Polar Bear Plunge

On New Years Day, Paul and I went to Bradford Beach for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. We almost didnt go this year due to my not feeling well, but I didnt want Paul to miss his tradition.

Happy New Year, everyone! Have a wonderful, healthy 2011.

Honeymoon, Part Three

There isnt much to say about Mazatlan. We arrived the next morning and were surprised by what we saw. The port is in the middle of a fish cannery and the whole area stunk! It was just nasty and we were unsure what to expect beyond the port.

We decided to give the city a chance. We needed to do some shopping and decided to go to the Golden Zone. This would require a cab ride from the ship. As we rode towards the Golden Zone, we went through some very poor areas of the city, which was heartbreaking to see. You could tell when the affulent part of the city began... you could see the large white mansions on the beach. We spent a few hours shopping and got a lot of nice things.

We ran into three kids who were selling little trinkets on the street. Being the suckers we are for children, we couldnt resist. From the older girl, we bought a handmade doll. From the middle girl (my favorite), I bought a handmade purple bracelet (which is now tied onto the handle of my purse), and Paul bought 5 packets of gum from the 2 year old boy.

Our cabbie for the ride back to the ship pimped out his cart. He had Mexican rap playing LOUDLY from his customized stereo (you can see that he kept his hands on it the whole time we drove... he was very proud of it.) It was quite comical driving through Mazatlan in a throbbing cab.

While we were driving, we saw that the city was enveloped in a very heavy fog. It was almost impossible to see anything near the water. As we went through the "ghetto," I took some pictures because even though Mazatlan was a poor city, it was clear that it was home for many people. The colors of the houses were vivid and there were a lot of activity in the streets.

The port for Royal Carribbean has several shops where people could shop if they did not want to venture out into the city. They had beautiful Mexican tile and Christmas decorations that lent a festive amtsophere.

Here are the pictures of the industrial port and the fish cannery. Whew, we have no desire to go back. It STUNK!

The fog was THICK! Can you see the ship?

Paul is modeling a wrestling mask he bought for his Dad. Needless to say, the Golden Zone had a lot of *interesting* things for sale.

Goodbye, Mazatlan.

You provided us a glimpse in authentic Mexican culture and we are grateful for that.

Wordless Wednesday

Yes, SJ and Sam love to spoon.

Honeymoon, Part Two

We woke up in Cabo San Lucas!

It was a lovely sight to behold!

We had a shore excursion called Sea Trek.

Sea Trek was an excursion where you wear a "helmet" on your head and you walk around on the bottom of the ocean. Paul thought it was cool because it looked very "sci-fi." It was a very interesting experience because the helmet weighed 75 lbs and while your head stayed relatively dry during the whole time, the water did come up to your chin. It took us a few minutes to adjust to the new bearings and get used to having the helmet on. We saw a lot of neat sea life and got to hold a sea horse in our own hands! We got to play frisbee underwear and do fun spinning acrobat tricks.

They had a scuba diver with us who took pictures of all of us underwater. Unfortunately, we did not know we were allowed to bring our wallets and we weren't able to buy a picture of our experience. We were trying to be sensible and leave our valuables on the ship.

Oh well, live and learn.

After our excursion, the engine in our tender flooded. So, we had to kill some time on the small boat while they tried to fix it. We took some pictures and I am so surprised that Paul was in an amicable mood. He normally hates the camera, but then... he was having a blast!

One thing that struck us about Cabo is that it is GORGEOUS!

The rock formations and mountains are very dramatic against the ocean.

Simply stunning!

When we returned to the ship, we took in the view from the pool deck.

Cabo was just lovely. We have plans to go back and explore this quaint city again in the future. One of my colleagues has a time share here and I understand now why! It was 88 degrees on this beautiful day and we ended up having a GREAT time!

Of course, Paul would not let me continue this good streak of pictures without throwing this one in. I knew my luck was short lived!

Good bye, Cabo! You were a very amazing host!

-to be continued-