mountainmare
January 27th, 2005, 08:38 PM
Puntarenus: Since you are reading this you know about cc--but don't forget the ports boards! Following the advice of posters we contacted Mauricio before we left home. Unfortunately I missed his e-mail, but at 7:30 am just as we were going out to see if we could find him the gangway called to say he was waiting for us. Mo has a new airconditioned van, speaks excellent English and his uncle is a very good driver. When Mo is not meeting cruise passengers he is a guide in Carrara National Park. He did not know about cruise critic and was puzzled by the requests that he was getting for tours from people he didn't know. I gave him the review written by Sandy L and he was so excited he had to call his wife to tell her. He is truly a wonderful naturalist, we trudged through the rainforest, Mo carrying this huge telescope for wildlife sightings. We even got peed on by upset monkeys--my life is now complete!! We wanted to see wildlife and local culture and thats what we did. Other posters have gone zipling and Mo also surfs. He is a remarkable young man. Costa Rica is indeed a paradise, the people, nature, the positive energy--I feel safe getting a private tour here. Last year we used Oscar Brown in Limon and this year we were lucky enough to find Mo. Thank you cruise critic!!!!
Santa Cruz Huatulco: Thank you RevNeil! Because of your review we knew that this is a very pretty hang out and relax port. The handicraft market is fun with prices better than Acapolco or Cabo. If you want to shop, I suspect that better deals can be found by taking a taxi to town. If you decide to go swimming be aware that there are some rocks as soon as you get into the water so bring some footware. Yep!! Just plain pretty!!!
Acapolco: This was my first visit to Acapolco so I wanted to see the cliff divers, again following cc Roberto's advice we looked for a private tour.
We waited until the herds of shore tours left and around 9:30 made our way off the ship. We interviewed several drivers before choosing Sr. Oscar Rodriguez,mainly because he approached us with respect and spoke a very soft, understandable English. We had a fabulous tour, seeing some offbeat places in addition to the regular stops. For me a highlight was going by Diego Rivera's house to see the mosaic murals, and then going to an original 50's motel in the formerly posh section of town for an unforgetable view of our ship and the harbor. Oscar knew just when to get to the cliff divers to beat the crowds and pointed out the best place to stand- and yes we only had to pay $3, not the advertised $7 and this included one drink.
By the way, did you know that John Wayne's last wife still lives in his house in Acopolco? She does.
Cabo San Lucus: For months my mantra has been "Whales--I'm going to see whales in Cabo--REAL LIVE WHALES"
You may have caught on by now that we generally do private tours and that's what we planned for Cabo. We tendered in-without a doubt the most efficient tendering operation any cruise, anyline-period!!--and at the pier asked to see whales. Since there were only three of us we had a chioce: little water taxi type boat, bigger whale watching boat or rubber zodiac. We took the water taxi with Zigi, a nice couple from Diamond Princess joined us to get dropped off on Lover's Beach.
After dropping them off we headed out by the Arch in search of whales--Zigi said if we didn't see whales he'd give us our money back!! Immediately we saw a puff of water and sure enough WHALES!! Lots of whales, whale tails, whale fins, breaching whales so close you could see whale eyes(maybe a little too close), haering whales, getting out of the way of whales--at least nine up close whales. WHALES---I SAW WHALES!!!!
My fellow cruise critics got sort of sick of my whale stories, and my whale calling bowl. Oh yeah--we also saw fish, sea lions right next to us, dolphins (free range, not in bondage) and sea lions on the rocks.
On the way back I asked Zigi to drop me off on Lover's beach and returned to town with the Princess people. If you are able to jump in and out of the boat (this was easier than Cartagena people help you in and out) this is a really fun beach to explore, it reminds me of the Badlands in South Dakota with an ocean on each end.
a
And.....did I mention.... I SAW WHALES!!!!!!!!
San Diego: What a great city! Worth doing for pre or post cruise. We walked down to the waterfront for sail away of our former home and met fellow cruise critics Pat and Nancy--we just couldn't stay away. After 14 days it was hard to watch her leave without us, but she's so fickle, she even let other people in our cabin--waving from our balcony. So sad!!!
Random thoughts: The cruise critics I met on board are super people-I even tracked down the lurker with the cc lanyard. Meeting people is the main reason I travel, and on this trip I was well rewarded by the crew and passengers I met on board, but I am truly honored and humbled by the opportunity to know Martine of Catagena, Mo of Puntarenus, Sr Oscar Rodriquez of Acapolco and Zigi of Cabo San Lucas. Each of these people opened their hearts to an American touist who wanted to know about their country and people. I'm always surprised by how quickly pictures of wives, children and grandchildren are proudly shown and lives are shared. We are so lucky for these opportunities. Occasionally one of our guides will ask how much it costs to go on such a grand ship--when we tell them they can't believe we have so much to spend, but they also know that their pride and families make them rich beyond words. Yes we are all lucky--life is good.
So I returned home to Phila area after the Eagles victory to 3 dgree temps and a broken furnace. Only one pipe was broken---yep we are lucky, life is good.
Santa Cruz Huatulco: Thank you RevNeil! Because of your review we knew that this is a very pretty hang out and relax port. The handicraft market is fun with prices better than Acapolco or Cabo. If you want to shop, I suspect that better deals can be found by taking a taxi to town. If you decide to go swimming be aware that there are some rocks as soon as you get into the water so bring some footware. Yep!! Just plain pretty!!!
Acapolco: This was my first visit to Acapolco so I wanted to see the cliff divers, again following cc Roberto's advice we looked for a private tour.
We waited until the herds of shore tours left and around 9:30 made our way off the ship. We interviewed several drivers before choosing Sr. Oscar Rodriguez,mainly because he approached us with respect and spoke a very soft, understandable English. We had a fabulous tour, seeing some offbeat places in addition to the regular stops. For me a highlight was going by Diego Rivera's house to see the mosaic murals, and then going to an original 50's motel in the formerly posh section of town for an unforgetable view of our ship and the harbor. Oscar knew just when to get to the cliff divers to beat the crowds and pointed out the best place to stand- and yes we only had to pay $3, not the advertised $7 and this included one drink.
By the way, did you know that John Wayne's last wife still lives in his house in Acopolco? She does.
Cabo San Lucus: For months my mantra has been "Whales--I'm going to see whales in Cabo--REAL LIVE WHALES"
You may have caught on by now that we generally do private tours and that's what we planned for Cabo. We tendered in-without a doubt the most efficient tendering operation any cruise, anyline-period!!--and at the pier asked to see whales. Since there were only three of us we had a chioce: little water taxi type boat, bigger whale watching boat or rubber zodiac. We took the water taxi with Zigi, a nice couple from Diamond Princess joined us to get dropped off on Lover's Beach.
After dropping them off we headed out by the Arch in search of whales--Zigi said if we didn't see whales he'd give us our money back!! Immediately we saw a puff of water and sure enough WHALES!! Lots of whales, whale tails, whale fins, breaching whales so close you could see whale eyes(maybe a little too close), haering whales, getting out of the way of whales--at least nine up close whales. WHALES---I SAW WHALES!!!!
My fellow cruise critics got sort of sick of my whale stories, and my whale calling bowl. Oh yeah--we also saw fish, sea lions right next to us, dolphins (free range, not in bondage) and sea lions on the rocks.
On the way back I asked Zigi to drop me off on Lover's beach and returned to town with the Princess people. If you are able to jump in and out of the boat (this was easier than Cartagena people help you in and out) this is a really fun beach to explore, it reminds me of the Badlands in South Dakota with an ocean on each end.
a
And.....did I mention.... I SAW WHALES!!!!!!!!
San Diego: What a great city! Worth doing for pre or post cruise. We walked down to the waterfront for sail away of our former home and met fellow cruise critics Pat and Nancy--we just couldn't stay away. After 14 days it was hard to watch her leave without us, but she's so fickle, she even let other people in our cabin--waving from our balcony. So sad!!!
Random thoughts: The cruise critics I met on board are super people-I even tracked down the lurker with the cc lanyard. Meeting people is the main reason I travel, and on this trip I was well rewarded by the crew and passengers I met on board, but I am truly honored and humbled by the opportunity to know Martine of Catagena, Mo of Puntarenus, Sr Oscar Rodriquez of Acapolco and Zigi of Cabo San Lucas. Each of these people opened their hearts to an American touist who wanted to know about their country and people. I'm always surprised by how quickly pictures of wives, children and grandchildren are proudly shown and lives are shared. We are so lucky for these opportunities. Occasionally one of our guides will ask how much it costs to go on such a grand ship--when we tell them they can't believe we have so much to spend, but they also know that their pride and families make them rich beyond words. Yes we are all lucky--life is good.
So I returned home to Phila area after the Eagles victory to 3 dgree temps and a broken furnace. Only one pipe was broken---yep we are lucky, life is good.