Costa Maya

Wookiees, resistance fighters, and droids alike slept in on Wednesday morning.  We sort of skipped breakfast and made a brunch-y, early-lunchy thing out of sandwiches and fries overlooking the Yucatán coast.

We had a late-morning meetup in one of the lounges to be dismissed by groups to our various excursions, from which we debarked the ship and walked through the port to a bus station.

The charter bus we boarded was surprisingly nice (better than our hotel-to-port bus in Florida), which was great because it was over an hour’s ride into the Mexican countryside.  

When we finally arrived at the river, we suited up in life jackets and boarded little rafts for our ride through the forest to a beautiful lagoon.

Although I had brought it, the water was warm enough that I did not put on my wetsuit.

Our guide invited anyone to try out his paddle board.

Who would’ve guessed Caleb is a natural on a paddle board?  I actually took a brief turn on it and did not drown, sustain any shocking injuries, or obliterate my dignity, unlike the last time I tried, but I’ve had enough of paddle boarding in my life that I gallantly let the children use it instead.

Our guides greatly softened the blow of calling us back onto the rafts to return upriver by serving champagne and soft drinks while we rode.

How many people can navigate upriver on a paddle board while supervising a fleet of poled rafts and a crowd of tourists and serve champagne at the same time, I mean, really?

Before getting back on the bus, they fed us a picnic riverside.

After another hour-plus on the bus, we arrived back rather wet and cold, after the all-aboard time, thankful that we were on a Disney-sponsored excursion, or we’d maybe still be stranded in Costa Maya (hmm…).  

We definitely missed our dinner seating, and the picnic was scenic but uninspiring compared to Disney cruise ship food, so after a warming shower we got chicken tenders, fries, and ice cream on the same deck where we had fries for breakfast.  

Oh, vacation.

In the evening, we saw Frozen on stage, which was even better than Aladdin.  And although Caleb stayed up to further continue his Star Wars marathon and eat the bedtime chocolates, Jason and I spread out our blanket animal and went to sleep.

We think it’s a lobster.  What do you think?