Our cruise left from Long Beach, CA on Sunday, but because airfare was sky high, we decided to drive and our trip started bright and early on Saturday morning. We left just after 5am and after as few stops as possible, rolled into Bakersfield about 8pm. It was a long day, but thankfully uneventful.
Sunday, we drove the remaining two hours to the port. Jeremy dropped us off at the port, returned the rental car, and took an Uber back. While he was gone, we checked in our bags and as soon as he got back, we boarded the ship. We started exploring right away, but C.C. had watched every video the internet had to offer about our ship before we left so we were way ahead of the game. The boys did the sky ride shortly after we left the port and the vacay was officially underway. And, Elsie lost a tooth day 1 of the cruise.
Monday was a sea day. We went to trivia, played soccer pool, CC and Merrick did the ropes course, Elsie and Jeremy went to the pool, and Merrick, CC, and I did water slides. More than anything, we ate. We ate a lot.
Tuesday was our first day in Cabo San Lucas. We had planned to go to Chileno Bay to snorkel, but didn't have a solid plan for how we were going to get there. Chat GPT had told us we could take a taxi or the bus. When we found out the taxi was $40 each way, we decided to try for the bus. It ended up being a bit of a walk and and adventure to get there. It really wasn't that far once we knew where we were going, we just didn't take the most direct route. The bus was...something...they wanted pesos, but did let us ride for $15. Mine and Elsie's seats were broken, the window next to Elsie was shattered and I was a little worried that with a wrong bump it might fall in on her so I made her wear her sunglasses for a little protection. Merrick stood for the ride. He is fairly certain that we hit another car at one point. In any case, we made it to the beach and it was amazing!
The water was a little cold, but we were still able to snorkel without problem. The water was clear and beautiful and the fish swim practically all the way up to the shore. That freaked Elsie out, but she did get brave enough to stick her face in and see the fish at one point. The rest of us did do some snorkeling and the fish were plentiful. We saw whole schools of fish swimming around. CC also fed the fish at one point and was swarmed as she fed them. Elsie also really enjoyed playing in the shallows by the rocks.
On the way back, we decided it was worth the $40 for the taxi. We then just had a very short walk to the tender boat. On the the walk we stopped for Churros that put the Disneyland version to shame. I think the taxi was the right call. Elsie had had enough excitement for one day. She did not love all the vendors approaching us, particularly when they had iguanas that they approached her with. She also didn't love the tender boat we had to use in Cabo.
Wednesday was also a Cabo day. On this day we had planned a whale watching excursion. Again, it was a bit of a walk and Elsie did not love the pushy vendors along the way. She also was not sure about the whale watching boat when we first got onboard, but we were able to convince her it was safe. It ended up being such an amazing time. First, we fed the fish and watched them swarm around our glass bottom boat. We went out to Lovers/Divorce Beach and out to the rock formations that Cabo is famous for. We then continued on to do the whale watching. We found a mama and baby humpback whale. We followed them for quite a while. We got pretty close and watched them jump and slap the water with their tails. It was an experience not soon to be forgotten.
Thursday was our second sea day. We had sea day brunch, played more soccer pool, played mini golf, visited ship characters, Merrick did the ropes course, Merrick and I did the sky ride again, CC went to a Thriller dance class, we watched a movie by the pool, and of course, we ate ALOT, again. Also, Elsie won a shirt in a raffle contest.
Friday, we docked early in Ensenada. Elsie was relived to be done with the tender ports. We walked a short way to the downtown area and then took took a taxi about an hour away to La Bufadora. La Bufadora is a naturally occurring water geyser. The waves and tide cause water to shoot straight up into the air. They also have a market there. Merrick was thrilled to pick up a "Louis Vuitton" belt. They started at $75, but he got them down to $40. Our driver, Pablo, was a great tour guide. He and Jeremy talked the entire ride in Spanish and Merrick, CC, and I understood most of it. After the Bufadora, Pablo took us to his favorite taco stop where we had ridiculously good tacos before he dropped us back downtown so we could finish our day with a little more shopping.
That brings us to Saturday. By the time was got off the ship and got the rental car, it was just after 10am. We then battled LA traffic and started our trek home. We made it to Medford, OR about 10:15pm last night, crashed at a hotel overnight and hit the road again this morning for the last 4 hours of the trip.
It was a wonderful week. We are all already talking about next time. But tomorrow it's back to school, work and routine, so I better get back preparing for that.
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