Cabo San Lucas

We're finally arriving at Cabo San Lucas, which was supposed to be our first port, but was delayed to our final port to avoid Tropical Storm Patricia. Looks like the Captain made a good decision, because it's a beautiful day!

Andrea & I had another room service breakfast where we ate on our balcony. Here she is thoroughly enjoying her muffin!

We watched the tenders were going back & forth to the cruise ship that was already anchored.

Our first tender pulled up right below us waiting to bring people to land. Guess we better get ready for our kayaking trip!

These were our guides on our trip (wish I could remember their names!). They brought us over to the beach where we received our snorkel gear & fins and got to pick out our kayak (We got the green one!).

It didn't seem that far, but we had to paddle out past our cruise ship to Land's End. Oy! That was work! Andrea & I were almost the last ones ... there was an Asian woman with her mother who were behind us. They were really struggling, and the guides offered to split up and take each woman in a kayak, but the ladies refused.

We paddled out to the Arch (El Arco), but it was high tide, so we couldn't see it. We also had to leave our cameras on the excursion boat so they didn't get ruined. These photos I took from the ship as we were leaving.

Anyway, we then paddled to this rock formation where we saw a colony of sea lions. The tall one on the right is Scooby Doo (he's looking out over the Pacific Ocean).

Here's Scooby!

We then paddled over to Lover's Beach. Thank goodness! I was pooped! This little piece of land has the Sea of Cortez on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. We were able to explore and go to the other side, but the Pacific Ocean side is very rough. I went in up to my ankles and the waves and undertow were VERY strong ... even for this tough Jersey girl!

We met up with the group again, and we trekked over to another beach where we put on our snorkel gear and headed out to a big rock to see some fish. Our guide had a bag of crackers or something, and he would empty some out under water and a million fish would come to feast. A million snorkelers came too! After much head banging with other snorkelers, I decided enough was enough. I swam off on my own, and when I lifted my head from the water, everyone was gone! I didn't know if they headed back to the kayaks or what, so I figured that was the safest bet in case they were waiting on me.

I got back to the kayaks, and they weren't there either, so I left my gear in the boat and went for a swim. About 15 minutes later, I saw Andrea come up looking a little worried about me. "Thanks mamasita ... I'm OK."

This was the big rock all the snorkelers were swimming around. I wish these places were this deserted when we were here! Lover's beach & this rock were more crowded than NYC!

We finished up the excursion by paddling back to the beach, and they brought us by boat back to the pier to meet the tenders. Andrea & I decided to shop a little before heading back to the ship.

After shopping, we stopped for a cerveza, and I caught the local bookie ...

Guys were coming & going with money going back & forth. I stealthily tried to catch a photo of one of her transactions, and she actually smiled at me (although he looks pretty guilty)! Guess it's not illegal here.

The bookie thing sounded exciting, but she was probably just the landlord collecting rent from all the vendors. lol

Back to the ship where we showered and hung out on our balcony to enjoy the view as we were leaving Cabo.

This was our neighbor, Terry from Scotland, hanging out on his balcony. Terry & his wife were a lovely couple ... every time we came across a pub on the ship, or cantina on land, there they were! They really enjoyed our bottle of bubbly too! I never saw them drunk though ... go figure.

Now, here's a rare shot ... Andrea taking a picture. lol Actually, it's a rare shot to catch her without her camera!

Six o'clock rolled around, and I was wrong about last night's dinner. Tonight's dinner was actually the 2nd formal night. I took some photos of the lovely ladies of Club 300, so let me introduce you to ...

(l-r) Andrea "Snappy", Eileen "Bronx", Barb "Woody"

(l-r) Kathy "Hoosier Mama", Barb "Jaguar", Mary Ann "Sparky"

(l-r) Sandra "Babe", Wendy "Krafty1", Sue "Shooter"

Margaret was originally at our table, but her friend was all alone at a different table, so she changed tables. She stopped by to visit us, and here she is with ...

(l-r) Woody, Margaret "Chardonnay" & Hoosier Mama. I'm glad she stopped by cause the group really missed her!

We had our final class with Wendy at 8pm where we glued lots of papers to fragments to make a necklace. I was so exhausted after all that paddling I couldn't even concentrate. To this day, I never finished that necklace. Maybe I'll do that today ... almost forgot all about it.

Anyway, once again, I by-passed studio time and headed back to the room. This towel visitor was kind of funny ...

I'm pretty sure it's a monkey, but I think Alester needs to work on it a bit. I tried taking photos of this guy from every angle, and I think this was the best. Looks more like a dog snout with a spa towel around his neck!

Time to rest up for our final full day.

The Big Day ...

It's here! It's here! My big day ...

So, Puerto Vallarta ... beautiful! By far, from all the islands & ports I've cruised to, this is one of the prettiest & most inviting.

I wish I had a better picture to post. Everything was so green ... trees, lawns, beautiful gardens. How did I end up with a picture of a roof? lol

While I was getting ready for my big day, Andrea came in from the balcony and said "there's a pirate ship." So, I went to check it out and saw this ...

I said "how do you know it's a pirate ship?", and she said "cause they told me." With that, over a loud-speaker we heard "WE ARE DA PIRATES!" in this funny, scratchy voice with a Mexican accent. And, then they started shooting canons at other ships! It cracked us up! For the rest of the cruise, we just kept saying "we are da pirates!", so if you heard two crazy women saying this, now you know why.

So, before I tell you about my big day, I just want to mention that Andrea is a wimp, and her excursion, that she actually paid for, was a cooking class. HA! What a maroon!

Anyway, my big day was the excursion called "Outdoor Adventure Experience", and boy was it! This even surpassed the helicopter ride to the glaciers in Alaska.

We began with an exciting 20 min. speedboat ride waaaaay to the other end of Puerto Vallarta. What fun! When we docked at a small beach, we had to wait for the trucks to come pick us up, so we had this very funny guy 'entertain' us, and loosen us up. There were about 16 of us in the original group, and everyone must've still been asleep, cause they were like quiet lumps in chairs.

We weren't allowed to bring cameras, so I missed some great photo ops, but luckily, Vallarta Adventures provided us with a photographer to document our adventure. We were then able to purchase photo CDs at the end of the excursion. Not too bad, I got 98 pictures on the CD for $29.

This is a photo of the trucks they picked us up in at the beach. They took us in two groups, and I was in the 2nd group, and we left about 15 minutes after the 1st group. They gave us drinks while we waited for our turn, and it was very interesting trying to drink it while in the back of this truck!

After about a 20 minute ride, we got to their base. I was so impressed as soon as I saw the crew members and knew I was in very good hands. I've heard scary stories about some of these excursions where it's just a bunch of locals who have no experience or safety concerns and are just trying to make a buck.

Anyway, here was this group of muscular guys, all wearing professional rock-climbing gear & red helmets. Their group quickly got our group all geared up.

We got belts with all our caribeaners and whatchamacallits and were told 'don't touch anything.' No problem, dude ... you da boss. The gloves were really thick leather, and they had an extra flap of leather over the palm because you have to kind of 'slide' your dominant hand on the rope above you, and pull down on the rope to brake. Yeah, OK.

Then, they marched us up to their barn of burros where they gave us quick instructions and snipits of common sense, like, how to mount the burro, and "don't go behind the burro". Then, they introduced each other--a team of 5 guys, 1 girl and the photographer--all College educated in America & professional rock-climbers. Very funny crew ... I knew I was in for a great time. Six of them for 8 of us. I liked the odds.

We rode the burros as far as we could, and then we had to hike the rest of the way. Oy! The air is pretty thin up there, and all I can say is thank God I quit smoking 20 years ago!

We got to the first zipline which looked pretty intimidating.

They instructed us on how we had to be in a 'sitting position', hold onto the rope in front of us with our weak hand, and lightly hold the top rope above us with our dominant hand. They showed us how to stop, and what hand signals they'd be giving us from the platform below.

Then I was off! When I got to the bottom, my legs were shaking! Now, I'm a girl who's jumped out of 6 planes, gone para-sailing numerous times, did that hang-glider-drop-thingy at amusement parks, but I get vertigo looking out the window of a tall skyscraper. Go figure.

They rushed us up to the next platform which was another hike UP. There was a water break along the way, and I took my time drinking cause I wasn't in any hurry to do that again anytime soon.

When I got to the next zipline, I was stunned. That practice zipline was like hanging from your mother's clothesline! My legs were still shaking, and I thought I was gonna drop. I actually let someone ahead of me so my legs could stop shaking a bit. Well, they'll let one person ahead of you, but not two. I was on my way.

Woo Hoo! After that, I was ready for the rest of the day. I felt more comfortable, and I relaxed ALOT.

When we got to the next zipline, while waiting in line for our turns, they were demonstrating how to repel on a big boulder nearby. We did the zipline, and ended up at the top of a 300 ft. waterfall! There go the legs again a little. We had to inch ourselves backward to the edge, and then slowly start 'walking' down the side of the waterfall. Pretty nerve-wracking, especially after they just told us that it's very slippery, and if you're not careful you could slip, and the first thing to hit the rock wall would be your face!

But, once you take that first step, it's easier than you think, and as long as you take your time, it's actually very exhilirating. Little did I know what was still to come!

When I splashed into the pool of water at the bottom, it was such a fantastic feeling! The water was so cool & clean, and it felt wonderful!

A few more ziplines, and a plank bridge ...

A rope bridge ...

And then, another big drop ... straight down. Let's see, how can I explain this ... they had this long 'plank' hanging from the trees above leading out over a pool of water hundreds of feet below. Could this get any more exciting? We had to slide down the rope like a fireman on a pole, into the pool below.

That was my favorite part! That was waaaay cool.

We zipped over some rapids, and after 1 or 2 more ziplines, we got to 'race' another person on the final zipline. I got to race with Erin, who was a 16-year-old girl from Scotland, whose mother sent her on this excursion by herself! My husband has to meet this woman ... he wouldn't even let my daughter ride her bicycle off our own street until she was 15! It was pretty pathetic seeing this poor teenage girl ride her bike in circles in front of our house! lol Yeah, Rick is pretty neurotic, but I don't even think I would send my 16-year-old on an excursion like this by herself.

Well, I was the big loser. Ah, youth ... no fear. But, our excursion wasn't over yet ...

We hiked back to the camp, got changed and had lunch. They took us back by truck to the beach, but along the way we stopped at this little tequila factory. Very weird. It looked like a really big garage with just one guy who was hanging out by the big opening. Our driver asked us if we wanted to get out to have a free sample of tequila, and one of the guys from our group (he looked like Colin Ferrell ... who could say no?) talked me into going, and 4 of us went for the 'tour'.

The guy was standing next to a big oil drum with several bottles of tequila on top and some plastic shot cups. He gave us each a cup and poured some shots. Well, back in my drinking days, tequila was the only hard liquor I drank in shots, but I never tasted tequila like this! In my memory, you always had to lick some salt & suck on a lime because of the taste. Not necessary with this stuff ... it didn't even taste like tequila!

Then, he poured us another flavor ... I think chocolate ... and then another, and another ... I think we had 5 different flavors, but some we got 2 samples, so I think 7 free shots total, all in about 10 minutes. Then, he brought us over to the big vats and explained how they make it. Then came the sales pitch. Americans can only purchase this stuff over the internet, but we could purchase it there. I was all set to get a bottle of the chocolate flavor to share with Club 300 and other friends when he told us that they take it away from you when boarding the ship and return it to you in LA. Oh well, lost that sale. I can't bring tequila home! This would be the last cruise I get to go on! lol

We were laughing while climbing back into the truck, while the rest of the group was looking at us with what ... jealousy? disgust? Who cared?! Free delicious tequila!

Back to the beach for a quick cerveza before our speedboat ride back to the port. What a day! I wanted to do it all over again!

Dinner was another formal night, and each meal with these ladies was even better than the one before. Can't wait to see these ladies again. One lady in particular, Mary Ann, really came out of her shell that night. She's this sweet, quiet older lady, but when I joked about how we should 'alter' Tim, she was all over that! Her face lit up, and she didn't let me forget it for the rest of the cruise. She got us all going, wondering what we should do.

After another exhausting day, I headed back to the cabin, and was greeted by ...

This peacock was too cute. I don't know why I'm always surprised when I see these guys, but I just love it when I open that door at night.

Mazatlan!

We woke up very early cause our first excursion started at 8:30am, and we wanted time to enjoy breakfast. We were up before the sun!

Of course, when the sun did come up, we were ready with our cameras.

I was playing with my camera settings, and I got a couple of interesting shots.

I don't know where this ship came from, but I just love this shot!

We continued taking photos as we reached land, and this next view just screamed "Welcome to Mexico!"

I love the beautiful colors of all the little houses, and the bustling of the boats in the water.

We enjoyed room service (pretend I inserted one of Andrea's photos here ... she took pictures of ALL the food we were served!). After breakfast, we headed off ship for our first excursion ... ATV Adventure. My family often vacations in the islands, and my husband & kids usually do the ATVs. A lot of times these small places don't have more than 3, so I always opt for some time alone.

We were taken by boat to Rock (maybe Stone, dunno, can't remember LOL) Island. Andrea was so ready for our adventure! She'd never been on an ATV before either!

Andrea was behind me in line, so whenever I got a good lead on her, I'd slow down and try to catch an action shot of her.

Here we go! We rode those babies all over the beach, through bushes, open fields, we were all over that island. One guy had a speedometer on his ATV, and he said he clocked us going 85 mph! Woo Hoo!

We stopped here for a photo op because our guide told us that this is the only rock on the island, hence the name. I don't know what he was talking about, cause I seen lots of rocks! LOL

I had to do the 'ole 'self portrait' shot, cause all the pictures of me are in Andrea's camera!

After our ride, we got to relax at an outdoor cantina to enjoy a cerveza. A lady came up to us with jewelry for sale, and she lucked out with a couple of live ones. I bought 2 bracelets and a necklace, and I thought I spent a lot! Andrea bought jewelry for almost every female she knew! And, we weren't done yet ... we followed her to her table to see what else she had! LOL She loved us!

We returned to the ship, showered and prepared for dinner and Tim's next class. This was a little class with a big bang. I've gotten so many compliments on these pieces since I've been home. I'm going to re-create the necklace class with my students.

Tim called this the 'Creepy Kids Necklace' because you can see a picture of a creepy kid through the keyhole. He'd found an old photo of about 10 kids when he was in Paris(?), and he made a copy for each of us. We covered the photo with a piece of mica to re-create old glass. Very cool.

Our 2nd project was a pin. We used sticky tape to hold the wings on, but when I returned home, I used my ever faithful E-6000 glue to make sure they stay put! I'm not one for pins (I usually forget to remove them & they get ruined in the wash!), so I think I'm going to follow someone else's lead (Lori, maybe?), and pin it to the board we made in Wendy's class.

After class we'd heard that there was a party with a buffet by the pool starting at 11pm. Just enough time to run to the cabin and drop off our stuff. As we opened the door, look who we found ...

Isn't he the coolest little puppy you ever saw? But, I did have to show him just who that remote belonged to!

We went out to the party at the pool and the buffet was awesome (again, imagine some of Andrea's photos here). Near the bar, I ran into a few friends ...

I found Heather ...

And Mario too! We took turns taking photos of each other. And, look who else was at the bar ...


Not one, but 3 of England's wildest! Everyone should enjoy their golden years as much as these ladies.

We didn't stay at the party for long cause we had another early morning ahead of us.

The Journey Continues ...

The captain informed us on Monday that Tropical Storm Patricia was going to be in Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday. He'd made the decision to bypass Cabo and have Tuesday as our 'day at sea', and resume with our scheduled stops in Mazatlan on Wednesday, and Puerto Vallarta on Thursday. We'd then hit Cabo on Friday on our way back home.

I'm sure this threw our instructors into a little frenzy as to what to do, but without fail, they came up with the plan of just switching Tuesday's schedule for Friday's schedule. But, to keep the alternating instructor schedule intact, they switched our instructors for Wednesday & Friday.

What that meant for our group was that we got to do Wendy's 'big' project on Tuesday instead of Friday, which also meant that we had to keep it a secret. Well, it was a big board, and I had a little chuckle when we were told to keep the project 'under wraps'. LOL Still cracks me up. Anyway, this was my favorite project of the week. Sorry Tim, I loved the book project too, but it was a very close 2nd to this board.

The bottom portion of the board held a framed corkboard, and we decopaged all the wooden surfaces with old dress patterns. We then used the 'splattered' stamp all over the dress patterns using the Archival Coffee ink for a subtle background. I really enjoyed this, but the next part was even better!

We were supplied with grunge paper stamped with flowers again, but we also got leaves, a tag, and a head. We cut everything out (except on set of flowers), inked & decorated, and glued them on our boards. We all received a set of Tim's grunge alphabets, and we each made our own titles for our boards.

For the last set of flowers, Wendy had us glue some designer scrapbook paper to the backs and then cut them out. She showed us how to cut them and use them to create a beautiful little rose. I tell ya, I love gardening, and I really appreciate flowers when they're in the dirt. I'm not much of a person for cut flowers, nor am I a girly girl. But these flowers Wendy introduced me to are just perfect for me! They're grungy, fun, colorful, and best of all, no flowers die in the process.

I wanted this class to go on forever. I wanted to make more leaves and run them down the side of my board. And, I wanted flowers ... layers and layers of flowers! I'm going to post a photo of my board, but keep in mind that I'm still waiting for a little someone to order my re-inkers so I can make more flowers!


After this class, I went to the marketplace (again!), and loaded up on grunge paper. Not only for myself, but I wanted to teach these flowers to my students. Pretty soon, I'm gonna have to get a job with Ranger, cause I'm probably converting all my Stampin' Up! customers into Ranger customers. LOL

We had to rush back to our cabin because tonight was formal night at dinner, and we had just enough time to change and get to the dining room.

Don't ask me how I got that sunburn already ... I don't remember! LOL Anyway, while we were eating our dinners, all the waiters paraded around the dining room and then lined up on the big staircase and sang an Italian song to us. For the life of me, I don't remember the song either, but I do remember them saying that none of the waiters was Italian! LOL

Our waiter, Robert, is on the far right. I thing he really enjoyed this part of his job!

After dinner, I was exhausted. I headed back to my cabin to find this little guy ...

That Alester ... what a maroon! I love how he keeps putting Andrea's sunglasses on his towel animals.

Tomorrow, our first port ... Mazatlan!

Holiday Card-Making Sessions

My calendar has been updated and you can view it here for all the dates of my holiday card-making sessions.

These are actually little get-togethers where we all work on our holiday cards together with music & light refreshments. All my non-consumables are available for your use (paper cutters, punches, Big Shot & Dies, etc.), and you just need to bring your consumable supplies (stamp sets, ink, card stock, adhesive, refills, ribbon, etc.). There is a small, $5 fee for each two-hour session, and you need to register for each session at least 24 hours in advance. Minimum of 2 people per session or the session will be canceled.

I'm sorry, but as a promise to my family, I have to be strict about the sessions ending promptly at 9:30pm.