Disney Fantasy Cruise | Western Caribbean | Costa Maya

Because our Grand Cayman port was cancelled, we got into Costa Maya a half a day early, giving us a full dayBefore we were free to disembark, we headed up to Satellite Falls to take photos from the upper deck and chill for a bit!

Costa Maya is a teeny tiny little port, surrounded by lots and lots of land.

See?  It looks totally untouched!

Par for the course on this cruise, the weather was still looking dreary and rain was threatening.  We had a good hard rainshower while sitting under the canopies at Satellite Falls, but it quickly moved through and everything dried up.

Just chillin'!

 

Since we had some extra time due to the extended hours and our excursion wasn't set to leave until noon, we  got off the ship with Matt's parents and took some time to explore!

The port may be tiny, but it's very colorful and quite clean!

There's lots of souvenir shopping to be had, as well as lots and lots and LOTS of Mexican Vanilla

Matt makes me try on hats whenever we shop.  I do it to humor him.

O noes he's being eaten!!

No shortage of adult beverages at this port!

There's a large, free pool located right next to the coast.

There's also an area of loungers for those who want to bask!

There was only one other ship at the port that day, a Norwegian Cruise liner that seems to have had a bit of an accident.. it was listing to the right and had a big ole dent in the front right corner (can you see it?)

Hi.  Us again.

We went back to the ship for a while to meet up with our excursion group.  Soon, we were on a school bus and enjoying the hour-ish drive to the Chacchoben Ruins.  During the trip, our awesome tour guide gave us lots of history about the area and the Yucatan Peninsula in general.  We took several photos from the window on the way.

Selling pineapples at a roadside stand.

Grabbing a catnap.

Our first glimpse of the ruins.

The bus dropped us off at a thatched roof tourist area where you can purchase drinks, snacks, and souvenirs.  The first set of ruins is not far from here, down a rocky path.

Just thought the roof was cool, so I took a picture.  Here it is.  Enjoy.  Did you enjoy?  Okay!  Moving on...

Pretty massive.

Matt felt the need to take a picture of my little Goofy sticker.  We all had to wear them to identify our ship and our specific tour group.

While hanging out at this first site, it started raining... hard.  Our tour guide, Jesus, said, "Friends, we can make a run for the bus, but by the time we get there you'll be soaked anyway, so let's just continue!"  We all got wet, but it was all good.

Hi it's me again okay.

The grooves in the tree on the left are from harvesting Chicle - a tropical evergreen sugary sap that is used as a base for chewing gum.  These trees are used in locating new sites to excavate for ruins.  Our tour guide pointed out lots of more interesting trees and plants, including red aloe.

Lots steps...

... that lead to the second major building.  It cleared up a bit and we had some sun and blue sky!

Us with Matt's dad

Matt's parents

My dad

Another view.  Lighting is everything, my friends.

My Bean!

The back of a third building gave a towering view of the Costa Mayan landscape

On the way back to the bus!

Our bus returned to the point mere minutes before the ship's All Aboard, so we had to hoof it back to get there on time (they wouldn't have left us, don't worry.  All Disney-sanctioned excursions are guaranteed to have you back on time, and Disney knows if a group hasn't made it back yet!)

All in all, a great, educational excursion and a fun day at Costa Maya!

This is part of a blog series detailing our super fun family trip, a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy!  Click Here to see more posts!