Costa Maya excursion suggestions

My wife and I are sailing on the Explorer Jan. 30th for Belize City, Costa
Maya, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. We've never been to Belize or Costa Maya
and would like to hear from some fellow cruisers who have taken excursion
there. Advice would be appricated ...

Thanks

Just got back from all those places...Only thing to do in Costa Maya is
to see the ruins, shop at the pier shops where they drop you or head to
the beach, where yo can find a flea market or cheap beer and drinks. You
can go snorkeling there too.
Grand Caymen is wiped out still for the exception of all the shopping in
the tourist area. Rent a scooter and tour the island yourself to see
what a hurricane does to a place like that you wont believe it.

SONNY wrote:

My wife and I are sailing on the Explorer Jan. 30th for Belize City, Costa
Maya, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. We've never been to Belize or Costa Maya
and would like to hear from some fellow cruisers who have taken excursion
there. Advice would be appricated ...

Thanks

On 01/16/2005 12:09 AM SONNY wrote:

My wife and I are sailing on the Explorer Jan. 30th for Belize City, Costa
Maya, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. We've never been to Belize or Costa Maya
and would like to hear from some fellow cruisers who have taken excursion
there. Advice would be appricated ...

Thanks




On Cozumel, for an additional fee, you can visit Chankannab Park and
swim with dolphins. You can either take the ship's excursions or do
your own. On Cozumel you can rent a jeep with a guide and explore the
ruins and swim at some lovely isolated beaches on the windward side of
the island. Skip lunch and explore the local cuisine. I've been to
Mexico many times and had no problems with either food or water.

If you truly enjoy water transport, you can take the high speed ferry
from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. I think that the food in Playa is
just a little better than Cozumel. Yax-che in Playa will be costly, but
it's be best example of Yucatan cooking which is very, very different
from the Tex-Mex many of us think of as Mexican cooking.

If you plan ahead and book your car from home, you can arrange for a car
to be waiting for you in Playa del Carmen. Then you can travel to see
the ruins at Tulum at your own pace. From Playa it's just about 45 min
to 55 minutes to Tulum. Tulum is built upon a cliff overlooking the
Caribbean. Of all the ruins it is the coolest, literally. The breeze
blows up the cliff cooling you even when it's hot. Also, there's a
great beach at the base of the cliff. Chichen-Itza is more spectacular,
but it's inland and very hot and humid. It's best to do this site very
early in the day.

Just south of Playa del Carmen is the Playacar golf course. It's not a
public course, but local resorts and cruise ships can gain access. If
you love to golf, ask about this one. If it's not available as an
excursion, they may be able to arrange something.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:09:33 -0600, "SONNY"
wrote:

My wife and I are sailing on the Explorer Jan. 30th for Belize City, Costa
Maya, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. We've never been to Belize or Costa Maya
and would like to hear from some fellow cruisers who have taken excursion
there. Advice would be appricated ...

Thanks


Hi Sonny,
We were in Belize in April 2004 and did the Cave Tubing. It was fun,
however the water was low and not moving very fast, so you had to do a
lot of paddling. I don't know what the water levels willl be in
January though. Also, I'd recommend taking this tour with the ship's
excursions, as the Cave Branch river is a good hour or more out of
Belize City. We booked our excursion independently, and were sweating
making it back to port in time before the ship left.

For Costa Maya, it looked like a pleasant "cruise line resort" with
some shops and restaurant and nice beach. We ended up spending most
of the day on the vacated ship, but next time we'll be doing the Mayan
ruin tour here.

Have fun on your cruise, I wish I was going this year!

~David

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 19:56:41 GMT, Brian K
wrote:

If you truly enjoy water transport, you can take the high speed ferry
from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. I think that the food in Playa is
just a little better than Cozumel. Yax-che in Playa will be costly, but
it's be best example of Yucatan cooking which is very, very different
from the Tex-Mex many of us think of as Mexican cooking.

Hi Brian,
What is Yax-che? I am up to trying local cuisine if it sounds
relatively digestible. :-)


~David