Everyone Needs to Cruise!

Chad and I got home two weeks ago and it was the best vacation I have taken!  We drove through the night on Friday and made it to San Diego on Saturday morning.  With lots of time to kill, we ended up walking along the pier for a while, meeting a pirate, going out for breakfast, shopping, and the spending a bit of time at the Unified Port of San Diego.  There were a lot of interesting gift shops and pieces of art at the port.  While we were walking along, we thought we came upon a dead guy laying completely motionless in the grass.  We watched him from a distance for a while, before we decided to call authorities.  As I whipped out my cell phone, we saw the guy scratch his head.  What a relief!  We must have been pretty tired and delirious, because I also thought I saw an alligator in a tall flower bush, which ended up just being a butterfly flapping its wings creating the illusion of a jaw opening and shutting.

After we boarded the ship, we ate lunch, slept, explored... by the time we set sail, it was getting dark.  Chad took some great pictures of the San Diego harbor.  The next morning after breakfast, we put on our suits and laid out despite the cold wind.  It just felt so nice to be out of the snow!  After laying on our stomaches for about an hour, we finally warmed up and began swimming.  Later on, we attended the Super Bowl party!  It was pretty fun to watch with all the retired Arizona fans.  They served some yummy wings, chips and salsa, and sandwiches. 

On the second day at sea, our ship went to Bahia Magdelena where we did some whale watching.  We woke up early and watched the whales from the 10th deck... along with everyone else on the ship.  After about a half hour, I went to the gym and watched the whales while I did the elliptical.  When I got back to my room, there were a bunch of whales off our Verandah.  Some of the little ones where even jumping!  I thought they were dolphins, at first, but later found out they were a breed of whale.  BTW, the verandah was awesome!  Thanks, Shawn and Michael!!!

Tueday was our third day.  We docked at Puerto Vallarta early in the morning, so the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a Wal-Mart across the street from the dock.  It was kind of refreshing to see land, but to see a Wal-Mart of all things... Anyway, we walked to the beach right off the bat.  The beaches were covered with white, fine sand and there were resorts everywhere.  We walked right into one and changed our swimming suits in a public restroom.  Nobody thought anything of it, where here you would need a key card to enter a resort.  But I think because we are Americans, they are okay with us being there.  We could have even swam in their pools.  But, we were there to swim in the ocean and tour Mexico, so we went back out to the beach and walked along the shore for quite a while.  Eventually, we ended back in the streets and continued walking for what ended up being over 5 miles.  We ate lunch and then went to the beach to swim this time.  Chad had a great time checking out the heavy, leathery, old lady in the thong.  Ya... he actually caught a glimpse of her topless, too.  I am pretty sure that he is scarred for life!  After all the swimming, we were pretty exhausted, but we managed to walk the 5 miles back to the port.  One trip to Wal-Mart for $2 Advil and $5 package of socks and we were safely back on the ship.  However, crossing the street to get back to the ship almost didn't happen for me!  I got stuck in a median, but finally asked a driver with their window rolled down to stop so I could cross (they were driving pretty slow).  I decided it's scary to cross the streets in Mexico and used the closest thing to a cross walk I could find after that!

Mazatlan was our stop the next day.  We were attacked by taxi drivers and told we were going the wrong way and to "jump in my cab.  I take you to city for 3 dollars."  There were harassing us so much that we couldn't even look at the map to orient ourselves.  It was SO frustrating!!!  I decided I didn't like Mazatlan from the beginning because of the taxi drivers!  We finally did take a taxi into old Mazatlan, which we thought was lame, so we walked down to the beach.  The water was pretty littered, but we saw the divers and lots of crabs.  I took some pictures of the architecture on the beach.  I found it very strange that in the two cities we had visited, most of the buildings were abandoned.  Instead of reconstructing them, or tearing the buildings down, they 

were just left and new developments were going on else where. 

Anyway, eventually we ended up in the shopping district.  There was a big pavilion with little shops selling everything from clothes to toys to medicine to fresh fruit and vegetables and butchered animals.  I saw a pig head and then stepped back to almost run it to a cow being butchered!  It wasn't very pleasant smelling.  

Oh!  At one point we found a gazebo (which I took pictures of the 2 dead pigeons in the lights) and a catholic church.  Quick note... why do the Mexicans scrub their sidewalks with pine-sol, but they don't clean the dead pigeons out of the chicken wire in the the city gazebo?  It was weird... 

Another strange finding to me was a glass casket with a figure of Christ in it.  I'm not sure what that is suppose to mean.  All in all, Mazatlan was not our favorite stop, but it was very interesting.

Our last stop was the best... Cabo San Lucas.  We walked all the way around the pier, which was probably 3 miles all the way around, to the kayak rental tent.  We rented the gear for $48 for both of us.  To do it through the ship would have cost $50 per person, so we got a deal.  We kayaked over to Lover's Beach and went snorkeling.  After we got back, I went swimming, again, mostly to wash all the sand out of my suit.  Then we went shopping for jewelry and apparently most sellers with the silver bracelets offer weed, too.  Wow!  There were also a lot of kids and moms with little kids tied to their torso selling all kinds of stuff... whistles, dolls, pottery, necklaces, dresses... I think the best part about Cabo was the water.  

It was SO clear and green.  The temperature was only 71 degrees outside, but it felt so much warmer than that.  

Our time on the ship during those three evenings were spent eating, swimming, hot tubbing, attending shows... magic shows, the Oosterdam singers and dancers, comedy, the super bowl... Our favorite place to hang out in the evenings was the piano bar.  We sang Sir Elton John, Billy Joel, James Taylor, just to name a few.  Everyone was either really drunk, or genuinely having fun, because it was a blast.  We were definitely the youngest people to hang out there, though.  I think most the tourists our age were drinking a lot and clubbing at the Northern Lights club.  We also had two formal nights where we dressed up.  The first night we ate at the Pinnacle, thanks to Chad's sister, Alicia, and her husband, Michael.  It was probably my favorite night.  On the second formal night, we went to a dance.  Chad and I just danced one slow song.  I felt like an awkward teenager at a stake dance, so dancing didn't last long.  Surprisingly, I was kind of embarrassed to slow dance.

The last day, we were so tired and anxious to get home to Mack, we locked ourselves in our cabin and watched Scrubs all day long.  The only time we left our room was to eat.  We didn't even swim that day!  At 9 we fell asleep and had to wake up to pack.  Our luggage was out the door on time, but it was a trying task, since the ship was rocking so bad!  We both felt sick from the repeated feeling of weightlessness to extreme lead legs.  It made for some interesting stair climbs during meal times, though! 

So, after swimming in the sun everyday, eating lots of yummy food, watching the sea life in the ocean while our ship passed, sleeping in everyday, going to bed early, watching lots of movies, touring another country, and being with each other non-stop for 10 days I am convinced that everyone needs to go on a cruise with someone they love at least once in their lifetime.  It definitely wasn't our last, either!