Monday, May 24, 1993

Wow, did they throw us a curve! Eastern Mexico is certainly different from Western Mexico.
We went into town, futilely looking for a copy place. Finally, Roy asked someone who spoke English, and he told us there was one two blocks up, so we went there and had a bunch of copies of our boat papers run off.
Walked back to the Port Captain's office. As soon as we got inside, we were told that by Mexican law, we had to use an agent. Since when? We never used an agent on the west side. But they insisted and told us to sit down and wait; an agent would be there in ten minutes. When the agent showed up, we were pleasantly surprised; he turned out to be a really nice guy. We were over a barrel; he could have charged us $100, and we'd have had to pay it. Instead, he tried to save us money! He advised us not to check in and out of Cozumel at all, to do it at Isla Mujeres, but we were afraid we'd get in trouble if we did that. Then he told us to go out to the airport and clear immigration and customs ourselves; he said we didn't have to go to the immigration office at City Hall. He told us to call him on VHF channel 16 when we were through.
We hopped in a cab and zoomed out to the airport (7 pesos). Found what we thought was customs, but they told us to go next door to immigration. The immigration officer stamped our passports, looked at our tourist cards, and told us to go to customs in the big building outside the terminal.
We had a lot of fun finding the building, which wasn't very big and was way out in back. Looked like a storage building. When we found the building, we had a hard time finding the door, but we finally found it and went upstairs to the office. Fortunately, the clerk spoke English and knew what to do. She typed up the form we needed and had it signed.
We took a cab back to where we'd left our Royaks (6 pesos). Roy paddled to the boat and VHF'd the agent. He said we couldn't check out until just before we left, so he'll meet us at 8:30 Wednesday morning.
Roy and I walked downtown, looking for a "Diver Down" flag. Found several, and Roy finally bought one he liked. Then we went to the plaza and found the fishing office. Roy bought a one-week fishing license for 47 pesos.
By then we were hot and thirsty, so we went to Maxi's Super Market and pigged out on popsicles. Boy, were they good! Cold and wet and delicious.
Picked up a few groceries at the market near the Port Captain's office. Returned to the boat and ate lunch. Took the boat down towards the hotel where Fernando works, and Roy paddled in. Fernando and his friends had seen us coming and were waiting by the seawall. Fernando was delighted when Roy invited him to go sailing tomorrow. He said he'd be at the boat at 8 o'clock.
We took the boat back to our previous spot and re-anchored. Roy loaded his Royak with his diving gear, and we paddled to what we thought was a reef. Roy dove for a while. Saw a lot of fish but didn't find a reef. He said he needed more weights, so we returned to the boat, taking some pictures along the way.