Cozumel, Chankanaab,Sea Lion swim review with pics!

[cyrus360]

You can see my full cruise review here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=94707

 

 

Cozumel, Mexico:

 

Once again the weather was perfect as we stepped outside. Not much humidity it seemed, but it was hot, a good kind of hot. One that makes you ready to party, swim, and eat.

 

 

You can walk right off the ship at this port. The water was super clean and very clear. You could see to the bottom easily in 15ft of water. We were getting more and more excited about this port.

 

 

 

 

We had previously booked an excursion ourselves through http://www.dolphindiscovery.com to do a swim with the sea lions in Chankanaab Park for $60 a person. We had to pay the cab fare and park admission as well. That kind of bugged me a bit, but it ended up being worth it since this wound up being our favorite port.

 

It’s a short walk off the pier to the fair sized mall and the main streets where you can get a cab, rent a car, scooter or whatever. Since it was pretty early, not much was open at all. We strolled to grab a cab and it was $10 each way so $20 total for transportation. It was about a 5-10 minute ride to the park. The cab ride itself was an adventure. We had Mario Andretti’s Mexican cousin as our driver. 

 

When we got to the park, we were one of the first people there. We went and got our tickets to the park. It was $12 each for 2 adults. You get wristband, enter and have full access to the park. We went to the Dolphin Discovery check in and verified everything and signed in. We still had a few hours to kill so the lady at the info desk gave us some maps. We decided to go snorkel through the lagoon and out along the reef area. We grabbed some free lockers near the desk to store our unneeded stuff and money.

 

It was a stones throw from the desk, and once again we were the only folks there. We claimed a few chairs in the shade, got our gear and hit the water. The water was magnificent. I have never seen such crystal clear water before. Soft, powdery sand, 100 degree weather, and a cool refreshing ocean is a great combo.

 

 

This was our first time snorkeling ever and it was such a blast. The tiny kids lagoon kept up busy for about an hour. There were tons of fish and crabs along the rocks. We saw some crabs jumping from the water and onto the rocks. It was quite a funny site.

 

There is a break in the lagoon that you can swim through and get to open water. It’s right alongside the fenced in dolphin pools, and you can hear the dolphins talking while you’re underwater. That was an unexpected surprise. If you swim out along the dolphin area there are a TON of fish looking for food. I wish we had bought some fish food to create a frenzy. There were these gray looking fish, pretty decent sized who were very friendly and always looking for handouts. We saw all kinds of colorful fish, from small to pretty dang big. The funniest/scariest was when my girlfriend called out for me to swim over to her to check out the “big striped fishy” next to her. So I anxiously swim over and notice she’s about 2 feet from a giant barracuda, with him eying us up. I yell at her to swim the other direction, explaining those fish can be dangerous, especially with jewelery and dangly silver locker keys hanging from our necks.

[cyrus360]

We swam closer to shore and were enjoying the coral and its inhabitants. We started getting further out into the open water, and once again another barracuda was there following us it seemed. So we headed closer to shore again. Still there was a lot to see right at the shore. I had purchased a cheap SLR camera with a flash and a underwater housing for it for a mere $19 on Ebay. Not too shabby methinks. The pictures came out very nice IMO. I used 800 speed Fuji film but ran out, so I bought 2 rolls of 400 speed at the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I left the water to go buy the film and some sodas, they have a gift shop and refreshment stand right at the info desk, I asked the information gal about the barracuda. She stated she had heard of it, and that it’s a lone fish who just hangs out around the shore area. No one had been attacked every by anything there so she said there really isn’t much to worry about. I would still be cautious out there though.

[cyrus360]

I noticed on the map she gave us there were markings offshore where they apparently placed some fake ruins and statues and such. I got a few pics of those too. I thought that was a fun idea since we were swimming all over looking for all of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Right behind the lagoon is a open air bar/restaurant and even further down along the beach were more entry areas to the water as well as a dive shop and tons of chairs and umbrellas for everyone.

 

After 2 hours of snorkeling we headed over to the sea lion swim meeting spot. The took us to get life vest, then we got to hold a big parrot and a beautiful toucan at the same time. They took your picture while you did this, hoping to get a few more bucks out of ya of course. They give you some quick rules and such about the event. You sit around the edge of the pool and the sea lion comes out. The one we swam with was named Karla and she was gorgeous and very intelligent.

 

[cyrus360]

The trainer had her doing various tricks for us. You’re only about 1-3 feet away from her and it was great to see her eyes and body in the sun. After a few more tricks and information about the creatures we hopped into the pool.

 

 

He had here do some tricks like stick her tongue out and do funny stuff when he asked certain questions. It was a blast. Then he guided her past us so we could pet her.

 

 

She was so soft and smooth. After a bit she did 2 tricks with each person. One was were she swam up to you and gave you a hug and kiss. It was adorable. The next was she would swim into your arms, face the camera, and stick her tongue out then smile. It was a riot.

 

 

The whole time they are video taping and taking still photos at every opportunity. After another 15 minutes of petting her and seeing tricks, like her jumping out the water and over our outstretched arms, we got back on stage where she gave us another hug and kiss.

 

 

 

We had such a great time. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Then it was off to return the lifejackets and time to buy photos and the video. I chose to only get the video. They charged $30 for a VHS tape of it. No DVD available yet. They had it all ready to go within 10 minutes. We didn’t buy any pics because I am going to run the tape into my computer, burn it to a DVD and just take some screen captures and have them made into photos. They wanted like $10 or $15 per picture. They’re as bad as Carnival.

[cyrus360]

We wanted to go back and snorkel but we were starving and wanted to get some food at Pancho’s Backyard, and the woman wanted me to get her a new diamond ring for her birthday. So we took another cab back to the ship, dropped off our gear, got more cash and went to the main ave along the beach. There are tons of shops there with everything for sale. We ended up getting a ½ carat diamond solitaire in white gold. They even gave us some free shots of tequila. They told us it would be about 1 ½ hours till the ring was ready since she wanted it in a different band and white gold. Pancho’s Backyard was too far away and I didn’t feel like getting a cab there so we walked down a bit more to Las Palmeras.

 

 

It’s open air of course, with a table right next to the sidewalk and a view of the other pier for the smaller ships.

 

 

Of course this means we were hounded by merchants every few minutes as well as the wandering mariachi bands, but no biggie. The food was a tad pricey IMO, especially for the amount you get. We ordered a fruit platter which was very tasty. It refreshed us immensely after walking and being in the heat for so long. I ordered the steak/shrimp/chicken fajita combo meal and my gf got the chicken in mole sauce and we both had cokes. Both meals were very good. I think the bill came to about $50 with tax.

 

 

 

So we walked back to the jewelry shop, along the way we got a few souvenirs. There was a dollar trinket store which was great. We spent $10 on our kid. She loved every single item we got her. Necklaces, cloth purses, knick knacks, and toys.

 

 

Then we got us some coconut alcohol drink. There was a huge bar and you could sample anything they sold. We tried the coconut and mango flavored drink. It was a cream drink like Kahluha(sp), only coconut flavored. Very smooth and tasty. It was only $10 for a medium size bottle. We continued on to the jewelry store and got her ring. She loved it of course.

 

Then it was back to the ship to cool off and catch a nap before dinner.

 

The end.

[roohound]

love the review and pics! Thanks for sharing! I'm doing the dolphin/sea lion combo in a few days and your pics made me even more excited!

[Bunster-N-Munchkin]

Dude how much was the ring, and what was the name of the jeweler?:)

[cyrus360]

I have no idea about the name of the joint. One of the many diamond places. I was along for the ride. She picked, I bought. It was a 1/2 carat high quality grade or something in a white gold tiffany band. Only $300. I've no clue if that's good or not. She's the jewelry expert, I don't even own any.

[CozInsiderJacq]

cyrus360 ~ I just did the sea lion swim and show for the first time last Sunday. Both were really entertaining. You got some great pics too!

I can't believe you weren't offered the Package 1 when you booked ~ It includes the Sea Lion Swim/Sea Lion Show and Park Entry for $59...the same price it normally costs just for the Sea Lion Swim.

[cyrus360]

It's cuz I'm cursed. I'll know for next time, because we're definitely heading back. Thanks for the heads up.

[LiLBxQt]

Im doin the sea lion swim/show and the royal swim wit the dolphins... I love sealions and the pics jus made me like 1000x more excited about the excursion!! =)