Ed Herndon Great Ketch

Continental oversold the flight to Cancun, so we volunteered to go on a later flight.  We were delayed six hours.  We went to a movie to kill time, then we dined at CK's atop the Airport hotel. Were upgraded to First Class  and got free round trip tickets to anywhere Continental flies in US, Mexico, South America but not Hawaii.  That's not a bad way to start a vacation.
 

Tom and Sally Curran went with us to our timeshare, Vacation Clubs International. They are more extensively traveled than we, so the pressure was on us to show them a great time. The weather co-operated with only one 23 minute thunderstorm the whole week.

Sailing

On two days at the club, Tom and I took one of the Sunfish sailboats out. On the North wind we beat up the shore to the Presidente Hotel. On the East wind we beat out to the Cruise ship anchored in Isla Mujeres Bay. On both sails we were rewarded with broad reaches and  surfing down the 2 foot quartering seas.

We also booked a snorkeling and sailing cruise on the Grand Turk, a 38 foot, full keel, cutter ketch with a gaff top mainsail.

The snorkeling was exhausting due to the 1.5 kt current over the reef. We gave up after 45 minutes.

I got a turn at the helm while she was under full sail. The mast is shorter than my Morgan 41 but the 6 foot bowsprit makes it's overall length greater. I was pleased with the easy ride, and amazed that there was not a single wench for handling the sheets and halyards.

At the Beach
 

Most of the time we just sat around on the beach, read books, and watched the world go by.

Isla Mujeres
 

We took a side trip to Isla Mujeres (Isle of Women). It's a $2 ferry ride from Puerto Juarez. If you prefer, you can spend $15 for a round trip from the hotel zone. That's an appropriate place for Las Mujeres to go shopping.  <<======  Shoppers We rented a Golf cart for an hour and drove out to the Yacht Club Resort.  It's as modern and well kept, as I have ever seen.  Texas prices too.

Playa Del Carmen
 
 

The highlight of our whole trip was Playa Del Carmen. We toyed with the idea of a full day excursion to Xcaret. (That's $70 a head, and definately a good thing to do at least once in a lifetime.) We all had been there on past trips. We were at our lifetime quota....

Instead the High Rollers took the Cancun city bus to town, $1 round trip, and then took the intercity bus to Playa Del Carmen, $4 round trip.
 

The Playa (beach) is in the heart of the "Mexican Riveria". It's a favorite of young folk on limited budgets, the European backpackers, and  many native Mexican vacationers. It is the only crowded "topless" beach we found. Tom and I toured the full length of the beach, while the ladies enjoyed a cerveza and watched the young guys playing Frisbee.

The Tarrayna Cantina has excellent food at bargin prices. It's about a quarter of a mile up the beach, north from the Ferry landing. I will return there again....
 

Great Eating The Avocado stuffed with Shrimp was a whole large avocado split in half and filled with cold boiled shrimp  The shrimp had been marinated for a while with sliced onions and capers in a light vinagrette. A full meal size serving for only $4.20.  New Drink We also learned to drink our Tequilla over Ice in a salt rimmed glass with beer.