First solo trip... a cruise over the Gulf of Mexico

in #travel7 years ago

(for those interested: all photos shot with Olympus e20n)
So I went on my first and only cruise circa 2002CE

Day Zero

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Got in the ship at the Riverwalk in New Orleans

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A couple of tugboats on the Mississippi

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The preparation for a sinking ship did not prepare us for what was to come later

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The crescent city connection?

Day One

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Waking up to a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico

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Don't really see blue water at home. Mostly muddy bayous and shit (sometimes literally)

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Rainfall in the distance.

Day Two

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Another sunrise. Not much else to see yet.

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Arrival at Cozumel

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A look at the ship (Carnival Holiday)

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Decided to go on a jeep tour. Unfortunately, I do not drive a standard very well. I manage to find a family that will take me along for a ride.

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I still have no idea what this was. We stopped and got to go inside, but it wasn't paricularly interesting.

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This guy(?) was hanging around next door.

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I have no idea why this buck was at some rest area with nothing else around but a glass display filled with beach trash.

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The tour guide was getting everyone to sign some document, written in Spanish, before allowing them to go up in the lighthouse. Not for me, bruh.

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The beach near the lighthouse

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Random swampy area...

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... with crocodile(s)!

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Private beach.

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I never managed to find the beautiful beach-phone

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On the way back to the ship

Day Three

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I ate or drank something, the day prior, that made me super sick. My booked tours were wasted. During this day I tried to sleep, but they kept dropping the anchor and reeling it back in over and over. The chain happened to be directly under my room. This is a photo of boats trying to pull on the ships anchor. Apparently, we were stuck on a sandbar...

Day Four

Since we were stuck in Playa del Carmen, they gave everyone free tours and free drinks. I got to go on my tour afterall.

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Off the ship entering Playa del Carmen

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Loading up on the bus to ride for a bit.

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Got to see some Mayan ruins with a bunch of other tourists!

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Got back and headed straight to the ship for those free drinks.

Day Five

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Woke up at 4am and made sure all of my shit was packed up. The ship was absolutely stuck on the sandbar and they were ferrying people off the ship and flying folks home. I think I managed to get off the ship around noon. I was ferryed to a bus, then bussed to an airport, where all of my belongings were searched multiple times (yay!). Flew back (Miami Air, I think).

It was fun, but I've never been on a cruise since.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and what little I can manage in the way of story. I will be working on my writing and plan to post a few more stories and photos of my solo travel experiences.

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The sunset is so amazing!! Beautiful photos!! Thanks for sharing!!!! :) Upvoted!!

Hello @cthorazine, I enjoyed you cruise story. I LOVE to cruise, it is my go to vacation. I have written a few reviews on them myself if you interested. I wanted to ask why you have not cruised again? Do you think you will give it another go? -Josie

Cruises just aren't for me. I've looked into going again, on several occasions, and the cost was too high compared to visiting places like Australia, Japan, and New Zealand for a decent amount of time. Also, I like the freedom of being able to choose where and how long to stay in a place before moving on to the next.

wow great trip nice sharing.

Wow! Beautiful photos! That sunset, and those ruins! Amazing! I recently took my first solo trip as well. It can be quite the experience, especially in a place like you visited. Upvoted and followed.

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