October 17th:Two Days at Sea and Acapulco

We left Mazatlan and began a two day cruise to Acapulco. The ship was traveling close to 20 mph most of the way. Much faster than our 8 mph on Yesterday's Dream! The seas continued to be relatively calm. Each evening while we are at dinner the cabin steward comes in, cleans up the room and turns down the bed.

On other cruises we found a towel animal sculpture on the bed, perhaps an elephant, a dog, a rabbit, etc. They were creative and it was always fun to see how they were done. So far on this cruise no towel sculptures. Wednesday night, however, we finally had a towel rabbit sculpture on our bed when we returned from dinner. It actually looked better than the picture shows.


Given we had two days at sea we planned to use another one of our specialty restaurant dinners. This time we went to Cagney's Steakhouse for dinner. We ignored our diets and I ordered prime rib while Linda ordered a filet mignon. It was a great dinner but certainly not something we'd eat on a regular basis.

Acapulco harbor

I was looking forward to a snorkel trip at Acapulco, especially because the Cabo San Lucas snorkel trip was cancelled. We arrived early Thursday morning to a gloomy looking sky. I was afraid this trip would also be cancelled. By the time I went to the shore excursion desk to check it out it was raining lightly. They announced that several hiking trips were cancelled but mine was a go! The snorkel spot was well protected from the wind and waves and after all, we're in the water anyway. Of course sunshine would make visibility better but I was just happy to be able to go.


I exited the ship and noticed people in raincoats and/or carrying umbrellas. It was hardly raining but I guess they wanted to be prepared. Plus most  were not going snorkeling. I walked down the pier to where the snorkel boat was to pick us up. Interesting! Not the type of boarding spot I expected. It was definitely not meet our son-in-law Matt's safety standards.

Acapulco Snorkel Boat

There was a surge coming in and the snorkel boat, which had a flat bow, was using the motor to keep the bow against the concrete pier while we boarded. The boat was bouncing in and out as the waves came up and went down. Fortunately, there was a big rubber fender on the pier. There were two people helping us board by giving us a steadying hand and telling us when to "jump" for it. Another person on the boat insured a safe landing. Everyone made it aboard safely.

It was a short ride along the shore to get to the snorkel spot. The captain pointed out the original Acapulco harbor. It was quite small and he informed us originally used by pirates. Today there is just a small marina with small pleasure craft and fishing boats.

The snorkeling turned out to be pretty good. We were not required to wear a life jacket nor stay with a buddy which is often the case on snorkel trips. I asked the captain about the depth and he told me 25 feet. Usually when I snorkel, I like to wear 6 lbs of weight to help me easily dive to the bottom and look around. I saw some weights on the console that were used for their scuba trips and asked if I could borrow 6 pounds that I could put in my bathing suit pockets. He said, "Sure, do you want a weight belt". Perfect! A big tip was assured.

The snorkeling was against a steep rock wall that was home to many fish. I was able to see more than most of the people by diving down and looking in all the little nooks and crannies. Particularly fun were some porcupine blow fish, many Blue Tangs, (bright yellow juveniles plus bright blue adults) and some very nice trumpet fish.






In addition, there were a lot of black spiny sea urchins which I seldom see in Florida.




On the way back to the ship it started raining quite hard. We were all trying to stay under the hard top but the wind was blowing the rain right into us. We were all wet anyway but being worn out from snorkeling and slightly chilled it was not a pleasant ride back.





 The captain did take us to a small rock island so we could see the shrine to the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. When weather is better it is a snorkel and glass bottom boat site. We were told there was another shrine under the water.

We then headed back to the pier and everyone was able to exit safely. Would have been nice to have better weather but it was still a good trip.

That afternoon the rain cleared out and we had a nice view of Acapulco and the mountains.