Three Ships on Christmas Morning

 

Costa Maya, Quintana Roo, MX (12/25/23) -

Christmas mornings have always been magical.

The first glimpse of loot under the Christmas tree, never mind how it got there…which gave way to the joy of watching our own kids' first glimpse of loot under the tree, eventually knowing full-well how it got there, regardless. And that magic continues with grand-kids' Christmas morning excitement. That's the best Christmas miracle of all.
We saw it all...on video.

 

This year's Christmas found my bride and I cruising the Gulf of Mexico, escaping the frozen tundra of December's upper Texas Gulf Coast for the sultry climes of the northeastern Yucatan peninsula. Our ship, the RCCL Voyager of the Seas, docked in the port of Costa Maya shortly after dawn on Christmas morning.

 

There is nothing quite like a sunrise at sea. A sunrise approaching port provides more of a sense of scale of the awesomeness. Other vessels seem diminutive in comparison, and one's own finite existence is placed in proper perspective.

 

Christmas Day 2023 at Costa Maya dawned besmirched by clouds. The ship had sailed through a frontal system overnight, adding extra movement to its rhythmic rolling in the waves. (I would come to find, days after returning home, my inner ears still gently suggesting the swaying of the ship on the sea!) So these clouds were still scudding across the emerging sun, obscuring its initial appearance on the horizon.

 

I had taken position at the forward-most point on the ship--the helipad on the 5th deck. Only one other brave passenger was up on deck at this hour--he with his $2,000 SLR camera, and me with my $1,000 smart phone camera* to greet the day's dawning.
(The images we captured would turn out identical.)

 

The port pilot's launch came alongside the starboard gangway, and the pilot grabbed a crewman's hand as he leapt across a narrow gap of moving seawater. The ship slowed to a ghost's crawl as it approached the pier, silently sliding  in place--docking "Texas style," nose to sea--as shore workers secured her lines to the mooring bollards.

 

Two other cruise liners were already in place when we arrived. Our vessel had played tag with them across the Gulf, and now, a great maritime meet-up was taking place as passengers from all three blended and merged on their way to the mercado on shore.
I literally saw three ships** on Christmas Day.

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*That's replacement cost these days; I didn't spend that much for this device, so don't bourgeoisie me.

 ** https://www.godtube.com/popular-hymns/i-saw-three-ships/