We got up with the intention of taking a ferry over to the island of Cozumel. It's only about a 10 or 15-minute walk to the terminal in Playa del Carmen.
Jay and I left the apartment at a little after nine, stopped at an ATM, and bought tickets for 250 pesos each at the official sales counter. Only the Ultramar fast ships were running. It was suggested that we purchase one-ways as there is no cost savings in buying round trips, and it allows for more flexibility on the return timing.
Hundreds of people were queued up for the ten o'clock sailing. Strict COVID-restrictions kept the process easy and quick. The water was fairly smooth and the crossing took around 40 minutes.
We had to decline all the offers for scuba trips and vehicle rentals when leaving the pier in Cozumel. The downtown area is small as most tourists stay in large all-inclusive resorts both north and south of town.
Things were pretty quiet. During more normal times, Cozumel would be hosting about 45 cruise ship arrivals per week. At thousands of passengers and crew per ship, a whole lot of people are dumped into downtown during non-COVID times.
Many restaurants and souvenir shops didn't bother opening. For a souvenir, I stopped in at a barber shop. The guy was interesting and had been cutting hair since he was 13 years old. I felt pretty confident in letting him use the #1 attachment on the clippers. I pull back my hair nowadays as only the sides and back are buzzed short. In fact when he combed out the back, I saw something of an aged rock singer from the 70's.
Our goal was lunch and we found the Thirsty Cougar right along the waterfront. Jay had a chicken burger and I had the house 'top' burger which came with a draft beer. It was loaded and more than enough with the guacamole and all. I seldom eat hamburgers and had to think back to the poolside Dive-In burger places on our 2019 summer Holland America cruises to Alaska and New England for prior ones.
We had just enough time for a leisurely walk to catch the 2 PM trip back over to our winter, temporary shoreside town.
It was sunnier in Playa del Carmen. As soon as we left the port, we noticed how many more people, businesses, and activities there were.
