Day 71 Santa Cruz, Huatulco

Today was a day full of mixed emotions…. I woke up this morning all excited about visiting a new port, Santa Cruz, Huatulco. I signed up for a Holland America shore excursion called Sailing Adventure. It was to be a sail aboard a 44 foot cutter sloop sailboat and journey across some of the best Bays Huatulco has to offer. There was a little beach & swimming involved, right up my alley. Imagine my surprise when I went off the ship to join my excursion and was first asked to sign a release. I couldn’t imagine what this was for but no big deal, except….. I read it! They were asking for a release of liability for the tour operator and of course Holland America even in the situation where they were negligent… I couldn’t imagine they would ask such a thing. The ensuing circus was great to behold.. The tour operator basically said we don’t need no stinking release, Holland America insists on it or we don’t get paid. I then went to the Shore Excursion Rep who said it’s the Tour Operators issue. I stood there watching the fingers pointed at each other and said “I’m not signing it!” They said fine, we’ll give you your money back. I was so disappointed. I had really planned on taking this tour especially since my Dutch friends were going. I am even more distressed with the fact that I have over a year’s worth of cruising on the books right now going forward with Holland America. If they are going to expect me to release them from negligent actions we will soon part ways. I hope this was just some idiotic mistake or in some way I misunderstood it (fat chance). Anyway, a slow start to a day I really looked forward to on this trip. So what to do???? I went over to some nice Mexican chap and asked to go for a cruise of Huatulco’s Bays. We agreed on a price, filled out no forms and took off. The coast and bays are lovely. We even came across a large pod (school?) of dolphins, very cool. After getting back I wandered the shops for a bit and then just baked the rest of the day…..

Day 70 Acapulco, Mexico

I had a fantastic day today in Acapulco Mexico! My friends from Holland, Rudy & Michelle, joined my for a trip to the Mirador Hotel to see La Quebrada, the Mexican Cliff Divers…. The divers leap from cliffs 135 feet up from the sea to water a depth of only 9 feet…. Really cool! I must tell you a funny story… In 2006 I went to see La Quebrada with my friend Gail and it was really great. The only disappointing thing was that trying to take photos with a digital camera (a good one at that) was really difficult. You see it was a point and shoot and you just can’t rapid fire too well. I could only get one photo per dive….bummer. I decided during that visit that I needed to get a top of the line SLR Digital camera if I was going to get great shots (especially with fast moving objects). That was the beginning of the process of getting my Nikon D200 with the 18-200mm lens…. Anyway, Rudy, Michelle & I had a great time, so good that we actually stayed for two shows. We managed to fill up the time in between shows with some food and drinks… It was a great experience. After returning to the ship I decided to go to the top deck and get some more sun (It is hotter than Hades here). My rash is slowly getting better. Most young children don’t run away in horror anymore. Tomorrow we arrive in Santa Cruz, Huatulco… a new stop for me… Exciting

Day 69 Zihuatanejo, Mexico

I woke up this morning and much to my dismay my rash had just gotten worse…. Bummer. I decided that I would still go ashore and check out Zihuatanejo (what a great name). I caught a tender ashore and walked all over town, the beaches, the markets….. It was hotter than Hades. It would have been nice to go to the beach but at this point I was staying out of the sun for the most part. I had a great time seeing this fishing village again. I was here in 2006 and back then I also went to Ixtapa, the resort town nearby. This little fishing village has really grown over the years and is a destination for many who prefer it over the oceanfront resort town of Ixtapa. I stopped in a pharmacy while in town and picked up some liquid benadryl… I figured what the heck, it may help the prednisone the doctor prescribed. After a couple of hours it looked like I may be improving so when I got back to the ship I decided that the cure could be completed with a go dose of sun…. I went up to the pool deck and grabbed a few hours of hot, very hot sun…. I’m back (hopefully). We’ll see what tomorrow morning brings. Tomorrow, by the way we are in Acapulco… heading for the cliff divers! I’m going to go with Rudy & Michelle who stayed over from the Asia Voyage… It should be fun! I almost forgot, I only have 150 days left on the MegaVoyage..... time to panic? Not yet....

Day 68 At Sea

Today was a perfect day for lounging around the pool except…… I developed a rash over my whole body this morning. It was an apparent reaction to an antibiotic the doctor prescribed for me. I will stay basically out of the sun (by my standards) until the rash is gone. This is not a good situation at all. Thankfully I have some excess tan in reserve. Tomorrow we are in Zihuatanejo. I’m not sure what I’ll do. I may take the tender ashore and just look in a few shops.

Day 67 Cabo San Lucas

Last night I went to dinner and met my new tablemates. They seem pretty nice. I don’t expect to stay at the table because I just don’t want dinner at 8:30… It was 8:00 on the last voyage. I had a terrible night…. For some reason I couldn’t get to sleep, not even a nap! I hope tonight is better…. Tomorrow is a day at sea, I’ll sleep in until 0730.
Anyway, I was going to skip out on my sailing and snorkeling adventure but in the end I was happy I did end up going. The day was just perfect! Sailing out to the Arches, Lover’s beach and the sea lions is really cool…. We sailed to Chileno Bay were we got in some great snorkeling. There were large schools of fish everywhere. The coolest thing was seeing Stingrays, in mass, jumping clear out of the water… never have I seen that before. After returning to the ship I headed to the pool for a couple of hours….. I can’t wait to go to sleep!