Three cities in Mexico: Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlàn, and Acapulco

 Three different cites, three very different experiences.

Due to T-Mobile's excellent cellular service, I was able to add videos throughout the post today. I hope you enjoy them.

On Tuesday we landed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at 12 noon.  There was a change from the original "New Around the world cruise" map the was sent out.  We were supposed to arrive at 10 am.  I booked a dive trip for us for 1 pm thinking this would give us plenty of time to land, get a tender and look around a bit before we had to leave.  Boy was I wrong. I called down to the front desk, explained our situation and asked what they could do to help us.  No problem they said, just go down to the insignia lounge and grab a tender ticket.  Perfect! Problem solved.  

At 11:45 we headed down to grab that ticket and got one right away.  And then we waited.  Just before 1 pm we got to the dock.  Our dive master and I had been texting so he knew exactly what was happening.  We had to pay $1 to get to the boat, and of course I had no singles.  Thankfully our dive master was waiting for us and got us in.  And off we went!

Every time we do a dive, I am asked is this one better than the last and I have been answering yes.  This time I couldn’t say that Cabo was better than Bora Bora.  Why?  The water was COLD!  I had on a 7mm suit and George was wearing a 5mm.  Both of us had chattering teeth when we finished.  Add to that the lack of visibility and the murkiness of the water and it wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat again.  

BUT! We did see some wonderful sights.  The first thing that caused me to shriek with joy was a wall of golden colored fish.  Even though they were out over the chasm below us, I lost my desire to stay next to the cliff wall and swam out between them.  There is nothing like a wall of fish parting and reforming as you go though it.  This alone made the dive worth doing.  

But wait, there is more.  We saw hundreds of pufferfish that just came right up and wanted to kiss our hands. There were blue box fish everywhere. 

The angelfish were the size of dinner plates!

We even got to see a rare species called a guitar fish! 

This was an amazing dive. It could only have been better if there was better visibility.

And then there was the sand falls!  Apparently the coast is collapsing and we were able to see the underground river of sand that is coming off the coastline.  Today was a bust for photographs as my phone had that stupid covid tracker on and the State of California and the government of Mexico both want me to sign up.  I shut off the camera housing.  Oh well, I have the images in my head. 

When we finished the dives, we dumped our gear near the tender drop and wandered into town in search of puzzles.  We found nothing locally made, but we did find a 3d popup of St. Petersburg.  Funny since we will be heading there towards the end of this trip.

We returned to the ship for dinner with two couples we’ve been with before.  This evening, the staff had puzzles for us. They really enjoyed teasing us with puzzles. One was to go fishing with a tea bag string for a cube of ice. 

Another was to draw 4 lines across 9 circles in a 3x3x3 grid without lifting the pencil.

I knew the solution to the first one and was still working on the second one for a few days.  The next was to balance 2 forks on a tooth pick.

The final was to make 4 triangles by only moving one toothpick. 

We handed over 2 more puzzles for them to play with at their leisure.  There is now quite a collection for the dining room staff at the receptionists desk.  

On Wednesday we went to Mazatlàn.  We arrived at 8 am and were able to disembark at around 8:30.  Since we had forgotten to plug in the scooters, we decided not to leave the ship until later.  We lazed around until around 10:30 before heading out to see a church that I remembered from my high school Spanish days. 

Today we were docked at a container ship pier with a cruise ship berthing possibility.  We had to hop on a bus to get to the entrance, and from there we walked into a Disneyesk shopping area.  There were all types of t-shirts, silver jewelry, magnets, and other tourist trap purchases.  We bypassed this and headed out to the downtown area.  

This city has it together.  You want to get to the old town?  Just follow the blue line painted on the road!  We did just that.  We headed to the Church of Immaculate Conception first.  Why?  Because I remember it from Spanish classes.  We scooted up, took a few photos and carried on.  This isn’t a place to stop and lock up our scooters.  I’m sure we would have come back to nothing more than a broken lock cable.  It’s ok though, I’ve seen enough cathedrals in my lifetime to last for another two or three.

From there we scooted over to El Clavadista, a 50’ platform for the cliff divers.  I knew of this as well and wanted to see it.  As luck would have it, just as we were pulling up on our scooters, 3 men were getting ready to dive.  I held the scooters and shot a video of the three men while George took the still shots you see here.  On the way there we passed what can be best described as a walk of fame and a mermaid stature that caught our eye. 

This was terribly exciting for me.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  The divers can be seen here. 

From there we continued to scoot on down the coastline for a few miles making stops along the way to photograph sea gulls,

the lovers at an earlier age,

and for George to do a few chin-ups.  He misses doing these on the ship so whenever I see an outdoor gymnasium type area I make sure we stop and do them. 

After we finished, we saw that it was pigeon mating season.  There were a couple of large males strutting around and shaking their feathers in a display of interest. One rather large male was attacking a female who wanted none of him.  The little girl found an out!  She ran over and sat between George’s feet.  The male looked up at George and backed off.  He strutted his feathers around a bit more.  This time I am sure it was a display intended to get George to compete with him.  George was having none of it and just stayed calm and still to help shelter the female.  After a while the male went away and the female turned herself around so she could see what was going on around her.  She didn’t move other than that though for around 1/2 an hour.  We stayed still watching the other birds and the sea.  When the female made a move so did we. It was around noon so we decided to go for lunch.  

We had seen a few places back by the cliff divers and so we scooted off in that direction.  The first two places we stopped at were closed for the day, the next 4 places were just too close to the road and the fumes of the vehicles going past. They also allowed smoking in the outdoor seating area.  This was a big no for us.  We decided to head inland and went one block away to find a lovely little place that had outside seating and good food.  George had some soft shell tacos and I had some nachos.  Both were delicious.  Of course we had 2 beers as well.

From here we scooted back to the tourist trap area of the container port and George sat and had half a beer while I ran around looking for puzzles.  I found a few, but they were made in China.  Hard pass.  It was back to the ship for us where I passed out for an almost 2 hour nap.

Dinner was in the main dining room again and we had a lovely evening with the company at the table. Both couples will be getting off in Miami.  Such a shame, we’ve enjoyed their company.

After dinner we did something we seldom do. We sat and listened to the string quartet.  It was divine.  I love violin music, and tonight I was not let down.  After they finished the set, we retired to the room.  

Thursday saw me waking at 10 am! I never sleep this late!  In my defense though, I had a rough night's sleep and was up from 1 to 5.  I caught up on emails, and before I knew it it was lunch time.  We went up to the Terrace Café as usual and today was Italian day.  There was a fresh pasta table and a pizza set up. 

I had the Tuscan Bean Soup and two slices of pizza.  The crust is so much better on these specialty days than it is on regular days.  

After lunch, George went to the room to take a nap while I went for a massage.  Heavenly.  I used to go bi-weekly for one when I lived in Hong Kong, and haven’t been since.  It was long over due.  I enjoyed it so much in fact that I booked one for next week as well.  I suppose I’ll probably get a few more before we get off the ship.  

While in the Spa, I asked about the fitness instructor.  She said they were hopeful that one would come on board on 5 March and stay the duration.  I am too.  I enjoyed the yoga classes while they lasted and would like to go again.  

I then went down to the reservations desk and booked for the 2024 Around the World.  I have to say, it is a bit disappointing.  There is no circumnavigation of Australia, or Africa but we do get to do both canals in one trip.  This time it starts in Miami on 29 December and returns to New York on 12 July.  That reminds me, I should check to see if there is anything going from New York to Florida following that. 

In the afternoon, I sat on the veranda writing this blog before George and I started discussing the ATW 2024.  After much thought and discussion, we agreed that we didn’t need the service of a butler which we would probably never use, and the additional space, while nice, is not worth the extra price to us.  I went back down to change our booking and to my great pleasure it was not an issue.  

We called housekeeping to set up the HDMI cable on our TV so we can watch some of the movies we brought with us.  We have managed to see almost EVERY movie on the ship.  Desperate times now for us.  

I ordered some packaging bags for our next puzzle exchange.  We will need them to get to the house before we do as we will only have around 3 weeks to get the puzzles made, packaged, and packed in our suitcases before we hop a flight to the next IPP.  Funny thing is, we’ve both wanted to go to this country for a long time.  Now as it turns out, we will be going there twice this year and again in 2024.  I think we will be able to see everything we want to see between those three visits.

We had dinner reservations at Polo Grill tonight so at 6:30 we headed up to the restaurant.  This night we dined with another couple that we had not met yet and one that we had. As always, it was a pleasant evening.  I loved the legs on the glass of wine and the shadows they threw.

Friday saw us in Acapulco and since I hadn’t gotten this post up last night, I’ve decided to add today’s activities here now. We woke around 6 am and just caught up on the happenings around the world.  At 8 we were docked and the announcement came telling us we were able to get off the ship.  We didn’t.  We lay in bed a bit longer before heading out for our latest scooting adventure.

Our first stop was the post office so we could send a package to Japan.  What an ordeal.  They don’t take US dollars (fair enough) they don’t take credit cards (really?) We had to run around and find an ATM to get some cash only to return to the post office to pay for the package that they kept.  What an adventure.  

From there I wanted to go see a mosaic that has been placed on the side of a house, but because of how long it took us to take care of the post office, we had to skip it.  Our next stop was the Hotel Mirador to watch the cliff divers.  I had planned this part of the trip a few days ago.  We went for a lunch and a few drinks, and of course,  the divers. They did not disappoint.  We saw 5 divers today.  3 individual divers and then for the final dive, two men went at once.   The videos are much better than any photo. 

This building has some history to it.  It was built on the cliffs in 1933. Some notable visitors include  Elizabeth Taylor , Frank Sinatra , John Wayne , Sammy Davis Junior , Hugo Sánchez and John F. Kennedy.  We were insignificant but in good company.

After our lunch and the viewing of the divers we headed to the Fuerte de San Diego.  This fortress was built by the Spanish in 1617 to defend the city against pirates.  It is an impressive structure.  The view from above shows it as being a 5 pointed star.

When we went in, we were told the fort is usually closed, but they opened it today because our ship is in town.  We took advantage of this and had a walk around the structure.  We were very impressed by the construction. There was an outer wall, followed by an inner wall, then a mote, before the main structure.  It would have taken a lot to breech that structure.

I even got to see my first cactus tree.

One of the things that tickled me was the use of the old VW beetles as taxis.  You see, I have a 2003 ragtop beetle and just love the thing.  These older ones are so well kept here.  I was surprised to see them everywhere.

We even managed to find a 10 piece puzzle.  Don't laugh! I know you want to.

We returned to the ship. Today we decided to go have a swim in the pool. It is filled with salt water. I had no idea.  I think too much salt but I can understand it for hygienic reasons.  I know I have a bit more fat on me than is ideal, but it took nothing for me to float.  While swimming, we were given the pleasure of having a mariachi band on the ship to listen to. 

George and I returned to the room after the swim.  He to take a nap.  Me to load those last few videos and finish this post.  

Tonight we will eat in the main dining room again and head into another sea day before we return once again to Puntarenas.   

Which of the three cities did I like the best?  Mazatlàn.  The other two were gritty to me.  Cabo San Lucas was a tourist trap type of town with many shops selling kitsch.  Mazatlàn was clean, well laid out, and easy to travel around.  Acapulco reminded me too much of cities in China.  Would I want to come back?  Yes, I'd love to stay in that historic hotel for a few nights, and I'd definitely return to Mazatlàn to see more of the city. 

We love having the scooters.  It allows us to get off the beaten path that most tourists take and see things we wouldn't see on an excursion.  In places like this, it is best to scoot rather than take a tour.  When we get to some places in Europe and elsewhere we will start doing more tours.  Our next stop will be more scooting.  We are on a mission to get a few more bottles of the Coffee liqueur we purchased and finished last time we were here.  It is delicious!

At 6 pm the captain came on the speakers and told us that we would have a bit of weather tomorrow morning around 9 am and lasting until 2 pm.  This is foreboding. As a precaution and being hopeful that I will sleep through the night, I took a couple of those seasickness pills. 

Until the next update, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Sailing.