Cruisin'

I finally went on my first cruise. I braved the high seas and pirates and hurricanes and man-eating sharks and sea-sickness to have a fun family vacation with my dad. Actually, we didn't see any pirates or hurricanes or man-eating sharks, but my dad did see whales and we saw dolphins and seals.

My dad, Margaret, Danielle, Tyler, me and Maddox took a 5 day Carnival cruise down Baja, Mexico to Cabo San Lucas and then up to Ensenada and back to San Diego. We ate lots of good food, spent a lot of time in the sun, watched a really cheesy cruise show complete with show-girl dancing and over-the-top singing.

In Cabo the cruise ship anchors in the middle of the harbor, it doesn't dock, so we had to take a ferry to the docks. My bathing suit (the only one I brought) had broke that morning and so Danielle and I walked to this mall in the disgustingly humid heat (it was seriously hot) while my dad and Margaret walked to the beach and Tyler stayed on the ship until the baby woke up from his nap. We walked all over the mall (which at least was air conditioned) and looked in about 10 different bathing suit stores and couldn't find a suit for less than $100 US. So, I wore one of Danielle's tops with a tank top over it so as not to shock anyone who got an eyefull of those nasty zebra-stripe-like stretch marks.

Anyway, after the baby woke up we went to the beach but to get there without having to walk about 75,000 miles in the heat and humidity in the middle of the day you have to take a water taxi. And I'm not just talking about any water taxi, I'm talking about a Mexican water taxi. So here we are, me, Tyler, Danielle and Max, a big diaper bag and a stroller. Getting in to the taxi from the docks was totally fine, no problem. BUT, little did we know that Mexican water taxis that take you to the beach only pull up sort-of close to the shore and you just have to jump out and wade to the beach while about 15 other taxis are all around you, bumping in to your boat and trying to slice your legs off with their non-US approved motors. It was crazy, we had to jump out of the boat into the ocean with the baby and his stroller and our diaper bag. Miraculously we did not get the essentials wet and made it to the beach. Max learned how to stand up on his own in the sand, we ate some bad Mexican coconut popsicles and waited for our faithful taxi to return. And just like the drop-off, the pick-up was just as crazy, only this time we had to get us and everything else in the boat. Here I am, struggling to jump in the boat, trying to avoid the other taxis, the waves, slipping helplessly underneath the boat and an angel appeared, grabbed my butt, threw me into the boat and helped with everything else. That little 10 year old Mexican boy saved my life that day and the lives of my family and I am forever in his debt (I bought chicle on the way back to the ship hoping that maybe it was his little sister selling trying to earn a buck for the family).

Ensenada was much more tame. We went to see La Bufadora, the blow-hole. It's like a geyser in the ocean. Tyler and I had been there before with friends so it brought back lots of fun memories. We took a tour bus to get there and our tour guide Jenny, an American living in Ensenada, told us all about the stuff you can buy there. Maddox screamed the whole way there on the bus but seemed to enjoy the little bazaar on the way to the blow-hole. I bought some Vanilla and Max got some maracas that he absolutely loves. Poor Danielle had to miss the fun because she was stuck on the ship with some kind of stomach bug.

All in all it was a great vacation and we had tons of fun together. Max was pretty well behaved on the boat and everywhere we went it seemed like someone knew him or had heard of him from another passenger. He flirted with all the waitresses and smiled at all the old ladies. Take a look at our album from the cruise (and my dad's visit) to get your fill of pictures.

Cruise June 2007