February 25, 2023 – Costa Maya, Mexico – Mostly Sunny – 81F

Up before dawn.

It’s a beautiful day along Mexico’s Costa Maya and, we are the only ship docked at Costa Maya. Usually, there are four ships – and big ones- taking up the available berths here.

Our cabin is actually below the level of the pier making for an eerie view through the porthole.

I waited a little longer to go up to Windows for breakfast, hoping that the passengers going on excursions would have finished and freed up tables.  While on the elevator, Andrew Merry, the Scottish singer, got on at Deck 4 with two huge suitcases, and then got off at Deck 5 (the gangway was on Deck 4).  He was in a big hurry – I’m guessing he was pressed for time for his flight out of Mexico.  He dresses like he is a member of a Boy Band, so he is unrecognizable.

It was crowded but I still got a table closer to 8 AM.  I had a waffle combo – the eggs today had sundried tomatoes and ricotta cheese in them, and I did not like that flavor combo.  I concentrated on the waffle and cottage cheese – because of the items on the buffet, sour cream was available as a bonus.

Ellen joined me later (our new pattern) on the Veranda – just too nice not to.

It was a day to read and relax. I finished “Lullaby Town”, which morphed several times but turned out to be a good book at the end.  Elvis Cole, who started off super snarky in Book One of the series (shades of Spenser) has dropped a lot of that in the next book.  I hope he returns. 

My knee, which spontaneously started to hurt the other day, is feeling better. 

Tuna Salad and a small salad was lunch today in Windows.  Tonight, is White Nights and you can never tell what might show up on the buffet, so a small lunch is in order.

Time in the afternoon was split between the Living Room and the Discoveries Bar.

We got into our white outfits and checked out the Buffet set up on Deck 9.  We first looked for seats and there were none – we’ll figure that one out later.  I lucked out as there was a pasta station and I had spaghetti with vegetables in a combo red and white sauce.  I actually like the Marinara Sauce alone, but I thought I would give this a try.  The salad area in the buffet was a zoo so I just grabbed some loose marinated veggie items and that, along with a roll, was dinner.  We took our food into the Café, so we did get seats for dinner.  The food was good.  Music during dinner was provided by DJ Astrid.

White Nights worked out better on this leg than on the first – the weather was perfect (we usually have wind on White Nights) so it could be held outside.  That meant more people dancing.  

We watched the whole thing from Deck 10 Forward – we found one chair (for me) and Ellen stood.  After the March of the Crew (along with a glimpse of our patron planets, Jupiter and Venus)

and comments by Captain Carl, the entertainment got underway.  The song list was the same – per tradition – and the crew belted them out as best they could.  

The volume was not as loud as in the past and the mics did not pick up the singers as well; the band was louder than the singers.  The output was still loud enough to shorten our stay and send us to our room.