Mexico

Our final destination on our recent Dinogo Cruise was Cozumel, Mexico. Unfortunately, Julian wasn’t feeling well that morning and chose to stay on the ship to rest, so the rest of us set out for a beach day. We began by stopping at a cozy restaurant for tacos and queso, with margaritas for the adults and virgin strawberry daiquiris for the kids. Afterward, we caught a cab to one of the many beaches. We requested our driver to take us to a more secluded spot, and he did just that, bringing us to San Francisco Beach where we could escape the crowds and enjoy the ocean.

Before we departed, we noticed one of the dipping pools beside the restaurants was empty, so we quickly hopped in and ordered drinks along with chips and salsa. San Francisco Beach is amazing—they have oversized outdoor beds on the sand with canopies to shield you from the sun (because naps on the beach are the best), along with adult-sized swings. There were also many interesting shops, but we opted to explore the ones closer to the ship.

I wish we had taken more photos, but the day didn’t unfold quite as we had envisioned. It's actually a funny story—we asked our cab driver to drop us off at a long row of shops on our way back to the ship. Once we got out, we started exploring, and the kids discovered some fun little souvenirs. Then Plum said, “Umm, where’s the backpack?” Panic set in as we quickly realized we had left one of our bags in the cab just 15 minutes earlier. While there wasn’t anything of real value in the backpack—just some clothes, towels, and a few items—some of the kids' favorite toys were inside, so they were pretty upset. We rushed out to see if we could catch another cab driver to help us, but none of them were stopping. Eventually, we decided to accept our loss, bought a few things for the kids, and headed to grab some food before returning to the ship.

We had an hour to spare when Aubrey said, “I at least want to try to find our backpack.” We all insisted, “No,” explaining that we didn’t have much time left before the ship was set to depart. However, he was determined and insisted he could make it back in time and told us to board without him. This made Plum and me a bit anxious, but we went along with it. After finishing our food, we strolled around for a while until it was time to board the ship. We waited at the entrance as long as we could before we anxiously got on, worried he might miss the boat. (Remember, I fried my phone in Jamaica, so I couldn’t call him to check in.) When we returned to our rooms, he greeted us at the door. He had made it back to the ship and found the backpack! We couldn’t believe it. He had paid another cab driver to help him locate it, and fortunately, our previous driver was a kind, honest man who returned it to us. What an adventure!