! The show is about a young girl who wishes upon a star and then the blue fairy comes and gives her until 6 a.m. to find her own magic. Peter Pan shows up and guides her along the way to help her discover the magic within her. Then the show goes through Disney classics demonstrating all types of magic--Aladdin on his magic carpet, "Prince Ali" on his elephant, Ariel singing "Part of Your World" and Sebastian singing "Under the Sea" with bubbles coming from the ceiling, Belle and the Beast (with snow coming from the ceiling!), Cinderella, Tuman and Pumba, and then an AMAZING performance of Circle of Life by the singers and dancers. At the end, the stage transforms into the tops of buildings with smoke to look like clouds and even stars all around when the little girl finally finds her magic and flies. Then on the TV screen they show Tinkerbell going to the Disney Wonder in the middle of the ocean (us!) and covering it with pixie dust and suddenly the entire ceiling turned into a starry night sky. Talk about MAGIC! Oh my gosh. It was incredible. But, that wasn't all! Suddenly there were fireworks and Mickey and his friends came out too. I have never seen anything like it.

image via

After the show we went to one of the smaller lounges for an "adult show" by Michael Robertson. He is just so funny. He made a joke about it being an "adult show" but not in the way most people think. He said it wasn't going to be dirty... it was going to be "Disney dirty." Oh my gosh. We were laughing so hard.

It was another very magical and memorable day!!