Thursday, November 13, 2014

Whales and Sea Lions in Cabo San Lucas

Our last stop on what has turned out to be an absolutely wonderful cruise was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – located at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.  Our ship arrived quite early in the morning, just about sunrise, on Sunday, November 9th.
We’ve always heard a lot about this beautiful location which is well known (according to Edward) for its fishing. So, naturally, when one of the excursions offered included the chance to troll for big fish, it was a no-brainer that we would choose to sign up. This trip also offered a 4 hour ride on a 70 foot yacht complete with food and drink, the opportunity to snorkel, swim, and kayak; and to just relax and take in the beauty of this are of the world. Spoiler alert: there were no big fish biting that day! So Ed was a bit disappointed.
If I can back track one day, Ed and I were waking up on Saturday, November 8th, to a third day at sea (since leaving Nicaragua) and, as is always the practice when on a cruise ship, we open the curtains to view the water and see what’s happening. So this morning we expected to see the big wide ocean with the ship cruising along but instead we saw several tanker ships anchored (along with us) in some port?  Were we in Cabo San Lucas a day early?  Did we really have that much to drink the night before that we slept an entire day?  Needless to say that those first few minutes of being awake were a bit confusing. But the answer was simple – there had been a medical emergency onboard during the night and the person who was ill needed to be transferred to a hospital. So…we pulled in to Mazanillo and were met by four medics from Mexico who came out to the ship to help transfer (along with 2 medics from the ship) the patient to land and an awaiting air ambulance.  We spent about 4-5 hours anchored before getting back underway and on our way to Cabo. Enough time is built in to the ship’s schedule that we had no trouble arriving on time the next day. We hope that the patient received the medical treatment needed and is okay – no updates were shared with us.

But back to Cabo…

Cabo San Lucas is quite beautiful. Spectacular rock formations guard a beautiful harbor and separate the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortez. We anchored out and were transported in to the port by both ship tenders and tenders provided by Cabo San Lucas.  We then boarded our smaller boat for our morning excursion.  Beautiful sunshine, comfortable accommodations, food, and a friendly crew all made for a relaxing morning.  After viewing some of the famous rock formations, including the “arch”, “lover’s beach”, and the “Pacific Window”, we headed toward a more secluded area along the shore so we could snorkel. We saw many beautiful fish, took the kayak for a spin, and just enjoyed the turquoise water.  On our way back, we had a glimpse of a whale (along with a couple of other tour boats) so we waited, hoping it would surface again. And after about 20 minutes it did – just off the stern of our boat! And I had my camera ready and was able to catch several great pictures of the whale as its tail came up and out of the water and back down.  I also now have to send those pictures to about 5 or 6 folks who were cruising with us and were not able to catch the photograph – so I became a bit of a photojournalist at that moment. 




A margarita on the way back followed by chips and salsa and another margarita on land put the finishing touch to a fun morning. Unfortunately, we were leaving Cabo San Lucas at 2:00 p.m. – a short visit.  We may have to return at some point.

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