Leading up to the Cruise, Seattle had a bad wind storm. It knocked out power for most of the metro area. We lost power Thursday night, and despite our generator were in the dark w/o heat most of the time. We were happy to leave really early Sunday morning because the airport had light and heat. We flew to LA and boarded the ship at the Port of Los Angeles. Our room was nice sized for a cruise ship, and had a huge balcony on the aft - It was like having an extra room, we used it a lot.
We cruised for two days, the farther south we went, the nicer the weather was. The second day, the sun was out and it was nice to be out by the pool. The kids enjoyed the performers on board ship while we were at sea. Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas, its very modern and very focused on the tourist trade. While we were in port, we tool a pirate ship cruise on board the Sunderland; an authentic tall ship built in 1885. We cruised by Land's End the arch rock which marks the boundary between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. While we were in the Pacific we spotted several whales, Debbie saw a humpback. The captain explained about how the sail handling and steering were different than on a modern sailboat; We really enjoyed the outing. The ship cruised across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan. It is a fishing town, the least developed for the tourist trade. We took a tour through the estuary where many North American birds migrate for the winter. The guide pointed out a number of birds. The guide says that pelican's are very friendly and frequently hitch rides on boats; we had one land on the deck and visit with Caroline. The tour docked and we took a wagon ride down the beach by a large coconut grove and ended up at a Mexican beach resort where we had lunch. Next we cruised south to Puerto Vallarta; Its a beautiful city situated between the ocean and mountains. We took what was the best excursion of the trip to Las Caletas. It was a one hour power catamaran ride to Las Caletas; it is situated on the side of a small mountain that goes right into the water. The crew was really entertaining and made the trip enjoyable. This was at one time the private home of John Houston. Its now a private all inclusive daytime resort. It is pristine, has 3 beaches, an extensive nature trail through the rain forest, and served some of the best food we had on the entire trip. There was a sea lion swimming around one of the beach areas, and they had parrots and monkeys the girls could pet. It was just a beautiful setting, we loved this place. We returned to Puerto Vallarta, and went into the city for the evening to look around and take in the local flavor. We cruised for 2 days back to LA. The sea's and wind kicked up and rocked the boat for 2 solid days - none of us got sick, but it sure was windy. While onboard ship we enjoyed several performances - the girls particularly enjoyed the musicals. The food was good. I waked a mile each night on the upper deck - I mostly had it to myself. Catherine and I played shuffle board, and Debbie got to relax by the pool, and Caroline enjoyed playing in their kids' club. We had a really good cruise. Once we got back to LA on Christmas eve, we had several hours before our flights took off so we had a tour through LA. We got back home around 11pm Christmas eve, we were relieved that our power was back on (it was off for 6 days). But we had no heat, the blower motor was burnt out by a power surge. It was fixed the day after Christmas.
