Welcome to a new age! This was the Ultrama ferry that took me to Cancun at 9am Friday. Inside, new seating, two, four and two seats again by the windows. In the center, the front faces the new snack area and the first seats in the center are arranged around a table, handy for local accountts on their way to and from clients, and snack eaters!
There is also on each side, two tables for four. Nice to have more meetings, or spread the kids out with their Happy Meals from McDonald's in Puerto Juarez.
But the big news is the ramp! It opens up, uhmm, like the spaceships we have imagined.
And once opend, there are no more steps, front or rear. Its a gradual incline to lower deck level. Those who want, can go up to the upper deck like before. Sorry, that involves steps!
Luggage and packages are stowed in shelving covered by a fake leather, heavy plasctic flap. The ride is smooth, too. You almost forget you are on a boat. Except when you look out the windows into that aquamarine water that seems never to end.
And instead tourist propaganda preaching to the converted, the morning ferry at least is tuned to Mexican network news, where I learned we were experiencing cold front No. 46 of the season. Only elsewhere! It was a high of 25 and a low of 10 in Puebla and Chihauhua. In Merida, tempertures were heading to 40 and around 36 here. That's relentlessly hot! But hey, it was a cool ride. The AC worked!
A sometime reward for a good, hard day in Cancun is a Big Mac to go from the Ultramar dock in Puerto Juarez. Blasphemy, you say. Ha!
