Hi, I’m Julie McCoy, Your TR Director Review of the CB

[jenseib]

Are you a Travel Agent?

 

;)

 

If you want to see back numbers of the TV show "Love Boat" search on YOUTube for Love Boat Season 1,2.3 etc. up to 9. A lot of new issues have been added in the last couple of weeks. Pacific Princess is mainly featured but at least four other ships have been used particularly on the Mediterranean, Far East and Australasian specials.

 

Regards John

 

Good to know they added more. I'll have to check them out.

 

I knew at least 3 other ships had been used as well. Believe it or not I took a class on the Love Boat a few years ago.

[jenseib]

I started walking towards where I thought the restaurant was where I would find Mom.

This is supposedly the world’s biggest hammock. I don’t really call that a hammock, I call it a lounge chair…but we already know I don’t always use the correct terms for things.

 

 

 

THIS is what I call a hammock.

 

 

It sure is beautiful here, even if it is 99 degrees with high humidity.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

I got turned around and found a restaurant but not the right one.

 

 

I kept moving and found this little lizard.

 

 

I found the flamingos.

 

 

 

 

I also was in search of a restroom.

 

[jenseib]

I found a map, got my bearings and went to the restroom and then found the restaurant.

 

 

Miguel was waiting with my camera and I grabbed it from him and then found Mom inside.

 

Mom had made a friend and they were seated and her friend was eating. I will call her C. C was doing a triple cruise I believe with her husband. She was here alone today because her husband wasn’t feeling well. He husband had booked this excursion but didn’t tell her anything about it so she didn’t bring her swim suit with her. Her and Mom had walked around and explored a bit and then came to the restaurant to wait for me. She was very nice and I am glad Mom found someone to hang with.

 

This was the view from our seats.

 

 

Mom was enjoying a beverage.

 

 

It was all open and just so pretty to look at.

 

 

Mom and I ordered a sampler type platter to share.

 

 

I didn’t pay attention that it came with corn tortillas…I wish I would have…then I could’ve asked to have those switched out with flour ones. We did get one flour one and I gobbled that one up.

 

[jenseib]

 

The food was just OK. I guess I am not a big fan of authentic Mexican food. Many years ago I had stayed at the Moon Palace in Cancun and I remember thinking then the food was not all that great then too. I was dying for a Wendy’s cheeseburger and fries by the time we flew back into the states.

C had had a cheeseburger and it looked really good and I had wished I had gotten that instead.

 

We watched this boat go around. It was some kind of Twister boat ride and it would zoom around really fast and then stop and spin and you could hear the people scream. I could see myself throwing up all over everyone. LOL.

 

 

[jenseib]

We saw an iguana off to the side …just hanging out at the restaurant. Now if I saw this in Ohio….I would freak…but in Mexico it seemed kind of cool.

I got up and went over to get a better look at him.

This was a view from our table….they were collecting that sea weed stuff and bagging it.

[jenseib]

This boat was coming towards the coast.

It was funny because it looked like it was just going to slam right ashore…I assume there was some water inlet there.

And a little visitor.

We finished up our meals and paid the bill. It wasn’t cheap either….even for sharing a meal.

We headed out and I said good bye to iguana friend.

We walked around a bit to explore.

[jenseib]

We came to the snorkeling area….I believe it was an extra cost to snorkel.

I do think if you were coming for the day though you could buy a package that included snorkeling, other activities and food as well.

We walked by a beachy area which was just beautiful…but it was very hot out and sitting on a beach didn’t sound fun to me. And I wasn’t too keen about leaving my camera in my bag to go swimming.

[jenseib]

There is one of those twister boats.

[jenseib]

We moved on….here is some people doing the cave swim…I believe this one was a different route than the one I did.

SQUIRELL!

I found the manatees and tried to get a bit closer to get some shots.

[jenseib]

Things were roped off so I couldn’t get very close.

We moved on and found another iguana friend.

And an area with some panthers and lions.

I thought it was neat how there were trees right in the path.

Just stretching and relaxing in the shade.

[jenseib]

Someone spotted an iguana on a ledge over the side so I put my camera over the side and blindly tried to take a picture of him.

We then heard all this squawking of birds and noticed a lot flying around. This was an attempt to get them but I missed them as they went into the trees.

Back to the big cats.

And then more squawking.

It was parrots and they were all flying to one location and making a heck of a racket doing so.

Someone (a worker) then told us that every day at the same time they release all the parrots and they fly to their enclosure area. I guess they feed them then, but it’s a treat for all the people to see them actually fly too.

It really was a neat thing to see.

We moved on.

[jenseib]

I believe this was just outside the area where they all flew which was why these guys were hanging around.

This guy wanted that hat.

[jenseib]

I had mom take a picture of me with one of them.

[jenseib]

My parrot friend gave me a pose before we moved on.

Mom was too hot to walk around anymore and she wanted to go and just sit at the beach so I took her back there and told her I would meet her in that area when it was time to meet back with the group to do some more touring together. We didn’t have to meet them but we were finding the place so big that it probably would be a good idea to see highlights with the group instead of trying to find them on our own.

I left her and then stumbled upon the actual ruins on property.

And then I spotted this guy just walking around. He made me think of a raccoon. I believe he is a coati. I saw a few of these walking freely and raiding trash cans when they could, just like a raccoon would. Strangely I did see raccoons too…..in a pinned in area on display. I found that kind of funny.

[jenseib]

I no longer remember what these guys were, but they reminded me a bit of aardvarks, but much bigger. They were kind of funny and would do a little wiggle every so often.

Another iguana.

And this looked down to the caves.

And another coati.

Some of these pictures are phone pictures and I was trying to quickly capture him so they are pretty blurry.

[crochetcruise]

A slightly out of focus photo of some animal I will probably never have the chance to see for myself is WONDERFUL! THANK YOU for taking the time and trouble to post them, it's been wonderful seeing another part of the world!

 

Crochetcruise :cool:

[jenseib]

Anything good in here?

Guess not.

There were wifi hotspots shown on the map so I found one near this bathroom area and had a seat. It really wasn’t good wifi and I couldn’t connect to facebook at all and I could check my emails but it was very slow.

The bathrooms were the strangest thing. They were all single stalls lined around the circle of the building. I went in one and it was super tiny and just odd and open ceilings on them too. It did have this cute faucet.

The bathrooms were near a small show arena and I had seen that one was about to start soon. This show was about some sort of traditional ritual that was done many years ago. The show is called Voladores de Papantla, which I believe translates to something like flyers of the pole.

This is a description of it….

This custom of Mesoamerican origin expresses respect for nature and the spiritual universe. During the ceremony, four Voladores de Papantla climb a pole while one more flyer remains sitting on the edge of the platform, while playing with a flute and drum melodies in honor of the sun, the four winds and the cardinal points. After this act of invocation, the dancers launch themselves from the platform to which they are tied by long ropes, imitating the flight of birds and drop down to the ground.

I took a seat though my view wasn’t the best and the sun was pretty darn hot (of course all the good shaded spots were already taken).

The men came out and climbed the pool.

[jenseib]

There they go!

[jenseib]

They all landed safely from their flight.

And then the man who remained on top came down.

[jenseib]

There was some more marching around.

And then it was over and they waved and took bows.

I started to then make my way back towards the beach to find mom as it was getting close to the time to meet up with the group.

[jenseib]

And walking back I found an enclosure of raccoons!

It’s just crazy for me to think they have raccoons displayed like zoo animals.

More flamingos.

[jenseib]

And some more ruins.

Somehow I got myself a bit turned around and I thought I was heading in the right direction but I actually wasn’t, and had to do a little back tracking.

[jenseib]

A slightly out of focus photo of some animal I will probably never have the chance to see for myself is WONDERFUL! THANK YOU for taking the time and trouble to post them, it's been wonderful seeing another part of the world!

 

Crochetcruise :cool:

 

 

LOL! Thanks. I wish I got better shots of him.

[jenseib]

I spotted some more parrots on my way and I just can’t pass them without taking a picture.

I made it back to the beach but there was no sign of mom.

After doing a thorough look I decided to just walk over to the meeting spot and see if she was there......Sure enough I found her.

We had to wait a bit to be sure we had everyone who wanted to come on this portion and then we headed off towards the turtles.

More parrots!