Silke Living Well

On March 1, we decided to be somewhat adventurous and take a taxi into Playa del Carmen and then a ferry over to Cozumel. We had no plans, just decided to go with the flow.

There are booths with people trying to sell you ferry tickets right where the taxi drops you off, all trying to get your attention. I find the people swarming you to get your attention very overwhelming, but I’m getting better at just saying no thanks!

We decided to go with the newer ferry, which has trips back and forth every hour, and you could take any time you wanted, since at that point we didn’t know what we’d end up doing.
What we didn’t know was that day was the start of their four day carnival celebration and the island and area was busier than usual.

As we started walking toward the ferry terminal we were approached by a friendly guy named Mike who talked us into a glass bottom boat tour. Ironically, he said “don’t talk to anyone about time shares-just say no and enjoy your day!” Ha!

We were told to meet a guy under the bird statue and he was late, Warren was annoyed and mumbling about “Mexico time, no one is on time” , but then the guy finally showed and walked us over to their “office” in a delapidated building, where you had to pay to use the bathroom. We were thinking what the heck are we getting into?

After everyone found a life jacket, they walked us over to the dock by the ferry terminal, where there were a couple of these glass boats. Getting on the thing was kind of sketchy-it was bobbing around quite a bit, and you had to hold here and step there, and hop on.

The captain was nice and so was the lady giving the tour. We were a mixed bunch of passengers, and some came prepared to snorkel. All in all, I don’t think the boat trip was worth the money we paid, and we didn’t see much for fish, not like Mike had described. But-it was another learning experience.

The best part for me was watching this little girl get so excited about seeing the fish through the bottom of the boat and saying “Dory!”. So cute!

The captain asked where we were from and he said “Canada! Oh, I watch this tv show-Ice Road Truckers-do you know this show??” He couldn’t believe it when we told him we were from northern Canada, and that Warren used to be an actual ice road trucker! And that I was born in the NWT and how cold it gets, and you can actually drive on the ice. It’s a totally different world between Mexico and northern Canada and it just blew his mind! So fun.

After we took the ferry back, we walked around the town for a bit, watched some of the parade, grabbed a snack, then headed back to the resort.

I think that in order to get the most of your time in Cozumel, it would be better to go to the beach and snorkel and enjoy the water without paying for a tour, and possibly spending a couple days there at least, and either renting a scooter or vehicle to drive around. We didn’t plan for that, or know that before we got there…but hopefully we get the chance to go back one day!

Really, any day in Mexico is a good, beautiful day, and we are grateful to have had the experience! ❤️