COZUMEL: October, 2005 (Part 3)

The glass-bottom boat docked at the hotel pier and I asked a few disembarking passengers about any seasickness. The men said they got ill and the women laughed, but everyone agreed the snorkeling from the boat was worth the rough waters. As they walked away, one fellow looked back and said, You may want to get out there sooner than later. Weather doesn't look good for the next couple of days.

The television in our room offered limited local news. We watched CNN International and learned that a tropical depression had formed in Jamaica with a possibility of heading toward the Yucatan. And a possibility of gaining strength and becoming a Category 2 or 3 hurricane.

We came into our room after dinner and from the balcony I could hear waves lapping at the rocky shore. Karaoke singing floated up from the bar. The black warning flags flapped over the railing. We went to sleep with the balcony doors cracked open to the sounds of the sea.

At four a.m. I awoke to hear loud crashing waves and something blowing in the wind. Creaking chains or rope. In the dark, I started across the room to close the doors and forgot about those hazardous two steps down. Suddenly airborne, I flew then landed on both feet like an action hero.

A lucky break.

At breakfast, I pointed out a couple of hotel guests with their legs in casts and, over there, a man with his arm in a sling. Perhaps they had not been so fortunate with their steps.

You know how things happen in threes? I said to William. Well, I nearly lost my contact lens and I nearly broke my foot....

William, not easily impressed with omens, nodded and added sugar to his coffee.

It was Tuesday and we were off to Chankanaab for some spectacular snorkeling. On the tour bus we met a couple from San Antonio and asked if they'd heard any weather news. Not really, but the woman had asked her sister back home to call with updates. Originally from Florida, they'd survived Hurricane Andrew, a Category 4 in 1992.

You were lucky.

Yeah, I guess. We came home to four walls on a slab of cement, but we got through it.

CNN reported the possibility of a hurricane coming our way.

Possibility is the key word, the woman said. They can easily drift in another direction. We've lived through so many of those warnings where nothin' happens.

These folks knew a thing or two about hurricanes.

William and I struggled to snorkel in Chankanaab. The rough ocean made William queasy and I had to constantly stop to clear my snorkel. We were knocked against rocks and spent most of our time trying to avoid cuts and bruises. The water was cloudy and, frankly, any colorful fish seemed to have vacated the area. Perhaps they knew something we didn't.

We found a pair of lounges on the beach, opened our books and held tight to the riffling pages. I glanced up at the palapa above our head. How do its branches and leaves stay together during a storm? Still, the sun shone brightly from a nearly cloudless sky and we lathered up with suntan lotion.