October 14, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the Western Caribbean Sea aboard the Carnival Miracle – exactly 15 years ago this week.

The Carnival Miracle was a fairly-new cruise ship at the time – 2½-years-old. Nowadays she sails short 3, 4, and 5-day cruises between Los Angeles (Long Beach) California and Baja Mexico.

I was on the Miracle from 08 to 15 October 2006 out of the Port Of Tampa. It was my 10TH cruise overall and 5TH on Carnival. It was also my only cruise out of Tampa; although, that will likely change in the future as I move closer to Tampa than Miami in the next few years (post-retirement).

Our ports-of-call were Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize (first-time ever), and Costa Maya (first-time ever).

Costa Maya is located on the south coast of the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico – less than a 2-hour drive to the northern border of Belize. It’s a popular cruise ship port that was fairly-new back in 2006. I remember getting off the ship, walking around the small beach and pool area right at the debarkation point of the pier, and then within the hour getting back on the ship. (There’s likely much more to do there nowadays than there was 15 years ago.)

10 months after my visit to Costa Maya Hurricane Dean destroyed much of the cruise ship port (and region including Belize). It was one of the most intense hurricanes to make landfall anywhere along the Atlantic basin during the modern tracking era. It was a Category-5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 MPH and gusts over 200 MPH at landfall !

I have not been back to Costa Maya since 15 years ago (October 13TH 2006). I’m interested to see what it looks like today via a future cruise.

Here’s a rare picture of me posing along the rocky coastline of our first port-of-call – Grand Cayman.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)