The Cruise

Our cruise to Cabo San Lucas was re-routed to Catalina Island and Ensenado, Mexico because of Hurricane Norbert. We had lots of fun on the ship, although we didn’t swim because it was too cold. The food was pretty good and I ate shrimp cocktail every night. Our room was small but just fine for our needs. I didn’t feel at all like we were cramped. The service was excellent and all the crew treated us great. We didn’t run into any traffic on our drive to the Port of San Diego. We had to go through a few Border Patrol checkpoints but were glad to see the agents hard at work protecting our country. We were planning on going sailing and snorkeling in Cabo, so when we found out we weren’t going there, we booked a different snorkeling excursion in Catalina. Then, the winds were too strong in Catalina so we weren’t permitted to get off the ship. Our excursion in Ensenada included a bus tour and going to La Bufadora AKA The Blow Hole. It’s one of the few natural blow holes in the world. The rising tide of the ocean causes air to be trapped in a hole in the rocks on the shore. When the pressure gets to a certain point, it is blown out forcefully causing a big spray of water. We saw dolphins swimming along the shore there too. We did some shopping at a street market near La Bufadora and bought some Tequila and Silver necklaces for me, Tara and Erin. The cruise line had a video on the ship TV in our room explaining where to shop so we wouldn’t get ripped off. We only shopped at shops endorsed by Carnival Cruise Line. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that while we were riding back to town on the bus, I got to see an old man peeing in a ditch. The main part of town was nice and they even had restaurant chains there from the US, but the outskirts were pretty shabby. Our tourguide on the bus spoke English real well. Most of the shop-owners spoke English, but they were like vultures as we walked down the dirt street.
Sam and I were so glad to get away and relax for once. Alex came up from Phoenix to watch the kids because they still had a few days of school before Fall Break and also to continue painting the house. The rest of the time, they stayed with Grandma.