Baja California Sur, Loreto December 27, 2021

Here is a destination that has been on our bucket list for many years. We have heard so much about this quaint village from Tess and Aaron and other friends who have stayed here; some for a week others for years. Today are docked at 8 am and this is a tender port.  To our pleasure it is not a commercial port so you see the loveliness of the town right away.  We have no plans here formally but just want to get a feel for the community and the area.  Drinks in a shady touristy Mexican cantina are always on our radar!  We let all the passengers with tours get off and then we leisurely board a tender for the short trip over.  The town is very clean, beautifully adorned with shady trees and bougainvillea and the pace is slow.   When we venture off the dock we meet up with a guide who offers us a tour of the city for $20!   So we take him up on it.  Very quickly we discover( too late) that our guide speaks no English!!  I know a little Spanish so I’m able to communicate very sparsely with him.  He takes us along the Oceanside where many Americans and wealthy Mexicans have homes along the shore.  They look like $1,000,000 homes to us but really this isn’t what we wanted.  He takes us by churches, schools, the highway that goes to Cabo or north to another town and finally to the market where we get him to stop and let us out.  We amble around and enjoy what festivities are happening.  Then Chuck spots a nice cantina for us and we enjoy something to drink and some chips , dips and salsa.  Our ship leaves at 5 for Guaymas, Sonora so we stay there till almost 3 and then catch our tender back to the ship.  

We enjoy dinner in the Lido with our favorite spot and waitress Ayu.  The Jujebox Rogues are the entertainment so Dan and I take them in.  They were ok singing songs from musicals.  The audience was slim and I know it’s tough to get enthused when you don’t have many out there.  

By 9 we were off to our cabin where we enjoyed the lights from our balcony along the shoreline.  

Lots of small fishing boats at their dock 

Egrets on the side 

Welcome!!

There is a National park here 

Here is a beautiful hotel. Some of our friends have stayed there.  Inside there were lovely courtyards. 

Still in the holiday season 

A UNESCO site for their park

Interesting to see how they recycle!!

A cute outdoor venue with many of our fellow passengers enjoying it!

Beautiful center of the city. 

Eye catchers for sure.

A pretty sober Mr and Mrs Santa 

Look at this shady shaped boulevard!

Enjoyable dancers with lovely costumes. 

Interesting benches.  

Yummy!!

Just had to snap it!  Right by the dock 

Our ship in the background.

A very safe harbor

We’re masked but happy :)

Pichilingue (La Paz) December 26

The population of La Paz has grown greatly since the 2000s.

Eco-tourism is by far the most important source of tourism income in La Paz. Tourists also visit the city's balnearios. There are some 900 islands and inlets in the Gulf of California with 244 now under UNESCO protection as World Heritage Bio-Reserves and the Isla Espíritu Santo group, which borders the northeast portion of the Bay of La Paz, the primary tourist destination of the area.

Industries include silver mining, agriculture, fishing and pearls. Tourism is also an important source of employment for this coastal community.

Holland used to give you lots of information printed about ports and the history of them.  Now they hardly handle and paper to keep things sanitary.  They also used to film the port presentations and you capsule watch them on your tv but this didn’t happen either.  

We had not been to La Paz before so this was a new adventure for us. We got a map from a local assisting passengers and decided to do the walking tour.  The Malecon follows the shoreline and along it are works of art, restaurants, little touristy shops and shady spots to sit and just watch the local interactions.  We walked all of the Malecon and then stopped for something to drink. Pichilingue is the name of the port.  The town provided us with a free bus shuttle to the town area which ran every 30 minutes.  Some passengers took a tour to Todos Los Santos of which we had been to with Aaron and Tessie when they lived in Cabo for four months.  There you would see Hotel California, The Mission de Neustra Senora del Pilar de Todos, gorgeous beaches and a lot of art galleries. 

All aboard again was 5:30. We were on well before that time.  We found some comfy shaded loungers on deck three and all snoozed a bit or just relaxed.  Dinner was at the Lido.  Entertainment was a dance company. A comedian was on later that night.  They also have a music walk where you can enjoy a variety of venues. 

Our free bus ride let us off here. 

Every Mexican town boasts these colorful signs that folks pose in front of. 

La Perla inaugurated in 2014 along the shoreline art walk 

Part of the beautiful Malecon along the shore 

And some holiday decorations too!

Cute ice cream area of which Betsy partook!!

Having something to drink! 

An interesting restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating.  I had to go in and take a few photos!

We headed back to our bus ride back to the port but enjoyed our time in La Paz   It was very clean and friendly and the Sea of Cortez was lovely and inviting  

Capes of Lucas, December25th

Did you know that Cabo San Lucas means the capes of Lucas?  This was a tender port for us and we had no excursions planned as we have been here many times.  We took our time getting off after all the ticketed tender folks had gone. It was a warm Christmas Day!  We had one sea day to get here and we slept in, walked the decks, explored a few other places on the ship and then set off to walk a bit onshore and look for a pharmacy.  I wanted to see if I could get Celebrex; not the genetic version but the real thing.  It seems to really help my arthritis but I can only get the generic brand through my insurance and it doesn’t work for me at all.  Anyway we enjoyed the port area and found a nice place for a cool drink and a snack.  

I didn’t really take any photos in Cabo.  Lots of places were closed due to Christmas Day but none the less we were masked up and cautious.  Our all aboard was 5:30.  We were on board well before that time. We sat on the back of the Lido deck and played some cards.  Then we headed to our rooms to dress a little fancier for our holiday dinner in the main dining room.  We were treated to a beautiful window location for four.  The dining room was virtually empty when we sat down.  The meal was ok.  Nothing really that spectacular but service was perfect and the atmosphere festive.  The entertain that night was Frankie Valley at 7:30.  They were a group of four guys doing all his songs. We opted out but Betsy and Chuck said they were fabulous.  We wandered around a bit but many bars and venues were closed I’m sure due to COVID.  Lots of other things were going on like game shows, trivia, the BB King Blues band , whiskey tasting and shop specials but we headed to our room and enjoyed a holiday movie.  

San Diego Ready or Not!

 I apologize for such late entries.  For any of you that follow this you must think we fell off the edge of the world or caught COVID and quarantined!! None of the above, but I got wrapped up in just experiencing our first vacation in almost two years and couldn’t quite get in the swing of it to write.  So, we did make it to 50 years , we didn’t catch COVID and Happy New Year!  Tessie picked us up the day before our cruise left port and we flew South West to San Diego.  It was a packed flight, not one empty seat.  But we had our KN 95 masks and followed all the safety protocols.  We got to the airport in SD and were able to catch a taxi or such to our hotel.  The hotel provides this service but now with COVID they discontinued.  We had nice rooms and had a while before we could get in them so they stored our luggage and we walked across the street to the harbor and marina where we enjoyed walking and watching the goings on of a wharf.  We found a nice outdoor restaurant for lunch and felt pretty safe with no folks too close. By the time we got to our rooms we decided to rest a bit and then later go back over for a lite dinner.  The next day Dan brought us up some coffee and eggs from the breakfast line. We got our passports, vaccine cards and boarding passes ready while tagging our bags for the ship. We made sure our tip money was easy to access too. Surprisingly the hotel would take us to the port which was strange when they didn’t do airport shuttles but our boarding time was 3 so we got there early. The luggage folks gathered our bags and the cruise greeters let us in early. It was seamless getting onboard. No keys were given but they said they would be in our rooms. So up we headed on the ramp and that excitement of being onboard seemed to magically appear. The group of greeters from the ships crew was large and boisterous shouting out hello, we’ve missed you, we’re so happy you’re here!! And I shouted the same and took their photos which made them even more happy!!

I’ll post photos of our first day. We skipped lunch and just toured the ship. Then Dan and I realized we had been on the Zuiderdam for the Voyage of the Vikings!!! Duh!  
We unpacked in our lovely room and we’re told the muster would be done very quickly and in small groups!! Voila!! We couldn’t ask for anything better. After the muster I made dinner arrangements for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve in the main dining room. I requested a window seat for the four of us and shared that it was our 50th anniversary. 


Back in our room we discovered a most gorgeous bouquet from Aaron and Tess for our anniversary along with a generous gift or room credit AND WIFI for Dan for the entire trip!!! Did we ever feel
spoiled!!


So our first night we had dinner in the Lido as they cancelled our sail away due to wind and rain. It was a little disappointing but we just were happy to be on the ship which looked too top. We found out we were the first set of guests to be on the ship for 18 months!! All the crew was fabulous, helpful and talkative. They had been on the ship since August out in the harbor around San Diego. The captain wouldn’t let any of them off as he didn’t want them getting sick so I’m sure seeing us was somewhat joyous! All us old folks!!  


Masked up for our flight!


Chuck and Betsy sacked out on the plane!



Coming into San Diego with our ship to the left in the background.


At the marina harbor across from our hotel having some lunch 


This was at night in the harbor. Sailboats decorated for the holidays. I bet the Christmas parade on the water was beautiful!


If you enlarge this photo you might see my whipped jeans!!! Chuck hates them so we both decided to get a pair at goodwill and wear them when we embarked!! He had to laugh about it and actually we didn’t look to bad!! Ha ha

When we embarked we noticed HAL had COVID screenings available! They never made mention of it. We wondered why this was happening but maybe some folks were traveling too far to be able to get them done in 48 hours before we sailed. 


Here we are getting in line to check in. Everyone was masked as was expected and really folks were good about it on and off the ship. 


There goes Dan and Betsy is ready to follow behind. Notice her wrapped jeans too!  



We are on the ramp heading up to board. It’s a cool cloudy day and puffer coats were needed. 


Here’s our welcoming crew so happy to be with us!



And a few more!


Here’s our home for 10 days:)


Everything was spotless and those flowers were gorgeous!


Could you stay here for 10 days!!



Thank you sweet daughter and son in law. I enjoyed them every day and trimmed the stems and gave them fresh water ❤️



Since they no longer have Captains welcomes they give you two free Mariner Cocktails.  


Our ship was only at 60% capacity so no worries about crowding or finding a seat! 
This is the back deck pool. 


You must always be masked unless you are eating or DRINKING!! Ha ha


Getting ready to set sail. 


The inside pool with the retractable roof. We always love this area and spent lots of time here laying cards, reading, or sleeping!