Statendam - Nov 1 - Zihuatanejo

[Krazy Kruizers]

We arrived in Zihuatanejo at 6 AM - right on time! Of course we have had 2 days to get here with an average speed of 11.3 nautical miles per hour - remember sometimes we cruised at 13 nm while at other times we cruised at 9.5 nm.

This is a tendering port.

The last time we visited this port all the tours were cancelled because heavy rains just a couple of days before we got there had washed out many of the roads while others were blocked with debris.

There were 4 tours available for this port and 2 of them were cancelled - we were told that not enough people signed up for them. We took the Ixtapa Resort Tour - it was okay. We toured around Ixtapa and stopped at a 4 year old hotel for a refreshment. We were told that they would give us either a margarita or a local drink. All that was offered was beer, orange juice, or water - no special drink. It was a beautiful hotel - 3 large pools - each one cascading into the other one. The area that we saw from the bus was beautiful. We had 1/2 hour shopping stop at a mall. What a waste of time that was. There were a few jewelry shops and the rest were junk shops. Lots of beach clothing shops. Some stores weren't open as this was a national holiday - All Saints Day.

When we got back to the tender pier we were surprised to see the Norwegian Star unloading it's hoards of passengers. It was a fight to get to our area of the tender pier as many people were lining up to take the small boats over to the beaches for their holiday. While waiting in line, one man from one of the small boats threw fish to a seal in the bay giving us all a delightful show. At times the seal would leap out of the water wanting his food faster than he could throw it to him. Obviously they have been doing this for some time.

Since the 2 tours ended at nearly the same time and with tender #8 not being used, everyone didn't get back to the ship on time. We also learned that the one tour left late because we had a medical emergency on board. A passenger had to be taken off the ship so tender service was temporarily stopped to load the stretcher anto the tender along with the man's wife. We heard reports that she was crying as they left the ship. BUT we never did find out what happened to the man! No one we talked to seem to know the whole story.

I nearly fainted when we got back to our cabin - the plant with only 4 leaves left has been replaced! We now have a great big bushy plant. Read the tag - it was from Vancouver! Wonder where that plant has been hiding for the last month??

YO - the captain found the accelerator - when we checked the TV monitor this afternoon we were cruising at 20.4 nm. Now the ship is vibrating everywhere. We decided to have after dinner drinks on our verandah. We but our glasses down on the coffee table while we prepared to go outside and they nearly rocked off the table. We had to hold our drinks the entire time we sat outside.

[DFD1]

Hey, KK. Glad you finally got a decent plant! You should write professionally. Fun to read.

 

Sounds like this port was one of those "all beginning to look alike" ports

[Krazy Kruizers]

It was.

Some plants.

Same hotels.

Same beaches.

Hotels and beaches have all the same names like in all the other ports.

[sail7seas]

Your reports are wonderful, KK.

 

 

Such enjoyable and informative reading.

 

You must have kept a great journal of your cruise to recall all of these wonderful events....such as the man feeding the seal. :)

 

Do you always keep a journal when you travel?

[Krazy Kruizers]

s7s

I usually do keep some kind of a record - but not like most people. I just take a sheet of paper, write down the dates, and just write down a couple of key words for what happened on that date. Then when I get home I try to write a full report from those key words. Since many of our recent cruises have been in the Caribbean where most people travel I don't write too much. But this cruise was different and had different ports, so I took more notes than usual.