Off to Cozumel, MX

Is it still called a vacation when you travel during retirement? Karen and I left our rig in Livingston, TX for a ten day trip away from our fifth wheel home and traveled to Cozumel, MX on March 14. We drove two hours south past downtown Houston to the Houston Hobby Airport for a direct flight on Southwest Airlines into Cozumel. The flight was less than two hours long and an hour after landing we met Jeff and Dana Guidi, our friends from Santa Rosa, CA to start our grand adventure. We rented a beautiful two bedroom suite at the Villa Aldora for a song; it's just north of downtown San Miguel. The Guidi's had never been to the island so we rented a car for two days and a Jeep for one day to spend some of our time showing them around, seeing the local sights, enjoying the wonderful food and drink.

They are not scuba divers, but Karen and I did 8 morning dives on four of our 10 days and then hung out together in the afternoons. We drove around the island twice including a stop at the famous "Coconuts" restaurant and bar.

We traveled to Punta Sur near the end of our stay in a beat-up red Jeep. Jeff and Dana were a joy to hang out with. We walked and rode bikes or hailed a taxi on the days we didn't have a car . One of the fun activities we shared was eating in the many places and experiencing the variety of food. We ate out at restaurants most of the time, but we had a full kitchen in the unit so we went grocery shopping for limited provisions. Jeff and Dana are great cooks and they fixed some wonderful breakfasts; we also enjoyed a couple of BBQ dinners at home.

The highlight meal of the trip was when we celebrated Karen's birthday dinner at Buccanos Beach Resort. She was able to get her sought after cucumber margarita and had butter lobster with ravioli ($27) and I had lobster mac and cheese ($25). Jeff and Dana shared a lobster Caesar salad and lobster mac and cheeseGreat location, excellent weather, good food, and good friends; it just doesn't get any better!

We left Cozumel on Thursday, March 23 and flew back to Houston Hobby Airport. We deplaned, cleared immigration, got our luggage, picked up the parking shuttle and were back to the truck in the long term parking facility within 45 minutes! All in all, it was a great trip and we look forward to vacationing with the Guidi's again down the road.