WE"RE BAAACK!!!

What a trip. It was good and a bit indifferent, depending on which day we are talking about!
We got up early on Sat., April 11th and left Salt Lake for Long Beach, California. We checked onto the ship at 12:00 p.m. and were promptly told by the crew to go on a scavenger hunt (a good idea, if you ask me, it is to familiarize you with the ship, but sadly, I still got lost quite a bit). We sailed away at 4:00 p.m. and set off for parts unknown!!! Mexico here we come. after the sail away party, we headed for dinner at Savoy's--ate a nice juicy prime rib and headed back to our teensy, weensy, little stateroom located on the Emerald Deck. we were so tired that we crashed at 7:30 and didn't wake up until the next morning at 9:00.

We had two full days at sea. Since you can't get off the ship, activities go on all around the ship for two days. They think of everything. I even enjoyed a 1 1/2 hr in the nice cool sun at the Tropic of Cancer (really intense) and got fried to show for it. I'm peeling now, but there is a very nice tan underneath all of that skin.
On Tuesday, Apr 14th, it was our first port. Port Vallarta--It is a beautiful, clean (for what we could see) city, but we left PV and went to a little beach hideaway called Los Caletas. You take a catamaran off the bay about 30 miles, where there are white sandy beaches, snorkeling, kayaking, swimming with the dolphins and sea lions and a nice "NATIVE" buffet style brunch. Since when does Mexico do buffet's. Oh yeah! they've become Americanized--I forget!
This wasn't a good day for me--I woke up feeling not so well and riding to the beach in a jumpy catamaran had me ready to lose anything I may have eaten in the past three days. But I kept my chin up and enjoyed the scenery, the beautiful water, the native hospitality, etc.
I wasn't so lucky once I got back to the ship--I was truly worshipping the Great White porcelain god. You may think it was Sea-Sickness, but I was running a fever! Mind you I haven't eaten anything today and I haven't even had any local cuisine yet, so why am I so SICK??? After the sickness had subsided, I went straight to bed at 5:30 and got up the next morning at our next port--Mazatlan (land of deer). Sadly, there are no more deer.

Keith has got what I had yesterday, so I went on a bus tour of Mazatlan without him. I saw many things, very narrow streets, outdoor fish markets, cathedrals, cliff divers, beautiful clean beaches,crystal blue ocean, Papantla Flyers, vendors asking for your money--you name it, I saw it. Still Keith is in our puny little stateroom, sick, and here I am--enjoying the lovely scenery.
Thurs., Apr 16, is Cabo San Lucas. People, if you have never been here, there is one thing and one thing only to see and that is Land's End/Los Arcos--that's it.
We took a partial submersible boat out to Land's End where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet at the end of the California Baja--the water is pristine crystal clear, the ever present "Cabo Blue" water is everywhere,in the bottom of the boat, you can see the local fish, coral, underwater sea life and it is beautiful; but when it comes to land and town, I've got to say--there is nothing there, unless of course, you own a boat or a condo. Nothing. Nothing.
You have to take a boat out to see Land's End/Los Arcos or even get to Lover's Beach. It is a beautiful beach, from what I could see, but again, you have to get there by boat. The rest of the land is very dry and desolate and if you have money for a boat and condo, you have money to spend at the local shops, that are a little more spendy than the last two ports we visited. We decided that if we ever took a cruise again to the Mex. Riviera, we wouldn't even bother getting off the ship in Cabo San Lucas next time. There is definitely a reason that this day is cut short on the itinerary.

After leaving Cabo and beginning to sail home, we still kept a little more to ourselves, because we still didn't feel too great, but we were headed home.
Once we got back up into the California part of the ocean, it was a little cooler than it had been in the Mexico part. Too cold to lay out and so after attempting more sun, went back to the stateroom with the intention of napping for a few hours. I laid down at 1:00p.m. and woke up at 7:00---whoops, I still must not feel very well.

Once we got back to port, we rented a car and took the day to go up to the Newport Beach Temple in Newport Beach.
Have you ever had to fill up your car with gas in Newport Beach--talk about a rich place. These people have so much money that you can find gas station's, they are hidden somewhere in the community. There must be secret codes to find them. Either that, or they all own their own gas pumps on their property. It was absurd.
Luckily, we found won on the outskirts of town. Away from the money and more in the poverty. (I am laughing when I say this).
We drove back after a session at the temple and headed to the Long Beach Airport, where we promptly ran into some people from our Ward. Yep, we went the entire time on this trip without knowing a soul, and run into Mark and Debbie Midgley at the airport. We knew we could go an entire week without knowing someone.
All in all it was good, not great, but good trip. And we would like to forget a few of the days, but we decided we would do it again. I especially missed the rocking of the ship on our first night back home. It was so relaxing. Mexico--probably not, but Alaska could be a new goal, or maybe if we do Mexico, we could do the Caribbean side instead. Then there is always the Mediterranean. Anyone up to the Med with us???

PICTURES WILL BE ON THE BLOG RIGHT AFTER THIS!!!