Mexican Riviera Day 3

We awoke right off the Cabo coast this morning. We were to meet for our tour to go snorkeling at 8:00am. Michael and Andrew had room service for breakfast so they could sleep as long as possible.

Here is a view of a part of Cabo.

The ship couldn't dock right at the pier so we had to be tendered to the shore. We road in the life boats.

We met our tour guide and got on the catamaran that was to take us snorkeling in The Chiliano Bay. It was a nice boat. We took some pictures of us along the way. All the yellow stickers on us have the number of the tour we were on. Looks silly I know.

This is a famous area I guess around there called the Hole in the Rock. Pirates used to hide their boats among these rocks.

Here I am pretending I am Misty. Taking a different angle on a photo. What do you think Misty?

The outfit I'm wearing Misty gave to me but I not sure if I tied the pants right. You'll have to show me again Misty.

After an hour of riding in the boat we got to our snorkeling place. We snorkled among these rocks and saw colorful fish, octopus, puffer fish, striped fish and Michael saw a big black one with big lips. It was fun. We stayed in the water about an hour I think. We had on life jackets with a little air in them so we could float and see the fish at the same time.

Getting ready.

Dad

Michael

Me (Linda) By the way. Anytime my picture was taken I had to ask someone to do it. Go figure.

After snorkeling when we got back in the boat we had to be hosed off. I'm sure it was for sanitary reasons. The boat we were on was a clean boat so that was nice. It was still pretty funny I thought.

Michael was so sun burned he wanted to wear my hat and didn't even care what he looked like.

After snorkeling we went back and had lunch and then came back onto shore to stroll the shops that were set up all along the way. Boy was that an experience. We received some good advice from our son-in-law David to take small bills like 1's and 5's and to not let them know you have more. The boys would even spread their money out in different pockets so when one pocket was empty that was all they had. The first day of bartering for us got our feet wet for the next two days in ports. Michael and Larry began to enjoy it and found it to be some sort of game. Anderew was more timid at it. You walk down the street and if you look at something more than a second the Mexican vendors were right in your face trying to talk you into buying it. Their was this one necklace that was pretty (but you know it's not the real silver) that several vendors were selling we found out. The price they were asking ranged from $10.00 to $100.00. Larry decided he wanted to buy it but not for more than $5.00. Through the course of the afternoon Andrew bought one for $12.00, Michael bought one for $7.00 and in the end Larry did buy one for $5.00. These guys chased you down the street and would not leave you alone. Here are few pictures of the bartering taking place.

The necklace the vendor is holding up is the one all three boys bought.

Sometimes more than one at a time would descend on you.

Here is picture of the boardwalk where we walked and bartered. BLue sky and warm.

This last picture is right before we got back on the ship. The ship was to sail soon on it's way to Mazatlan, Mexico. Do you notice how Michael is dressed? He bought himself a Sombrero that would cover his face and neck and he was wearing a long sleeve shirt because his arms and shoulders hurt so bad from the sunburn. He would also walk quickly from shade to shade. I think he learned (once again, I hope) to put on sunscreen.

Even though we are back on the ship the day is long from over. We dress for dinner (where we were eating our dinners we had an assigned table and waiters and the dress each night except for formal was smart casual) and then after dinner we attend a comedy show and then a singer that was pretty good. He performs in Las Vegas. Is the day over yet? No, because Larry wants to go check out the buffet...

Did I tell you we get our bed turned down and chocolate on our pillows? What the life.

Mexican Riviera Day 2

We spent all day at Sea today on our way to Cabo. Larry took adavantage of the pool and I took advantage of the excercise room to run in. This is the view I saw when I ran. The boat would rock and so it was an adventure to not fall over sometimes.

Dad found a golf simulator on board. He actually went through withdrawals not being able to actually golf for a week. He could have golfed but it would have cost way too much. All 4 of us actually took a turn at hitting golf balls in the simulator. We even took a free golf clinic and learned some fundamentals. It was fun because when we were hitting balls in the simulator I would step behind my ball to line it up because it's a habit I have before I hit the ball. The pro golf instructor brought up how I did that in his clinic and that everyone should do that. It made me feel good.

The cruise not only had all the food you could eat but they also make food into art.
Larry and I went to watch a demonstration on fruit carving and flower arranging. Actually I wanted to see it and Larry just came with me. Here are some of the creations.

I took advantage of the sun and actually laid out on the deck in my swim suit and no I don't have a picture of that. I loved feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. I did take a picture of Larry though as he laid on the deck in the sun. Oooops did I say sun I mean the shade as he read his book. Oh did I say he was reading his book? Look close you tell me what he was doing.

Michael joined the volleyball game that started in one of the pools and played for several hours. He received a really good burn between volleyball and falling asleep in the lounge chair. Andrew found the arcade room while Michael was playing volleyball.

Tonight was one of the formal nights for the cruise so we all got dressed up for dinner and the shows or dancing we attended in the evening. It was fun to get to all dressed up for the evening. In real life you don't get to do that very often. Here's a couple of pictures of us all dressed up. Rachel check out the curly pieces of hair in the front, I did that with my straight iron.

Our room steward would leave us different animals in our room almost each night. It was fun to go in and see what we had. Did I mention we got chocolate on our pillow?
What the life.

I forgot to put this picture in yesterdays blog. Everyone on the ship had to go to our Muster station before we set sail to receive instructions on what we should do if we had an emergency and had to vacate the ship. We were told to get the life jackets from our room and meet in our Muster station. We grabbed our life jackets and went when we heard the alarm. Larry and Andrew I don't think would have stayed afloat to long with the child life jackets they had.

Tomorrow we awake in Cabo.

Mexican Riviera Day 1 (March 30th)

Well we're back from a great relaxing cruise vacation. Relaxing because it's the only vacation where I don't have to cook or clean. We even took enough clothes so I wouldn't have to do laundry. I thought I'd post each day so I don't get overwhelmed on what I should talk about. We flew to San Diego on Saturday so their wouldn't be any mishaps of maybe missing our flights and thus missing the ship.

Here we are right before boarding the Dawn Princess. It's the same ship we were on when we took an Alaskan cruise. They take pictures of you all through out the cruise but they are expensive. So I took a picture of the picture. Michael and his cousin Andrew are behind us. How exciting we are finally on our way!

This is what our room looked liked. At first we thought we had the wrong room because their were only 2 beds and 4 people. We were happy to find out that 2 beds dropped down from the ceiling. It was a room we used mainly for sleeping. I was excited that our room and bathroom were cleaned twice a day for us. In the evening the steward turned down our beds and put a piece of chocolate on our pillow. What the life.

The food on the ship is never ending. Larry, Michael and Andrew frequently ordered more than one meal at dinner. Dinner also consisted of 5 courses if you wanted it. Appetizers,soup,salad,dinner and dessert. Did I mention that frequently the boys ordered more than one dessert too? We were also able to eat at a 24 hour buffett/restaurant, a pizza place (which had the best pizza's ever) a hamburger grill place and in the dining room for breakfast and lunch if we wanted. We bought for the ship card a sticker that allowed you to drink all the pop you wanted for the entire cruise. That was also taken advantage of. I confess I would have a Shirley temple every now and then.
I ordered a Salmon and caper appetizer the first night. This is how it looked when it came, I was surprised...
Raw

Well I decided to be brave and eat some believe it or not. I had Larry take a picture because I don't think anyone would have believed me.

Well the ship is on it's way to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.