Well we took the fast ferry to Cancun yesterday as planned which takes only 15 minutes when you're moving at 25 knots. It was a windy day so the ride was bumpy and there was green water coming in even though the doors were closed on the ferry. On the way over we had decided to sit in the front not knowing there would be water spewing in and soaking the floor beneath us! On the way back, we sat in the back.

It took hours to get our boat permit squared away. You can't get frustrated because it won't do you any good so you just have to go along with all the hassles. We came out of the office with a very official looking document for our $50 and we're done with that at least. Then we took a cab to Walmart to get a new keyboard- we bought 2 just to have a spare. When we got home and got it set up, we see that as you would expect in Mexico, it is in Spanish!! Also, the keys are not in the same place since our Windows program is set up for an English keyboard. This gives new meaning to "hunt and peck". Oh well, at least we have a keyboard. We were exhausted from running around all day in Cancun trying to get the things we needed and also working so hard to communicate. Donde esta.....? We used that one a lot! We needed a double Rangpur gin & tonic to end that stressful day.

Today, we snorkeled on the West side of the island on a pretty reef. We saw plenty of fish, eels, a skate, lobsters, arrow crabs and basket stars. We had no sooner gotten in the water with our wetsuits and weight belts on when a park ranger boat came up to us and told us that park rules say that you must wear a lifejacket at all times when snorkeling. What?! How in the world can you see anything or dive down to look at the reef with a lifejacket on? As she was talking to me, I hauled myself out of the water into the dinghy to be able to hear her better and here I have 12 pounds of weight on so I CAN sink and she is telling me I need to wear floatation. We got permission to finish out the dive and enjoyed ourselves but I don't guess we'll be going swimming there again. Fortunately, the national park only covers a small area so we shouldn't run into this very often. Later, we joked with another boat about how, if we had to wear lifejackets, we'd need to wear about 45 pounds of dive weights to offset things so we could sink. We were imitating what it would be like to walk with all those weights and how it would look with a wetsuit, weights and then an orange lifejacket- ridiculous! This is just another plain as day example of how some things just don't make any sense.

We went into town to get some groceries and came back with some neat Mexican stuff. There are all kinds of different salsas and great chips to dip into them. We got homemade chorizo to do something with and some spicy chicken that we grilled tonight. Avocados are cheap and actually, food is pretty cheap altogether. The days of bagged lettuce, broccoli rabe and the like are gone, as well as fresh milk. We're trying to get into powdered milk since we have to, but it's hard to adjust. Cerveza is cheap though, as is tequila so maybe we should substitute!

I also got some waxing done on the boat. We've been getting a rain shower most nights so the boat is squeaky clean. It's a good thing since we accumulated a good deal of rust while we were sitting in Key West with all that wind and salt spray. You really have to keep up with it. We've been doing a few little projects each day to keep everything spiffy. And now another day has come and gone in a flash. Since we're on Central time in Mexico, it gets dark around 5:30 which shortens the day. We've been trying to compensate by getting up earlier but.... hey, we're cruising!