Spring Break 2011

Off to Mexico aboard the Radiance of the Seas, a Royal Carribean ship. Here are a few images from the trip (remember - clicking an image will display a larger version).

There it is! Our ship!! No, wait. That's an old gambling boat rusting away in the harbor.

Aboard the ship, this is a view of the "Centrum" which is an open column that runs from deck 4 (where our cabin was) to deck 13. This view is looking down from about deck 10.

Here's a different angle of the Centrum.

Here's a view looking up the Centrum.

This is a view of the very top of the Centrum. In the center of this disk is a window from which those on the 13th deck can look down.

The day was stormy as we left port. This is a view of the pilot's perch as we navigated the confines of the port. You can just see the harbor pilot standing while watching our transit.

We've arrived in Costa Maya. This is our first view of the port.

One of the many shops in the port area.

Looking back a the Radiance of the Seas.

We did a bike/kayak excursion. Here we're off on the first leg of the biking portion. Little did I know that the bike seat would leave a lasting impression!

This is our biking/kayak guide.

Brian's feeling good on the bike!

Cruising through the town (which our guide said is not called Costa Maya).

This is where we'll be kayaking. You can see the ship in the background.

I didn't have a way to protect the camera from the salt water, so no pictures of us kayaking. This is after that part of the excursion.

I spied this lizard on the bike trip back to port.

We went to see Mayan ruins in the afternoon. The structures were incredible from a construction standpoint. How did they do this?

Another view of a pyramid.

Lots of steps!

Janet and Brian posing while I'm trying to catch my breath.

Brian is next to a stone structure that had some kind of wooden/fabric addition. No idea what it was for, but that part isn't centuries old.

On to Cozumel. This lizard was hanging out in a parking lot.

There were some great breakers on one side of the island of Cozumel. They really pounded the shore, which was composed of a volcanic-type rock, very rough with sharp edges and interesting patterns.

Another lizard.

Brian and Janet are standing atop a "natural bridge" pounded out by the waves in some of this interesting rock.

More waves.

Janet and I on the "natural bridge." It was full of holes that made walking on it tricky. It was harder to stand up there than might be imagined.

Love that coconut milk! Well, for me, not really. But, hey, we tried it!

All in all, it was a great trip. The most relaxing part - no cell phones, no Internet, no email. We didn't even watch TV. I'm looking forward to doing that again. And the gentle rocking of the ship wasn't bad, either.