Astronomer’s Carnival Pride Review, sailing 6-25-06 Part 1

[Astronomer]

:D Squuuueeeee!:D

CJW

PS How do you get to that restaurant?

 

I can tell you generally how we got there, but the easiest way is to tell a taxi cab driver " La Bistro"

 

But if you head downtown along the shore you find a hooters, turn away from the ocean and head up the streets passing the central square, veer to the right and continue walking away from the ocean, you will eventually find a bridge going over that muddy creek, take it.

 

The turn up ( left ) after crossing the bridge, you will come to a street ( kind of a busy street ) and a small park, that is Richard Burton Park, you will find a statue of John Huston to the right of that statue is... La Bistro

 

My problem is I dont know any of the street names and not many of the cardinal directions, but I know that area of town fairly well.

[Victory Bound]

Astronmer, I am really enjoying your review. I am working on mine but it is taking me forever. The thing is already several pages long and I am only to Puerto Vallarta. I want to finish the entire thing before I post it. Hopefully I will have it done in a couple more days.

 

I tried to download some of your photos, but for some reason they weren't coming out right. Would you mind e-mailing me some of your pictures? You can send them to me at levesque@revealed.net. I would love some that you took of us and also some of the generic shots you took around the ship. I will e-mail some of our pix to you as well.

[Astronomer]

I will start sending them.......

 

I am going to have to just send a few at a time, cause the folder I created for you is some 45 megs

[Procruizer]

Hey Astronomer,

 

My daughter, myself and few cousins did the same excursion in the morning. That was so much fun. Who was your guide? We had Lalo. he was funny and very knowlegeable.

[Astronomer]

I dont remember, but he was great, perhaps Moondance wrote that down.

 

She is better at keeping notes than I am. I loved that adventure!

 

but here we go, part 5........ and the day I will never forget....

[Astronomer]

Astronomer’s Carnival Pride Review sailing 6-25-06 Part 5

 

Maztlan

We woke up Thursday morning refreshed from all the activity the day before, but I still had some trepidation about this excursion I had planned. It has been a long while since I had ridden a horse, and I was a much younger and athletic man back then.

We went up to the Mermaid Grill, this was actually the first time that I did a full breakfast there, it was quite nice, and somewhat better than I had expected.

We were pulling into Maztlan port, which turns out to be a much larger and more established port than Puerto Vallarta, capable of handling more ships. It was also more industrial looking, a real working port.

The ship pulled its maneuvers with the same swiftness and grace that I had slowly become accustomed too, still surprising to me what this vessel was capable of. Out on the port a Mexican band with lots of horns was assembling, and ladies in full costume. A step outside on the sun deck surprised us, it was hot already, and humid. In fact I honestly believe it was hotter than Puerto Vallarta was.

I was again worried, this was likely to be the hottest day we had spent on the Cruise so far and I was going to be on the back of a hot animal as well. But I decided not to let myself worry too much, and just take the day as it comes.

My Video camera was giving me some trouble, so I decided not to take it ( it was too big anyway ) I dressed as light as I could, I was originally going to wear jeans for riding, but it was just too hot, so I wore my longest short pants, a light shirt.

Moondance wore jeans Capri’s and a beautiful white Mexican blouse she had purchased the day before. We didn’t want to be late as we knew that Randi or one of her representatives would be waiting for us at the terminal. We ran into Victory_ bound ( Dawn ) and her family also getting ready as her group was going to be on Randi’s Happy Horses with us.

We got in line and promptly got off the Pride to the band music, had a couple of pictures taken ( get used to it ), and then were directed to the waiting trams to take us to the terminal. Maztlan is not like PV in this respect, as a working industrial port they don’t want you just wandering around, you are required to take the tram to the terminal.

The terminal was cute, had lots of little shops, and customs was just a quick couple of questions and on you went.

As soon as we left the small building to the outside we saw dozens of little shops in the terminal area, pretty cute really. I spotted Randi immediately, I has seen pictures of her before, she was seated next to a large smiling man with a great big moustache.

As Moondnace and I wandered over that way Randi looked up at us and said “Are you folks looking for a tour?” I replied “I believe I am already booked on one of the best tours in Maztlan” with a smile. Randi immediately responded “Then you must be with Maztaln Frank here” I chuckled, “No Randi, I am booked with you”

She looked startled for just a moment, and then smiled and said, “You must be Dwight” Maztlan Frank shook my hand and I told him the next time we were in Maztaln we would certainly book a tour with him.

We sat with Randi chatting for a few moments and then others booked with her started to gather. It was quite a group, 8 form a party that I was not aware of, 8 more from Dawn’s group and Moondance and I.

Once we were all gathered, Randi took us around to a couple of vhecles, sort of trucks with back bench seats covered with a canopy. We were already over heated and we thought that the open trucks would be nice, and they were. Randi had assured us that it would be cooler over on Stone Island.

Picture of Moondance sitting next to Randi on the truck.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/16/79385020

It was a very short ride to a place that in my mind I can only think of as a fish market, or at least a fish loading area. I didn’t mind the smell at all, as I like ports and fish markets and such. In fact it is exactly this kind of place that I particularly love, the place was real, not just made up for tourists too look at.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/16/79385077

Randi quickly set us up on 2 different ( or was it three ) Water Taxi’s who insisted we wear live jackets ( which was probably a good idea with this many people ).

Randi sat in front and gave us a spirited talk about our surroundings, and Stone Island in general. That there are actually only 80 families that live on the island, and the only way to live there was to marry into one of those families as they were the only ones allowed to own property there. She also spoke very earnestly about the way people live there, that it is simpler and much different than the way that we live.

Pictures

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/16/79385145

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/16/79385191

Now Moondance and I are pretty experienced about different cultures so I didn’t expect anything to shock us, and it didn’t. But I do understand why Randi was giving this talk, people coming from our society might be shocked by the conditions that people choose ( yes I used the word choose ) to live there. They are living the life they want to live, and it is a simple life, and a good one. Just very different than the lives that most people that may read this thread live.

The water taxi ride was nice, and cooler than we were at the port, you could feel the temperature slightly dropping as we moved across the water.

We arrived on stone island to be met by a tractor and trailer set up to carry people. We slowly moved through a quaint Mexican village, and the kind of places Randi was talking about.

Now Kim ( one of Dawn’s sisters ) and I would end up spending quite a bit of time together later, whether we wanted to or not, but we will get to that.

Ok back on the tractor ride, at one point going over the worst speed bumps I have ever seen, they looked like cannon balls implanted in the ground. More comical than anything else. The ride was pleasant and we were feeling like we were seeing a part of Mexico that many don’t see.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/17/79385592

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/17/79385666

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/17/79386115

We arrived at one of our Guides houses, it turns out that Randi for health reasons does not ride as much as she used too, we were warned that our Guides knew from little English to almost no English at all. But Randi stayed with us making sure everything was understood.

Randi gave us three rules, Don’t ride beyond your ability, ( I don’t remember the second rule but I think it had to do with being careful with tiring the Horses ) and the third was to have fun.

We had 4 guides, Ramon, Lu Lu, Tony, and Maria.

Tony is the one that I believe spoke the most English, but Lu Lu without knowing any English did an amazing job of getting what she needed across.

After playing with the baby possum and getting acquainted, I was finally led to the area where the horses were. We were asked how many of us had experience riding horses, very few hands went up. I looked around and you could see the guides looking around realizing that this was a very green party, there were only 3 or 4 hands up, to my shock mine was one of them.

What was I doing with my hand up? Now I have ridden horses before, in fact we owned a horse when I was 17 ( that was some 34 years ago ). I was only a so-so rider way back then. Here I am in Mexico and to make the guides feel better I was standing there with my hand up.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

They le\d me first to a horse that looked pretty small for me, Tony told me that this horse was a little bit Loco, ( what have I got myself into ) he said that he fights for it, unfortunately I was not sure what “it” was.

I asked if I was too heavy for that horse and Lu Lu came up and said Ohhhh Noooooo, and gave me a thumbs up, and said “that horse Loco!” and gave me a winning smile. I am pretty sure all of you reading this knew just how I felt, I couldn’t back down without making a scene, all I could do was cooperate with the inevitable. I had made my bed, now I had to lie in it.

Since there were at least 20 of us, Lulu motioned that I should move the horse around so as to give people more room. So with a slight nudge and a turn of the stirrups I headed the horse into the coconut grove. I was quickly joined ( right behind me ) by Kim, Dawn sister. I looked back at Lulu and she game me a smile and sort of motioned that we could move around.

I mistook her, I thought she was telling me to go ahead on toward the beach, what she mean was that I could ride the horse around the Grove. But Colorado ( the name of my loco horse ) knew exactly where he wanted to go. And he headed out toward the beach, I had no real problem controlling him, unless I tried to turn him around, then he would shake his head and protest but he would give in and point how I told him too, I did this a couple of times., kindly letting him know who was in charge. ( in my mind I knew full well who was in charge, Colorado was, he just let me lead occasionally )

Picture – notice how many horses are in front of us ( answer zero )

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/17/79386634

Kim’s horse seemed happy to be up with me, but when Kim and I turn around we realized that no one else was where we were. Lu Lu came galloping up to us and with a close finger motion saying “Pocito” I knew whe wanted us to wait, the only way that Colorado would wait was to turn him around, if he was facing in the direction of the beach he would be moving forward, so I spun him ( with much protesting form him ) and faced him in the direction of the rest of the part coming up from behind us.

Moondance was on this pretty white horse called Pelican, now Pelican liked to eat, he would eat coconut husks, palm fronds or just about anything on the ground, Moondance was laughing about it but it didn’t seem to bother her too much.

I could tell that Colorado was impatient to get to the beach but a led him back down the path toward Moondance and we chatted for a bit, and a good thing too cause I wouldn’t see her again for about a half an hour.

Kim, with Moondance behind her.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/17/79387119

After a few moments everyone was gathered and we headed out onto the beach, at this point Colorado really wanted to trot for a bit, so we did, and Kim’s horse kept up with us until we were on the damp sand.

Now this is an interesting thing, It didn’t take long to figure out, the Horses don't like the dry sand, too soft, too hot, they also don’t like the surf too much, the sand is too wet and shifting and they sink in a bit, they love the sand that was wet ( damp ) just off the surf, cool, compacted, and stable. Colorado and I would ride into the edge of the surf occasionally, with no real protesting but soon we would be back on the compacted sand and moving along.

Something became apparent, if Kim;s horse got in front of us, it was no problem, Colorado liked to stay near that horse, but didn’t mind too much if it was a little in front, if any other horse got in front of Colorado, the bell just sounded at the horse track! Colorado would look over, he ears would lay back and we would jump forward until that offending horse was behind us.

I just figured out “Loco Colorado”, and what “fights for it” meant, this horse was proud, and wanted to be in front, but this horse also had friends and Kim’s horse was Colorado’s best friend, Ramon told me latter that those two horses were great amigos.

Now that I knew the score the ride became a lot more pleasant, I was not afraid of Colorado at all and understood him better, and Colorado ( with some protest occasionally ) let me control him as far as speed and occasionally when I needed to turn him around so the rest of the group could catch up. The guides were obviously pleased and Kim and I laughed about it, in fact we started to have fun with it.

Our horses were happy as long as they were close to each other, and in front. If another horse even gets close to Colorado his ears would go back and he and he would put hi s head down.

It got to be pretty funny, I was no longer nervous at all, I just needed to understand my animal. The beach was fantastic, beautiful, and Randi was right, it had to be at least 10 or 15 degrees cooler here than it was at the terminal.

I could tell that other folks wanted to play as well, they would gallop past us, and BOOM the race was on! Here was this pretty overweight guy ( me ) on this smallish horse and there was no way anyone would get in front of us for long, if I let Colorado have his head.

It was a blast, but as you can imagine we got pretty spread pout along that beach, the 4 guides spaced themselves pretty well among us.

It was an utterly fantastic time. At one point I lost my very expensive and tasteful ( $4 Maztlan straw ) hat. One of the guides fished it out of the serf and I actually got Colorado turned around ( something he really didn’t want to do ) and ride back the opposite way through the other horses coming up behind us, Tony handed me my ( now wet ) hat, it put it on, and if felt great!

After a long while the guides stopped us and we all got turned around, I like on liked this part as I got a chance to see Moondance again, coming up on Pelican, on the way back, I didn’t let Colorado compete as much as he wanted too, cause I wanted to ride with Moondance a while. He grudgingly complied, but you could tell, he really wanted to be out front, Now Pelican was perfectly content to stay in the middle of the pack. The good news is that Colorado and Pelican were also fairly good friends and he didn’t put his ears back when getting close to Pelican.

More pictures

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79388469

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79388608

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79388710

Of course what I think really happened is that Colorado convinced Pelican to ride up front with Kim and I. Within 10 min we were back in front ( without my even realizing it ) and back up with Colorado’s buddy.

It was a fantastic time, and not something we normally would have even thought of doing. I would not have missed this for anything.

After a more casual ( I didn’t want to wear this proud horse out ) ride back we gathered near a restaurant on the beach and dismounted after what must have been a 2 or 3 hour ride ( I couldn’t keep track of the time It could have been less than that ) no matter how long or short it was, it felt right, and I was ready for a rest in the shade and a cold beer. The horses owner helped us dismount, I think it was Tony’s Uncle ( I might have that wrong ) it has been a perfect ride.

Pictures just before we dismounted.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79388828

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79388950

and Randi relaxing at the beach restraint.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/18/79389054

As is her custom, Randi bought the first round.

I have to say a few words about this place, whose name I don’t remember. It was fantastic, open air, with shade provided by a grass trellis, the floor was just the beach, and the kitchen was in the open, some of the posts were decorated with old license plates, somehow it was fitting.

I was hungry and ordered a combination plate of the coconut and garlic shrimp.

When it arrived I was stunned, and actually took pictures of the plates.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/19/79390072

It was this monstrous plate of delicious shrimp, in fact some of the best shrimp I have ever had! Randi was telling stories about her guides and Stone Island in general. Kim and I had a good laugh about our buddy horses, it was a perfect afternoon.

One thing Randi forgot to mention is that the locals have been breeding cats with piranha, there was a kitten begging under the table and I finally gave in and broke off a small piece of shrimp and tried to give it to the kitten, I was attacked and ended up pulling back a bloody stump of a wrist where my hand used to be. Ok I am exaggerating, but my finger was almost red. Actually I laughed, it was funny how ferocious this kitten was when it thought it might be fed. Dangle a piece of shrimp and teeth and claws would come flying from across the sand floor.

Later Moondance and I went out into the surf and were again amazed, the water was wonderful and you would walk out a tremendous distance and still only be waist deep.

We had several beers, and chatted and rested for a good long time there.

After a good long while we made our way back to the tractors, and back to the water Taxi’s and back to the truck\buss to take us back to the terminal, I gave Randi a big hug for just how wonderful that day had been. ( I also made sure I had given her a generous tip for our guides, they were wonderful! )

I want to say that Randi and her gregarious and outgoing personality, and the wonderful native guides, and horses with personality really put together a memorable experience. Looking back on the cruise, this is the excursion that Moondance and I remember the most, and fondly. We got to see some a real Mexican traditional village, and had a fantastic time.

I don’t want to take away from the other things we did on this trip, our romantic and magical visit to Pureto Vallarta and swimming with dolphins, but Randi’s Happy Horses is easily the day we could never ever forget.

After having a couple of drinks at the terminal, the heat there, which was much hotter than Stone island was starting to get to us, so we retreated to our home, the Pride and back to our air conditioned stateroom. We did eat in the Dining room that night and enjoyed the company of our tablemates Becky and David.

We watched the ship leave the port and listened to the Jamaican band “Cool Runnings” from the Sun deck above the Lido pool. It was a fantastic and memorable day.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/20/79391848

We retired later to cool off and enjoy our private balcony, relaxed, read for a while and looked forward to our last port of call tomorrow, Cabo San Lucas.

The Pride gently rocked us to sleep once again.

Why does Bob owe us a cruise for this day? Because we fell in love with Stone island, and we don’t know when we will get to return.

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Best chapter so far!

CJW

PS The restaurant is called "Victor's".;)

[Zoid180]

I can't wait for each new installment!

 

Did the horses look to be in good health/well cared for? When my wife and I were on our honeymoon in the DR, we did a ride. The horses there looked pretty rough. I really felt bad afterwords.

[coolestwife]

Who is Astronaut... and when were you eating with him? ;)

 

( and I hope he didnt do other things that we did that night too ) :eek:

 

 

Like what? take her up to the F-deck???:eek:

 

GREAT review!!!! thank you!:D

[wisefamily4]

Wow.... Your review of happy horses was great - it really takes me back to our day on Stone Island. Maria, on her horse lead my youngest, on his horse (pony). She was so kind and even though she spoke little or no english - they got along just fine.

I know EXACTLY what you went through with that 'loco' horse as I was in the same saddle.... I even raised my hand and imediately felt as though I had made a rather large error in judgement. The horses have a great way of mixing up the group of strangers - While I was never out of site of my family, I was rarely riding right beside my Wife or Kids until the second half of the ride. As in your case, it is a day that my family will never forget.

I can't wait to get back to Victors and have some great shrimp and a few Pacifico's ..... In fact, I have some cold pacifico's in the fridge at home (our local market stocks it).... I think I'll grill some shrimp, drink a beer and look at our cruise pictures when I get home.

[Astronomer]

I can't wait for each new installment!

 

Did the horses look to be in good health/well cared for? When my wife and I were on our honeymoon in the DR, we did a ride. The horses there looked pretty rough. I really felt bad afterwords.

 

They are very proud of their horses, and they seemed very well taken care of to me, they were certainly not skin and bones, but well kept animals. They were not the largest horses I have ridden by any means, but they were good natured, and terribly tolerant of novice riders.

Even Colorado, but I can tell you, they were right, Colorado is just a bit loco, but in a good way, he is just a spirited and happy horse, and he has some very specific friends, they pointed out Colorado’s 4 or 5 friends ( including Pelican and particularly Kim's horse ) to me once and asked me to ride up to them. I did, no problem, then I was asked to ride up near any other horse... ears would go back and Colorado was ready to fight.

It was pretty funny, but the fact that the spirit was not been ridden out of these horses says a lot, I can only imagine that they do this ride many many times.

I did not feel bad for the horses at all, they seemed to love the whole thing. I know for a fact mine did, and he was having to work harder than most of the others. I also want to add that I didnt feel bad for the people that live there either, they were living a style of life that they wanted to live, our guides could actually afford more than they had, they choose that life, and love it.

[Astronomer]

Like what? take her up to the F-deck???:eek:

 

GREAT review!!!! thank you!:D

 

No.. what we did later wasnt on the F-Deck :p

 

But Moondance will shoot me if I give a step by step report on some parts of the cruise. :eek:

[candigirl41]

I have been on Randi's tour 3 times. I hope to go again. She is the absolute most amazing person ever. I was fortunate enough to actually ride with her twice before she had her medical problems. What a great lady. Next time I will just go for the island experience, no horseback riding. It scared me to death the first time. Went the other two times for my daughter. Aren't LuLu and Maria and Tony the best. Last time LuLu kept telling me andelai! (sp) Scary for a novice. Glad you had such a great time.

 

Candi

[judyjbest]

Great review .... can't wait for your next installment. We'll be on the Pride in October!

[beaming90]

I sure have enjoyed reading your reviews! Thanks!! I'm glad that you enjoyed your cruise! :D

[coolestwife]

ok...we're waaaaaaaating.....

*tap**tap**tap*.....

[Astronomer]

Unfortunatly I am also expected to work. :mad:

 

I will try to get the next part posted this afternoon. :)

[coolestwife]

Unfortunatly I am also expected to work. :mad:

 

Reason #106 why you should get a free cruise (the S&S III would be the one)...

[Astronomer]

The problem is the timing. Trying to cruise during the school year is almost impossible for Moondance, and of course all the fun CC cruises are duing the school year.

 

We have just about given up hope on all of that.

 

So, if we cant do a CC cruise ( S&S would suit us perfectly ) Then we need to look at other posibilities. Next year is filling up already with activities. So tonight I am thinking of pullin out the laptop and setting Moondance down and have her select a cruise and we will try to go again, probably in 2008

 

We have a piggy bank, and have over $400 in it already set aside for our next cruise.

[coolestwife]

Well....darn it! :p

[Astronomer]

Astronomer’s Carnival Pride Review sailing 6-25-06 Part 6

Cabo San Lucas

Friday morning we woke a little worse for the wear, The activities of the last 2 days were taking its toll, but nothing major, but we were starting to move a little slower, I did however take a beautiful snapshot of the sunrise.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/21/79393198

We dressed lightly as usual and were looking forward to going on the tender.

I didn’t know if they would use their own boats ( as the Celebrity ship did when we went to meet our kids on Monterey once ) of if Cabo used it own tender boats.

A quick look out on the Balcony answered that question pretty quick, Tender boats were coming out to meet us.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/22

We made our way amidships where the Tender boarding was to be ( no we didn’t attend the talk, we just read the capers and followed the signs ). Before long we were aboard these small but nicely built tender boats and were seeing a view of the Pride we had never seen before.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/22/79393879

We got to the dock and decided to head in a different direction than most people were taking, which turned out to be a mistake, and we ended up walking for a couple of miles before we finally ended up back to where everyone else was going around the little marina. We stopped at one of the beautiful little resort places along the marina walk to eat breakfast ( I just love Mexican Huevos )

We wandered around and took the obligatory picture of Cabo Wabo

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/22/79396476

But not seeing anything that struck our fancy we decided to try what was recommended to us by our Son, we took a Water Taxi around to the beach and a place called the Office. Beautiful beach, very nice establishment.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/22/79396695

We met 2 gentlemen that had time-shares here in Cabo, and they just loved the place. We liked it too, but there was something missing in Cabo and Moondance and I could not quite put our finger on what it was for a while.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/22/79396087

It finally hit us, this didn’t feel like Mexico, this was a tourist created and built place that was almost the Disneyland version of Mexico. I am not saying it was bad, it was aesthetically the most beautiful place we visited, but it was like a postcard, not quite real. And it was building, resorts were everywhere and more building.

We had a drink, and chatted for a while but to be honest, we were pretty low key that day, we had already walked further than we expected too and really didn’t even want to walk about around to the Marina as we were told we could do.

After relaxing there for a while we walked around for a bit, and then decided we would just go back to the marina by Water Taxi., which was simple enough, you just walk down to the beach and you will found very quickly by the folks selling rides.

We got on a very small boat, with a canopy with a young driver and an 8 year old also on the boat. Our driver Ramon told us that was his cousin Christen. We had been warned about Cabo and the unsafe activities ( particularly the water taxi’s _ but I had a hard time believing this nice guy would put his young cousin in danger.

Ramon told us that this was actually supposed to be his day off, but his wife was expecting and he was trying to make a little extra to take home. I asked him what he usually charged to give people a tour around the arch and such, he told us $8 a piece. I handed him a $20 and told him to keep it, and asked him to show us around.

Moondance liked this idea, that way we could see Cabo, without having to walk, we could just relax in the boat and be escorted by Ramon and Christen. Now Christen didn’t speak a word of English, but he had obviously been on tours before, he would show us the rock formations that looked like a face, or a horse etc. He pointed out the fish in the water and Moondance knew just enough to understand what he was saying. That little kid made a darn good tour guide!

This is a picture of Christen

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/26/79402303

and if you look on the preceding pages there are quite a few pages of pictures we took on that tour. It was by far the best thing we did in Cabo.

Ramon was very careful, and even pointed out places he would not take us as being too dangerous for his little boat, but he took us all around those places, tunnels, and surf blowing through gaps in the rocks, the beautiful arch, and wonderful ( and some very dangerous ) beaches.

He took his time and made sure we were completely satisfied and got to see anything we wanted.

We finally got back to the marina and Moondance and I did a little shopping there.

I liked Cabo, I don’t want anyone to take me wrong, it was beautiful, and it was convenient, it was a fantastic party spot, I could only imagine the night life there would be something to see. But it was also almost too much of a tourist place, a little too pristine. I am glad we went there, and I love the boat tour, but it did not bother me that this was our shortest port.

We took a tender back to the ship that afternoon and were looking forward to our final Formal evening on board the pride. We took a few more pictures as we approached our ship.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/27/79403662

We went back up to our stateroom and relaxed a while until it was time for the ship to depart. This is where things got interesting. Cabo, was beautiful, and seemed to be made for a party, the whole place. Moondance and I could imagine the amount of booze that flows through Cabo must be considerable, and we also understand why this port may be some of the younger peoples favorite port.

Also interesting is the people that were interested in the Pride, the closer we were to sailing, the closer the dozens of jet skis would come to the ship, after a while the tender boats would ward them off and finally a Mexican military vessel was out there standing guard.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/27/79397341

The tender boats were returning faster and faster now, with fewer and fewer people on board them. ( stragglers ) and finally the Pride pulled up Anchor ( I assume, I don’t know if they actually dropped an anchor or just kept station all day ) I never saw an anchor chain, they may have just been station keeping.

Soon we could see the side thrusters kick in and start turning the ship. Only to stop and here comes another tender with some lone guy. The we would turn again.

As the ship churned the water, here come the jet skis, and a pair of girls in a kayak. The military boat saw and warded off the Jet skis but seemed to miss the Kayak. One of the tenders push forward toward the Kayak blaring its horn and then the military vessel kicked into high gear.

Those girls may have to change their swim suits after this, but the Military vessel warded off the potential pirates and escorted them back toward shore.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/28

We finally ( about a half hour late ) got underway and were headed around toward the Arch we had seen on our tour boat ( water taxi ). All of a sudden the ship stops, and here comes one more tender blaring its horn, 2 girls on board. The balconies on the starboard side were filled with jeers and cat calls, and shouts of “Leave em!” but mostly it was fairly light hearted.

You could hear the girls saying “Sorry”

And then we actually were underway…

The pictures I got from our balcony were not too bad at all.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/28/79432163

After a rest ( ahem ) we felt refreshed and went up to the Poseidon bar to have a drink and watch us sail from the Baja Peninsula. There was a fun loving and talkative ( like me ) couple at the bar named Marilyn and Jason, we chatted for a few minutes and then they mentioned they were from Monterey.

I laughed, and told Marilyn that I was Astronomer, her eyes went big and we had a great laugh. We had finally found the jamhouse2004 couple from the Cruise Critics Roll Call thread.

They were hilarious, young and obviously enjoying their cruise. We agreed to meet up after dinner and at Marilyn’s suggestion have our picture taken together.

Moondance and I retired to our stateroom and got dressed for the Formal dinner, which was very very nice, there was also the Gala Midnight Buffet later that evening. Doinner was superb as usual and we had our picture taken with Becky and David at our dining table.

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/29/79434045

During dinner Paul ( Dawns DH ) came over and suggested we all meet after dinner to take each others pictures in our formals, we set up a place to meet and after diner that night we ended up having a quite a few pictures taken.

Marilyn and Jason and Astronomer and Moondance

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/29/79433539

I made sure to let the photographer know to also take pictures of Marilyn and Jason alone so they had some good pictures from that evening of just them.

Then we met up with the Vistory_Bound folks

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/29/79433458

and some together shots

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/29/79433399

After that Moondance and I were just about exhausted. Sol we went back to the cabin and rested for a while, but we did stay up late enough to attend the photo session for the Gala Midnight Buffet.

Lots of pictures on this and on the following page

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/29/79434350

http://www.dwightandhelene.smugmug.com/gallery/1627869/30

After that we nearly collapsed into the bed and I don’t remember much more before the following morning, our last day at sea.

[prideofpride]

Incredible!!!!! Pictures, descriptions, images...What writers you guys are. I have one EXTREMELY important question!! LOL Is there a chocolate buffet on this cruise? If so, when? We were just on the Spirit and I couldn't see one in the Capers at all. Dying to experience that!

 

Thanks again for all your hard work with these reviews.

[Northern Bear]

Only one chapter left. What will I read at lunch after this? :)

 

NB.

[ZanieOR]

I will be sailing on the Pride in October and have enjoyed reading your review so much. It's like reading the chapters of a good travel book, told from a personal point of view.

Anticipating (obsessing over) my cruise has been one of my main recreations this summer and I want to add my thanks to everyone else who is enjoying your great review.

[Astronomer]

I was not aware of any "chocolate buffet", but there was so much chocolate at the Gala Midnight buffet desert table it might as well have been. I don’t think you will ever be hurting to find a desert. :)