And the vacation continues! We left San Diego on Monday for Long Beach where our cruise departed. We were fortunate enough to find out that one of Joe's friends parents live in Long Beach so we were able to park our car at their house free of charge and get a ride to and from our cruise port! We got on the boat around 1:00pm. They were serving lunch on the lido deck (the main entertainment deck) and we got our first taste of the quantity of food available on our cruise. Whew! We then went to our room where our luggage was awaiting us. We turned on the TV and found they had a few movie channels playing some good movies. But we wanted to go wander the ship and find out what was available to us. We found a mini golf course, the ping pong tables, the pool and entertainment deck, our dining area, a library area with books and games, the auditorium where all the shows were, and the food.
A view of the ocean from our room!
The first of many room cleanings and towel animals. We got that penguin in Sea World as
a souvenir. It was just hanging out in the room when we left and when they cleaned
our room, they set it on the bed like that. I thought it was so funny and cute!
As I mentioned earlier, we were able to share in my cousin and his new wife's honeymoon. That's right, we ended up on the same cruise as them. Totally not planned! We were excited but figured we should mostly leave them alone. Honeymoons are a time to be together just the two of you, right? Not if we're around! We ended up running into them two or three times the first day but tried not to be intrusive. It was still fun to see them and get to know my cousin's wife a little more.
The first day we anchored near Catalina Island. We then were shuttled on a boat to the island. It was probably my favorite day of the cruise. Catalina was beautiful! For our day, we decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. We saw lots of historic buildings, beautiful landscape, and even some of the local people doing local things. We rode past a little park where there seemed to be a children's day camp going on. They were so cute! Here are some pictures from Catalina.
A historical hotel on Catalina Island
Joe in his getup!
Cruising on the beach cruisers
Catalina from the bottom of the island
Lover's Cove!
We rode along the shoreline for quite awhile,
here is our view looking back...beautiful.
A gorgeous church we passed
Joe riding up the "canyon"
Just after I took the above picture of Joe, we rode
up on these little gems! Two fawns, hanging out in
front of someone's house! This is how close we were.
A close up of one of the fawns
These were some memorial gardens for Wrigley, the man who
invented Wrigley gum. Unfortunately it cost more than we
wanted to spend to go in so we admired from the outside.
A view from the top of Catalina down to the ocean
Our boat anchored out there
Our student driver cars are to Catalina's
student driver golf carts. Haha!
Just us.
Saying goodbye to Catalina as we
are shuttled back to our cruise ship
The next day we made it to Ensenada, Mexico. We had signed up for a kayaking expedition to the blowhole, a phenomenon where the waves crash into a cave in the cliffs and it somehow shoots the water 60-100 feet in the air. Well, because of the winds they were experiencing and the choppy waters the winds were causing, it got cancelled. Instead, we took a bus tour to the blowhole through the local tourist office. It was pretty great! We got to see the Mexican "countryside"...not so much like the countryside we know but still pretty. It included a lot of shoreline which was gorgeous. They had a flea market where we were dropped off for the blowhole. They were pretty pushy but we expected that. The blowhole was pretty neat. It didn't shoot up as high as they claimed while we were there, but it was still neat to see it shoot up. There was also a ton of sea life hanging out on the cliffs so that was fun. We then went back to downtown Ensenada and walked around the local vendors. Joe bought a hammock which he was pretty excited about. We also got some other fun souvenirs. We then got ourselves some Mexican cokes (coca-cola, not to be confused with the drug cocaine...) and went to a boardwalk type place where we walked along the ocean and just enjoyed the scenery. After that, we headed back to the boat. Here are pictures from Ensenada!
That little guy was hanging out in the port area
That is one BIG Mexican flag!
A view we passed on our way to the blowhole
La bufadora! The spanish translation of the blowhole
A fat little squirrel by the blowhole
Told you he was fat...
Marine life
The blowhole
More...
And again...
And look at that little crabby!
By the cliffs of the blowhole
If you lean over that edge, you
can see the cave in the cliffs
View from where we ate lunch
Joe drinking his free...lemonade!
Before I added this picture, it was rotated the correct
way but it rotated it back when I added it. Sorry!
The boardwalk we walked along
There were tons of these pelicans everywhere
What did I say?
A pigeon that had been painted to
look like the Mexican flag...poor guy.
Some kittens hanging outside of a closed business...so cute!
Walking back to the boat and the view that greeted us
I caught him diving for food! Awesome.
Another view as we leave Ensenada...
The next day was spent enjoying the cruise ship. It was actually quite overcast and chilly so we laid in our bathing suits for a little bit but mostly spent the day in our jackets doing other things on the ship. Joe participated in a ping pong tournament, we played mini golf, we watched Nadal get beat by Rosol in Wimbledon...in the second round...what?!? We went to some shows, watched some shows on TV and...ate food. Lots of food. This was the first day we were actually on the ship all day so we ate a lot more than the other days. Our dinners were pretty awesome! They had lots of exotic foods which Joe tried and I stuck mostly with what I knew. He ate Alligator fritters, sushi, lobster, shrimp...and that's all I can remember. We also met some pretty awesome people at our table. Two couples on their honeymoon, two couples (including us) just cruising for the fun of it, and one couple who was celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary! The husband of the last couple was a social worker who worked in child welfare so I really enjoyed talking to him. We had lots of fun getting to know everyone and meeting new people in general. Once people found out we were from Utah, the question that would immediately follow was if we were Mormon. It was interesting because it was really my first experience with meeting people outside of Utah in this type of setting where we were from so many different places and backgrounds. I loved it though! And I found that it was quite easy to talk about my beliefs and that most people knew someone who was LDS who they respected and loved. I don't know why it surprised me, I guess I just have this idea that the whole world views LDS people as crazy and unchristian. It was nice to see that not everyone looks down on us. Anyway, here are some pictures of chilling on the boat.
Our overcast day on the boat
Joe being so photogenic for me...
Ping pong tournament!
Awesome action shot
More towel animals
And the ever classic Zzyzx road driving home from California
So there you have it! The cruise review. If you read the whole thing, wow. I really appreciate those who read my blog, it makes me feel loved. And if you're thinking of going on a cruise...do it. It's totally worth it!
a souvenir. It was just hanging out in the room when we left and when they cleaned
our room, they set it on the bed like that. I thought it was so funny and cute!
As I mentioned earlier, we were able to share in my cousin and his new wife's honeymoon. That's right, we ended up on the same cruise as them. Totally not planned! We were excited but figured we should mostly leave them alone. Honeymoons are a time to be together just the two of you, right? Not if we're around! We ended up running into them two or three times the first day but tried not to be intrusive. It was still fun to see them and get to know my cousin's wife a little more.
The first day we anchored near Catalina Island. We then were shuttled on a boat to the island. It was probably my favorite day of the cruise. Catalina was beautiful! For our day, we decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. We saw lots of historic buildings, beautiful landscape, and even some of the local people doing local things. We rode past a little park where there seemed to be a children's day camp going on. They were so cute! Here are some pictures from Catalina.
here is our view looking back...beautiful.
up on these little gems! Two fawns, hanging out in
front of someone's house! This is how close we were.
invented Wrigley gum. Unfortunately it cost more than we
wanted to spend to go in so we admired from the outside.
student driver golf carts. Haha!
are shuttled back to our cruise ship
The next day we made it to Ensenada, Mexico. We had signed up for a kayaking expedition to the blowhole, a phenomenon where the waves crash into a cave in the cliffs and it somehow shoots the water 60-100 feet in the air. Well, because of the winds they were experiencing and the choppy waters the winds were causing, it got cancelled. Instead, we took a bus tour to the blowhole through the local tourist office. It was pretty great! We got to see the Mexican "countryside"...not so much like the countryside we know but still pretty. It included a lot of shoreline which was gorgeous. They had a flea market where we were dropped off for the blowhole. They were pretty pushy but we expected that. The blowhole was pretty neat. It didn't shoot up as high as they claimed while we were there, but it was still neat to see it shoot up. There was also a ton of sea life hanging out on the cliffs so that was fun. We then went back to downtown Ensenada and walked around the local vendors. Joe bought a hammock which he was pretty excited about. We also got some other fun souvenirs. We then got ourselves some Mexican cokes (coca-cola, not to be confused with the drug cocaine...) and went to a boardwalk type place where we walked along the ocean and just enjoyed the scenery. After that, we headed back to the boat. Here are pictures from Ensenada!
can see the cave in the cliffs
way but it rotated it back when I added it. Sorry!
look like the Mexican flag...poor guy.
The next day was spent enjoying the cruise ship. It was actually quite overcast and chilly so we laid in our bathing suits for a little bit but mostly spent the day in our jackets doing other things on the ship. Joe participated in a ping pong tournament, we played mini golf, we watched Nadal get beat by Rosol in Wimbledon...in the second round...what?!? We went to some shows, watched some shows on TV and...ate food. Lots of food. This was the first day we were actually on the ship all day so we ate a lot more than the other days. Our dinners were pretty awesome! They had lots of exotic foods which Joe tried and I stuck mostly with what I knew. He ate Alligator fritters, sushi, lobster, shrimp...and that's all I can remember. We also met some pretty awesome people at our table. Two couples on their honeymoon, two couples (including us) just cruising for the fun of it, and one couple who was celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary! The husband of the last couple was a social worker who worked in child welfare so I really enjoyed talking to him. We had lots of fun getting to know everyone and meeting new people in general. Once people found out we were from Utah, the question that would immediately follow was if we were Mormon. It was interesting because it was really my first experience with meeting people outside of Utah in this type of setting where we were from so many different places and backgrounds. I loved it though! And I found that it was quite easy to talk about my beliefs and that most people knew someone who was LDS who they respected and loved. I don't know why it surprised me, I guess I just have this idea that the whole world views LDS people as crazy and unchristian. It was nice to see that not everyone looks down on us. Anyway, here are some pictures of chilling on the boat.
So there you have it! The cruise review. If you read the whole thing, wow. I really appreciate those who read my blog, it makes me feel loved. And if you're thinking of going on a cruise...do it. It's totally worth it!
Chris and I went to the blowhole in Ensenada on our cruise. It was pretty cool! Looks like such a fun trip :)
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ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had a great time! That was a fun cruise Alan and I loved it when we went last year. We are thinking of going on one to the Caribbean next year. Let me know if you guys want to go with us!
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