The best part of visiting Xcaret was swimming in the underground river. The river was serene and in some parts a little spooky. Whenever a ray of sunlight pierced a gap in the overhead terrain and impinged upon the water, we could see everything on the river’s floor as though it weren’t covered by water. A year earlier Becky’s parents and their friends swam in the same river and Becky’s daddy’s friend lost his keys in the river. They swam upstream and eventually found Bob’s keys on the river’s floor.

Active swimming wasn’t necessary on most of the river. The current pulled us along and lifejackets held us afloat. When the current faded there were ropes we used to pull ourselves to the next bend in the river. By then the current returned and we continued floating lazily down the river.

The river was a very welcome part of visiting Xcaret. Even though we visited Xcaret in early April, the weather was quite hot. In the absence of a breeze, Becky and I felt as though we were standing in a southern Georgia tobacco patch in the middle of July.

We endured a rough ferry ride back to the ship. Looking out of the ferry windows in one instant we saw only sea, in the next instant only sky. Becky was nauseous and I was surprised I wasn’t. We were both glad to be back on the ship but doleful that our next port would be Miami, which meant our vacation wasn’t far from finished.