Jet Skis, Golf Carts and Bingo

Three seemingly unrelated items, and somehow, we managed to incorporate all three on day three of our vacation.

First, the sunrise on July 5th, as we approached Costa Maya, Mexico:

I'm the early riser in my family. And when you have four of us crammed into 10'x 12' of sleeping space, there's only one place to go when you wake up - out to the public areas of the cruise ship.

With no pre-planned activities for our first port of call, we decided to find a beach to relax on, away from the crowds of people on the ship. We found that beach, Majahual, several miles south of the cruise ship dock.



We hadn't planned on anything really adventurous. Instead, it found us in the shape of these jet skis.

I had visions of me sinking these beasts (the last time I maneuvered a large, unfamiliar, motorized vehicle, aka a scooter, I managed to crash it), so I planned to ride along in the back, with my daughter driving (apparently at 14, she's old enough to drive). But she decided she didn't want to sink the jet ski, either, so I was in the driver's seat. Looking back at things, I don't know why I would think being driven by my 14 year old daughter would be less risky, I guess that's what happens when you are on vacation - you don't think straight.

I shouldn't have worried. Driving a jet ski is much easier than driving a scooter / motor bike. The open water makes crashing into things almost impossible. And driving a jet ski is downright fun. The next thing I knew, we were heading out into open water, and then speeding towards the cruise ship.


Brian was doing a great job driving the jet ski himself:


And we posed for a quick shot before racing back to shore:


We held down a table here at the Coco Corona and enjoyed a nice lunch of fish tacos, cheese quesadillas and salsa.


Brian's new favorite drink:


So where's the golf cart? We drove over in one and Erica drove it part of the way back to dock. Maybe Brian wanted to drive, too.


Back at the ship, after dinner and a show, we were sucked into another round of Bingo. Because Brian loves Bingo and thinks he's going to win. I know, I know, Bingo is really a form of gambling in sheep's clothing, but we only play when we are cruising (not a common occurrence by any means).

During the Bingo game, the emcee intersperses raffle giveaways. This makes the game longer and gives more people to win (you receive a raffle ticket or two when buying your Bingo card). Imagine our surprise when we won the second raffle of the night - a scalp massage spa treatment!

Winners are expected to dance or do something silly up on stage when redeeming their prize. Fortunately, we have a natural ham in our family, who bounded up on stage and started dancing the funky chicken.

Hey, if he wants to act all silly up on stage, more power to him.

The last raffle of the night was another spa treatment - a mini facial. Guess what? We won that one too! The emcee couldn't believe it. He challenged Brian to dance something other than the "sprinkler" (I guess that's what he looked like the last go around) and he called me up so I could capture things with my camera. Brian ran around on stage, a sort of victory dance.



And so we had a great day - starting with a lovely sunrise and finishing with some unexpected treats.

The next stop - Roatan, Honduras.