A Whale of a Time in Cabo

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
February 20, 2015

Cruise Card #2

Well, we did not get off to a promising start. We were waiting in the theater for our tour group to be sent down to the tender and an announcement was made reminding us to have our cruise cards before leaving the ship. (The cruise card is your room key, your ID card, and your credit card. You can't get on or off the ship without it.) I said to Ken, "Oh #%&*, I don't have mine." He said, "I don't have mine either. So we were also locked out of our cabin. Panic! I said "Run back to our cabin and find Santosh and get him to let you in."  Meanwhile our group was called to start going downstairs to the tender. I waited for Ken and told one of the tour people that he would be back soon. The tour person/line monitor said to wait by the theater entrance and go down the stairs by that entrance, not the stairs the rest of our group was going down. When Ken returned, panting and hyperventilating, he tried to run right past me to the other stairs. I finally got his attention and he stopped and we went downstairs and caught up with our group.  Phew! Ken had not been able to find Santosh so he had to go to the passenger services desk and have them make up new cards for us. Fortunately he had our drivers' licenses to show them. Oy, what a way to start the day.

What's Your Sign?

Our tour was "Zodiac Whale Watching." (I'm a Leo.)  Each Zodiac carries 15 passengers plus a naturalist and a "captain."  We were the last two in our group of 15. All the seats were taken and they wanted us to sit on the side - the part that is like a bouncy house. There are some little handles there to hold on to. I really didn't want to do this. I was afraid of falling off, or getting splashed, or getting a backache from the absence of back support. Fortunately, another couple offered to trade with us because they actually wanted to sit on the bouncy part.

Captain Chuey, and our naturalist (I forget her name) did a fantastic job.  The 2-hour tour was so much fun. Our flotilla of four Zodiacs headed out toward Cabo's iconic rock formations. Did we get close! Chuey told us the names of many of the rocks and showed us a photo he took a few moths ago when a huge hurricane hit Cabo. The waves wer all the way up to the top of the rocks in his photo.

The Scooby Doo Rock

Sea lions

Next we headed out toward a pod of dolphins. They were all around us.

Finally, we headed across the bay where there were some humpback whales. We weren't that far out. You could see Cabo quite clearly.  We watched a mother, a calf, and another whale as they cavorted. When they dove they left a circle in the water. The most beautiful sight was when their tails would come up out of the water. It didn't happen every time, but it would occur a few beats after their backs disappeared (and it was impossible to get a photo of it). You would never see more than about 10% of the adults, but the calf would jump up out of the water and you could see probably 80% of it. All of this was very hard to photograph. 

I didn't fall out of the Zodiac and we made it back to the dock in one piece.

Me and the Captain and the Zodiac

Out to Lunch

We walked around Cabo a bit, and then we walked about a mile to the other side of the harbor for lunch at the Hacienda Cocina y Cantina. The Hacienda is a fancy gated community (for rich Americans, I presume). They drove us in a golf cart from the gate up to the restaurant. It was a beautiful place, very calm and relaxing. To get there we had passed many places along the waterfront that were noisy and busy. Some had blaring music, some had people trying to sell you stuff: tours, timeshares, jewelry, cigars, and prescription drugs. It was sensory overload, what with the heat and a little dehydration, so we were very happy to get away from that for a while. The Hacienda is right on the beach. Between us and the beach were two gorgeous infinity pools. It must be nice to have a place there. we could see the ship from our table. The service was excellent. The food was very good, but not quite excellent. Maybe I am so used to Tex-Mex that my expectations are based on Tex-Mex and I have no benchmark for judging food from other regions of Mexico.

On the patio at Hacienda Cocina y Cantina

After our return to the ship we had to have naps before our evening activities. After dinner we saw a comedian/acrobat named Uber Rossi. I'd give him a C for his comedy, but an A+ for his ability to hop across the stage while doing a one-handed handstand.