There She Goes…

Our first stop was Cabo, which had us putting our anchor down in the middle of a bay and taking a tender (or smaller boat) to the dock. As we pulled into our “parking space,” I spotted at least 2 whales. And that’s about the highlight for that port. I was too cruda (hungover) to notice anything else except a really long walk to find the swimmable beach. That’s OK, I’m making my annual month-long visit in April to the Real Cabo, not The Party One, as I refer to it.

The next day, and another time change ahead, we found ourselves in Puerto Vallarta. With no sign of a hangover anywhere, I was much happier to be exploring a new part of Mexico for me. This stop was the only one with an excursion (whale watching) and our friends Crystal and Steve (from Chef’s table) were on the same tour. And the ballenas did not disappoint! Though, we may have been following the same 3 whales, we saw one breach right next to our tiny boat! David went off to find souvenirs and I returned to the cruise ship. He made it back on safely and gets a grade of B- for navigation skills – all part of the comprehensive application process for Amy’s pre-approved traveler list.

I ate dinner alone since our table mates decided to move their group to a separate table and David was out souvenir hunting. It’s OK because our table mates were really boring and the waiters all had fun chatting it up with me! It’s a well known fact that I find Amy fan clubs while traveling. After meeting back up in the cabin (dessert from main dining in hand), we ventured out to the pool deck for a party under the stars and came across our Australian friends Jess and Ben, this time with their partners in tow. We danced a bit but didn’t want to get too crazy for our final port town – Mazatlan.

We disembark in Mazatlan and I get to practice my Spanish skills by asking for directions to the water taxi stand to head to La Isla del Piedra (Stone Island). I understood enough to get us going and must have exuded that confidence since a family from the ship followed me. They kept asking if I spoke Spanish and I kept avoiding the question. I do. And I don’t. I get flustered and unsure of myself and forget how to conjugate verbs (currently practicing with an app called ConjuGato). And other times, I’m not sure where this fluency comes from – like those people who speak Russian in their sleep but not while awake. Guess the heart knows where it belongs.

Having successfully navigated David and I (+ the lost lamb family following us) to the island, we walked as far away from people as we could go and stopped at Lety’s restaurant where Freddy served us lunch. For $20 USD we rented 2 loungers under an umbrella and sunbathed in colder weather.

After taking the water taxi back, I was able to practice more Spanish by picking up a mini golf-cart taxi to the city center. He dropped us off and we walked to a restaurant who had us at chips/salsa and free baño. I had tortilla soup (Mom’s is better) and shrimp ceviche. It was muy delicioso and with full bellies we walked around a bit more before heading back to the ship.

Back on board, we both had dinner in the dining room and went to see the ice skate show. We settled in for an early evening and prepared for the 2 “at sea” days coming our way.