Coyuca Lagoon and Turtle Farm

Acapulco was our first  port in Mexico.  We hadn’t been to Acapulco for several years and found it to be very busy and not as nice as we had remembered.  We book a tour through Viator called Acapulco’s Coyuca Lagoon and Turtle Farm.  Our tickets said we were to be picked up at 11:30 but then there was another time of 9:00 so we decided to get off at 8:30 and wander around a little to see if there was good internet off the ship.  We walked up out of the port and made our way through crowded dirty streets.  Locals tried to be our guides and we were bombarded with oneobe trying to always sell us something.  I thought I might buy another Diet Pepsi if I could find it but after 45 minutes of looking and fending off vendors we walked back to the ship.  Our tour was to take us through the Coyuca Lagoon and also to some city sites and a turtle farm where they gather the turtle eggs from the beach and then carefully incubate them releasing them when they are ready back into the ocean.  We were to also have an authentic lunch at a beach front dining area.  While walking back to the ship I saw a sign saying Beth Davies!!!  I went up to the man and asked if he was our tour guide!   After exchanging information we found out that the rest of the group left at 9 and he was waiting for us to show up :(.  He knew we had the 11:30 time but thought we might show up sooner so we had a private tour with just him and it all worked out.  He gave us a good bit of information about the city and drove us to a good overlook for photos.  Then we stopped at the turtle rescue farm and we were actually able to each release two turtles into the ocean after taking a very informative tour of the small rustic facility.  The owner and her mother run the Camp Tortuguera and take donations to keep the facility going.  They have all the eggs labeled as to when they were collected.  They are shaded and protected.  Then when it’s time for them to hatch they watch them closely and only release them into the ocean when they are 45 days old.  You first hold them gently up to the wind so they can smell it... then they make a trail for them to get started and you put them down and off they go toward the ocean... it’s just a really wonderful experience and we loved it!!!

After the turtle release we headed to the lagoon where we boarded a small skiff.  Our skipper was a very knowledgeable young lady who really knew her birds. She could tell right away that she had bird lovers so we were able to exchange information and knowledge.   She knew also the colorations of the immature and adult waterbirds.   After about a 50 minute ride our guide took us to the waterfront beach location for lunch.  It was very basic with no electricity and no choice in the menu.  The lady who owned it got our fish order before we left for the boat ride. She would make us red snapper with two different sauces.   We were offered a beer or bottled soda.  I took the beer and Dan the soda.  We sat under a thatched roof on picnic tables with the water lapping at our feet.  All around us were ducks, cormorants and herons.   There were hammocks if we wanted to stretch out and relax.  The lady cooked on a cement open air fire pit burning coconut husks for fuel.   She had no car for transportation and our guide said she uses the bus to get to town but it is an all day event.  She had one son and he said it is typical that men leave the woman when she is with child.  Most women work to support their families with no help from the men.  Children often don’t know their father and most only go to school till 11 or 12.  They then work to feed themselves or the family.  

Our lunch was served on mismatched plastic plates.  We had the fish, rice, black beans, a salad with salsa for dressing and then sopas which were home made corn tortillas ( very small) with black beans on them and a little sprinkle of cheese.  It was filling and good although our fish had lots of bones which made eating it tedious.   After lunch the guide asked us if we would mind if he gave the cook a ride back into town as he had room in his car.   Of course we were happy to help her.  She wanted to find an outfit for the baby doll she was carrying as it would be baby Jesus in the local Christmas celebration.   As we took the ride back to the ship our guide told us he had no children.  He and his wife decided it took too much to raise a child.  She worked at a huge time share location at the Mayan Palace.   He drove us by it.  He worked at a travel agency and said their biggest sale was flight tickets.  In Mexico if you make a mistake getting your ticket it costs a flat rate of $200 to change the ticket!!!  Many folks are afraid to book on their own due to this.  He said he does the tours in the side and works 7 days a week.   

We were ready to get back to the ship and shower after a warm sweaty day.  Our next and final port would be Cabo San Lucas.

The old fort in Acapulco right across from the dock 

The bay where we are docked far to the right 

A lovely overlook view

Here is the lady that runs the turtle farm and some of the baby turtles that are ready today to be released. 

All the turtle bowels are marked as to their age 

You can tell males from females because if their tails.  Those with tails are males. 

Here is where they are buried in protective enclosures that are shaded. 

Our guide walking down the shaded enclosure and taking us down to the ocean for our release of our turtles!!  

Here is our young guide for the lagoon ride.  She owns her own boat!!  Girl power 😄

Our waterfront restaurant 

The lagoon and Egrets

A photo of boats like ours 

Going through the mangroves... we saw egrets,  many different herons ( great blue, tri- colored, yellow headed , tiger , green and little blue) the Woodstock, cormorants, white ibis, green kingfisher, Osprey, caspian terns, Gallineau and black necked stilts.  

Here was our cook and owner of the restaurant with her most primitive but efficient grill.  

Her helper is preparing our red snapper. 

One is her special recipe sauce and the other a garlic sauce.  

A view from our table. 

Sand floor and a hammock if you want to stretch out. 

He came right up to our table!!  

Here is our feast!!

Our fish!

And my beer :)

These were the decorations on our cooks small abode. 

And look what our steward made for our room :) 

Nicaragua

Our port stop in Nicaragua was at Corinto.   The only tours available were through the ship and most were far away with several hours being on a bus so we opted to just walk around a little in the port townandmake it an easy day.  Nothing really stood out at this port for us and due to civil unrest we thought it best not to try and do much on our own.  The port greeted us with a most friendly arrival with mariachi type bands, colorfully dressed dancers and two large interesting local mannequins that everyone wanted to stand by for a photo shoot.  

We wandered around the little town and saw lots of fresh fruits and vegetable stands and several areas where you could by meat.  The smell in the fish and meat market was pretty overwhelming and not in a good sense.  We looked at a few shops and saw the usual trinkets they sell and souvenirs and then came across a small grocery market.  There was an elderly lady there sitting by the counter.  She spoke very good English and helped us get a few things we needed.  I was looking for toothpaste and hair spray and Dan found some mint lozenges and a Diet Pepsi for me!!  On the ship a soda was $4 but here it was $1!!!  So we took a few more photos and then back to the ship we went.   The boat was scheduled to leave around 2 so we had time to make a few rounds of walking on the deck and put our treasures away before setting sail.  

Our room steward made us the usual monkey hanging from the ceiling on a coat hangar.  As Dan can’t resist adding to the menagerie he made a snake with fangs trying to capture the monkey!!!  We couldn’t wait for our steward to see us that night after dinner and get his reaction.  He hailed us as we walked down the hall coming in for the evening. He said in all his time working there no one had made an animal for him!!!  Ha ha.  He said he called one of his friends working on another floor and had him come look 😂.  I think we made his day !!

Lots of these were around and they were offering to take you around the town. 

You could see the town was getting ready for the holidays and the influence of the Catholic Church.

The fruits and vegetables were large and lovely

Here was how they were cooking the meat to be added to your tortilla or rice

This form of transportation was all decked out!

This lady was getting a ride on the pedal cart with her shopping purchases. 

This photo was on the port administration building.  I tried to ask a few people who he was.  Finally someone spoke enough English to tell me he was a famous poet that the country loved. I wouldn’t have guessed he was a poet from that photo would you? 

The huge mannequins!!

The little band that we gave a few dollars to because we so enjoyed the music. 

This fellow brought his power saw outfit with him and was cutting out wooden earrings and making them there all day!!!

 

A few funny photos of the monkey and the snake 😂

Cabo San Lucas

Our last port was Cabo.  Our day here was pretty short with the ship pulling out by 2.  We had no plans here as we had been here several times and done a lot of the touristy things.  We decided that we would take the bus to Walmart as we had a few things we wanted to get for our next cruise.  We didn’t know how the shopping would be in San Pedro, CA so we had a little breakfast and then walked off the ship onto the tender which was easy.   The town was really very clean with little traffic.  It seemed like a sleepy little town.  The bus was $1 per person and no one was on the bus!!   The Walmart store was disappointing for us.  Prices weren’t cheap and the selection was limited.  I was looking for Sudafed for a cold I caught. Mexico doesn’t sell Sudafed and everything they had was hard to figure out.   We had to check our backpack which worries us a bit.  We took everything out of it worth anything.  After we got back to the pier we mostly walked around and were able to connect with our kids.  We stopped for some chips and salsa, a beer and Dan a pop.  We did some people watching and watched the fishing boats come in with their catches.   At 1:30 we caught a tender and got back onboard.  

We had one sea day to pack up and get ourselves ready to get off in San Pedro.  That day went quickly too.  We got in our exercise , found some time to read as I finished up books I didn’t want to pack off and we even had time to take in some music around the ship.  

Tenders getting ready to take passengers into Cabo.  

A beautiful sunrise with Lovers Beach in the background 

Here we are on the bus to Walmart!!! We were the only ones riding. 

Dan told me to take a photo of the drivers dash!  All the gauges were missing!! Ha ha

Streets were clean but kind of empty

I liked the name of this place!!  

The Christmas decorations were everywhere and very pretty 

It looked like lots of places were new and ingoid condition 

I had to get a few of the cute signs 

We saw this t shirt and had to giggle so I took a snapshot!  

And look there... they have Arizona on that sign post!

We remembered this area before when we were there.  You step down in the semi circle to the shops almost underground 

She looks ready for something !!

This was our sunset as we were heading onward to LA. 

And this was our sunrise as we pulled into San Pedro Harbor. It was so pretty. 

From our balcony as we prepared to leave the Norwegian Star and wait a few days before boarding the Emerald Princess!!