2 rather uneventful days

Well, we are headed back toward California. Yesterday was VERY uneventful as we did a lot of sleeping. We were absolutely exhausted and took a couple naps back in teh room, relaxed in the hot tub and then took a nap outside by the pool until it got a bit chilly and we headed back to the room.

Today the sea has had some pretty good waves and the boat is a rockin. This afternoon we hit some pretty heavy fog and the temps outside have dropped even more. The fact that the relative wind out earlier today was around 30 mph does not help any at all. We have packed most of our bags as they have to be outside the room before 11 tonight and are all checked in for our flight home tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to my next trip and dreaming of another cruise. See you all when I get back and can't wait to share my amazing pictures with you. Love you all and miss you!

Cabo San Lucas

I just realized I didn't get this posted, although I thought I had...

Here was the day in Cabo:
What a nice day. The weather was warm, the sun was out and we saw some pretty scenery today. We had a pretty leisurely morning as our tour on shore didn’t start till 1 in the afternoon. They don’t have piers big enough or deep enough here for the ship so they anchored out in the open water and we took tenders to shore. We had a little bit of time before the tour started so we went and looked around in some shops. We had heard that Cabo had higher prices than the other two ports but they mostly would have the same things. So I just got a magnet (I have been buying magnets at all the places I visit, the refrigerator is starting to get just a bit full). After walking around the shops, we met up for our tour. We took a boat ride down to Land’s End to see the rock arch. It was pretty. There is a colony of sea lions there as well. We could hear them and were able to see them with the binoculars but I don’t know if we got any pictures that you can see them in. I will have to check that out. Later in the week. On the way back to the pier I hung my feet over the side of the catamaran and the water was splashing them. It felt really good and made me want to get in the water that much more. After we returned to the pier, we walked around for a short time. I was kind of laughing because the people there keep advertising that their things were “almost free”. They will follow you around their booth and try to get you to buy their things. A little bit annoying but it must work for them to keep doing it. We went back to the ship to eat a late lunch rest for a little while in the afternoon. We weren’t facing west to see the sunset but we got to see the beautiful colors as the sun set. I got some great pics and I can’t wait to be able to share them with you all! The entertainment tonight was Bill Pinkney’s Original Drifters. My mom and I saw them on the last cruise we took together. It was fun. We decided to forgo dinner in the dining room and just had dinner at the buffet restaurant. They had ice cream sundaes and I have discovered they way I want to have them more often. That is if I can find it anywhere. They had a delicious Mango syrup to top with it. It was absolutely heavenly. I missed having dinner with our table mates but it was kind of nice to have an early evening. Especially since the next two mornings will be pretty early. Next up: Mazatlan! I am ready for a day at the beach!

Puerto Vallarta

What a day! Fist off, yes it is my birthday. I have given my parents strict instructions not to say a word about it to anyone all day. I just wanted to enjoy myself and not really think about turning another year older. We pulled into port and it was cloudy. Weren’t too worried about it as long as our tour didn’t get cancelled due to weather. As soon as we could, we were off the ship and headed for our whale watching adventure. I have no words for the experience. We were so lucky! The guides were even saying that it was a great day out there. We were seeing tail slaps, whale spouts and breeching (where they jump out of the water). It was AMAZING! I am so excited to share the photos with you all! The rest of the day we took a taxi into town and ate lunch, finished up a little shopping. Not a lot to say about the day other than WOW! We just pulled out of Puerto Vallarta and have 2 full days at sea ahead of us before we arrive back in LA early Sunday morning and then catch our plane back to the cold. The last three days we have enjoyed sun and temperatures in the 80s. We have not paid a lot of attention to the weather or the news for that matter. It’s a little strange but does not bother me a whole lot. We won’t be looking at the weather forecast until Saturday evening so that then we at least know what we will be headed back into to. It is going to be so difficult to go back to the real world. But such is life… see you all later!

Mazatlan

Beach time! Today we headed out to the beach. It was a beautiful day for the beach too. We boarded a catamaran and they took us around the harbor area telling us about the area and how abundant their fishing industry is. Tuna and jumbo shrimp are a really big business there for them. After that, they took us to the island. There was a little bit of a ride from the dock to the beach and we got to take a Mexican Limo (translation a cart pulled by a tractor). We basically had an entire restaurant to ourselves (okay, not just US but the group from the ship). We had beach chairs, tables and umbrellas and were just a short walk to the water. Of course that walk was through a swarm of peddlers trying to get you to buy their stuff. Once again, their stuff was “almost free”. It just makes me laugh. The beach was wonderful. The sand was so incredibly soft and the water was crystal clear. Lunch was included and consisted of mahi mahi, grilled chicken, beans, rice, salad, chips and salsa and homemade tortillas. Now, I am not a person who particularly likes seafood or Mexican food. But I decided that since I was here in Mexico on the coast, I would brave it and give it a try. The mahi mahi was disgusting. The fishy taste is what I absolutely do not like at all. I even tried the salsa, and let me tell you, I literally thought there would be a hole in my tongue where it burned. It was so hot. Although hot for me is not necessarily hot for others. But anyway, back to the beach. My parents and I decided it would be fun to go for a ride on one of those banana boats. It was a lot of fun while we were headed out. Once we got out a ways, they turn around and head back for the beach. We were turning around and over we went. Way out in the ocean no less! I felt really bad for the little girl who was riding with her parents. She was so scared. I thought it was quite entertaining. Especially when we were all trying to get back up on it. That was quite entertaining and definitely gave us a story to tell. Can’t say it was a boring day at the beach. After a few hours on the beach and in the sun, we headed back to the catamaran to the pier by the ship. We dropped our towels etc at the ship and headed for the market and did a little shopping. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful until dinner. We were back to the dining room with our great table mates and had another evening of laughs with them. Right after dinner, we headed to the theater for the Love and Marriage Game Show. It is hilarious! They take a newlywed couple, the couple who has been married the longest (who wants to participate) and then two other couples in between them. They ask them questions and you get some crazy answers. I think that is one of my favorite things here on the ship that we get to see and do. Then we were back to the room to get ready and go to bed as were had another early wake up call. Next stop Puerto Vallarta!

A Day at Sea

Sorry I didn't get this posted last night but I couldn't connect in the room and it was really late and I was ready for bed...

It was a pretty quiet laid back day out here in the middle of the ocean. It’s nice being able to just take your time in the morning and make your way to breakfast at your leisure. Ate a huge breakfast. It was pretty cool at that point up on the open decks so we just walked around the ship and checked out the shops. After lunch we spent a little bit of time out by the pool deck where the sun was shining. The sun felt wonderful. Having a balcony is nice cause you can enjoy the sea air and not leave your room. We spent a little bit of time on the balcony especially at sunset. It was great cause right now our room is facing directly to the west. (We can catch the sunrise from the room on the way back up to California). We stopped in on the captains reception for a little bit. Listened to some live music and the captain came out and introduced us to some of the crew aboard. We headed for dinner after that. Tonight was chilled golden pear soup, roast duck and cherries jubilee. Dad and I were going to share deserts as there were two that would be good (cherries jubilee and double strawberry cheesecake). Dad had one bite of mine and I had one bit of his and then I started eating the cherries jubilee and totally forgot we were sharing until I took the last bite of mine… oops! It was good though. We have been blessed with great table mates. It is a family and we found out tonight that they have a pretty interesting story. It is a mom, her daughter who she gave up for adoption at birth, mom’s husband and grandma. It was pretty cool hearing their story. The girl found her birth mom when she turned 18. They have been in touch about 2 years now and they are taking this trip all together. I think I liked them even more after we heard their story. They are great though. We have spent the last two evenings at dinner laughing with them as well as the waiter. I find myself not wanting to miss dinner in the dining room because that would mean we would be missing out on spending time with them. Tomorrow we will be arriving in our first port of call, Cabo San Lucas! It supposed to be 82 and that will be absolutely wonderful! Come back tomorrow to find out what fun we had! Until then, adios!

We are underway!

Well, we made it! It was an early start to the day as we left home at 4am. Yes, that is AM! We loaded up the very crowded and packed car and dropped the dogs off at their hotel for the week and headed to the airport. We got to the airport plenty early and had a pretty good wait for the flight. Better early than late. I am always worried I am going to miss my flight. The flight was pretty full but we all had seats together and we were of to LA. Arrived in LA, waited for what seemed like an eternity for our bags and then waited for our transfer to the port. We were glad that we had done the transfers through cruise line as once we turned our bags over to the reps at the airport, we didn’t touch then until they just dropped them off at our room. The line for people dropping their bags off was pretty long. We got into the port to check in and go figure, the computers went down as they were checking us in. It was back up though and we were boarding the ship before we knew it. Ate some lunch, got our tickets for our whale watching on Thursday and headed to the room to rest a bit (leaving the house at 4am is reason for a nap in the afternoon, right?). Had the mandatory muster drill and we are now taking it easy getting ready to unpack the bags and then will head to the evenings show before going to eat dinner. We are enjoying the trip thus far and look forward to the next week of R&R. Thinking about all you back there in the real world! Tomorrow is a day at sea but check back to check out what we are up to out here in the wide open sea!

There's wild animals in Mexico

I was talking to my friends little boy Judah today. Judah is 3 and some of the things that he says are just hilarious, just like with any 3 year old. Today I was talking to him and he asked me where I was going for my birthday. I told him I was going to Mexico. He said, "I don't want you to go to Mexico, there's wild animals there." He was very concerned for my safety. I assured him I would be very careful while I was there. So I better watch out for all those wild animals down there in Mexico!