Part I

Hurricane WILMA - changed all port of calls...Cozumel and Veracruz were our ports of call. Cozumel was great (like always) we did a great tour (dune buggies) and though it wasn't the newer buggies, we had a great time and were able to do more and go farther out than normal. (www.EagleRayDivers.com Ask for Chillie). He offers more than one tour; I have just done the buggies and would recommend it!

As for Veracruz it was horrible... first the people are more excited to see you than you are to see them! I had the opportunity to talk to a husband and wife who have been stationed at the Navy Base, and was told that it had been a year since she had seen any American Tourist...WOW we were told that ships come to port once a month! Veracruz had really nothing to offer except dollar ($1.00) beers... The shopping was what I expected (nothing fancy just silly things) but the normal. A man approached us and offered a $15.00 dollar boat ride to see some light house (island) and then to proceed on to an island (that was really a sand bar) called "Little Cancun" this was to be a two hour tour / excursion that turned into about 1 hour and 15 minutes (but we didn't mind the cut of time)... upon arriving back from this "tour" (if that's what you want to call it) we were hounded from the so called guide (who swam around and talked to us in Spanish the whole time) and boat driver for a tip... when we finally got our feet on the sand other people asked us how the tour was and if it was worth it...after explaining to them what we had done everyone got off the boat...and then I felt bad... but I didn't want to lie! So that was a waste of 15 bucks and about 2 hours time... all and all Veracruz wasn't a good time...but we did get off the boat... Read more