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New blog on line
Our new blog, part of our online photo albums, is now online. Please bear with us as we learn this new site details, and how to add new content. I’m sure that this will improve as we gain familiarity with the new operating system.
Moving to a new site
We’ve had this blog for a decade or more. It has been rewarding to post here, and get feedback from around the globe. We’ve always had this blog site and an online photo album, but have decided to keep updating only our photo album. So there will be no new entries to this blog effective immediately.
Our photo album has always had the capability of hosting a blog site, but we’ve never used it. So who knows, maybe in the future we will add the blog in to our photo album. Meanwhile, feel free to check out the photo album. It is organized by date and the ability to search by keyword will be added soon.
Our photo album web site is http://www.laninga.com, or just click here.
Back to San Diego
From Loreto the route took us south, past La Paz and around Cabo in the sea of Cortez. There was a lot of whale activity, nice to see from our ship but a little hard to catch on a cell phone.
We could see the port of Cabo San Lucas, and saw three cruise ships anchored there. Glad we stopped on the way down. From there it was a straight shot to San Diego with smooth seas and mild weather.
We met Brad and Roxanne the first day, and struck it off well. So for the whole week we shared food and laughs. They made the cruise even more enjoyable for us. We traded emails and hope to catch up with them again.
We had the best waitress on the ship serving our dinners. Olga kept us entertained and well fed during the cruise. She never hesitated to recommend the best dishes, we had some of the best on board dinners of all our cruises. In fact, we booked another Princess cruise in March.
Loreto, MX
Loreto is a town of about 20,000 on the Baja peninsula. It is mainly a tourist town, with fishing being the main attraction. In the summer it is the Dorado fish, in the winter yellow tail. There are also several major desert dune buggy races, and of course some cruise ships.
The city has a nice waterfront walk way, and a very nice old town center. There you will find lots of bars and souvenir shops. Nice place to just enjoy a stroll and indoor shopping.
Now it’s back to the ship and on to our end port of San Diego.
La Paz
When we were in Cabo, the weather forecast for our next stop – La Paz – was for rain. And, in fact, it rained hard. But as our ship drew closer the weather improved, with sun and temps in the high 60s. Lucky us!
The port is about 20 miles from the city, but the (free) bus service was very good. On the way in, the scenery reminded us of Arizona. But the city was typical Mexican.
We visited the local church (La Paz Cathedral), a popular tourist destination. Then we walked part of the Malecon, the seaside walkway which features interesting statues. Since the Malecon is some 13 miles long we only walked part of it. And only photographed a few statues. If we had more time we could have pictured more.
Then it was back to the ship, and continue on to our next port in Loreto. Another port we’ve never been to, more things to explore.
Snow day followup
Before we left, we checked the weather forecasts. No big storms, no freezes so we decided to not shut off the water while we were on our cruise.
So imagine our surprise, while we are in the hot tub, to get an alert with this picture from our doorbell camera:
…….. and for forecasts about frozen pipes etc. Fortunately, we were in contact with Stacy, and she will check our house as soon as weather and traffic conditions permit. And shut off the water if there is a leak.
Guess we better never trust weather forecasts again…. We just survived the last big freeze and had to fix some major leaks. Hopefully our house survives this freeze with no damage
On to Cabo San Lucas
We walked to the terminal only to find a very long line. With nothing else to do, we made some new friends. Finally on board and into our cabin. A little faded ship design but quite roomy. This ship uses a chip in a medallion so the door unlocks when you get close. And you can order anything no contact. Technology at work!
There were a lot of activities to keep us busy. Trivia, bag toss, music, karaoke, and so on. And quite an artistic fruit and vegetable carving. The evening concerts have been entertaining s well.
We have found the food to be much better than many others. Not just the quality, but also the variety of dishes. And the service has been prompt and friendly.
We are now in Cabo, but we’re not getting off the ship. Been here before, and no crowds in the hot tub, so that’s our afternoon activity. Tonight we move to La Paz.
Another Mexico cruise
Last month we did a Mexico cruise on Holland America, and while the itinerary was ok, we did not like the ship service. So when we saw a similar cruise out of San Diego on Princess, we decided to try Princess. Found reasonable air fares to San Diego too so we booked it.
We liked San Diego as cruise port, close to the airport and a nice hotel within yards of the terminal. And weather was supposed to be nice so we packed light.
The flight over was super easy, no crowds. The shuttle showed up on time and we booked into the hotel. They offered a free appetizer at a seafood restaurant we wanted to try out, so all was well.
We had an half hour wait and then they escorted us to our table… next to the ocean, on the deck. Maybe a nice place in a sunny day but this was cold! But dinner was very good, and we didn’t sit around very long.
Puerto Vallarta
Porto Vallarta was our last stop. We had booked a city tour through our travel agent and were looking forward to it. They promised visits to local craftsmen and a tequila distillery. Well, they did, but we feel the leather shop and distillery were affiliated with the cruise, so instead of a discovery tour we went shopping with very specific stores. So we did see glimpses of PV, but not as we had hoped.
Nevertheless, we did get some walking time in at what we presume is the center of town. Well, at least for tourists. At least we can say we’ve been to Puerto Vallarta.
Mazatlan
Our second stop was in Mazatlan. We’ve never been here before, so we booked a walking excursion to learn more. Unfortunately, the walking tour was cancelled, so we did our own walk around. It was assisted by excellent markings on the road (follow the blue line to and from downtown) and volunteers to answer any questions. This was very well done, appreciated.
We walked to town and visited their main church. Nice architecture, and as usual, beautiful appointments inside. Outside was nice too, with neighborhoods in colorful paint. We learned that shrimp dishes are local to this area, so we set out to find someplace that featured it. And we did, we found an upstairs restaurant on the beach that served some of the best shrimp ever.
After lunch we walked along the coast where we watched cliff divers defying death. Then we walked back to the boat. Along the way we saw several tributes to singing stars, like the Beatles Abby Road street crossing. There were police everywhere, including a pickup truck with heavily armed forces (and a truck mounted machine gun). But we felt secure, and Mazatlan was our favorite stop.
And to feature our food… the Sinafoense Restaurant and Bar serve the specialty of the area. That is a shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and baked. So good! We also had their Shrimp Diablo, shrimp, corn and potato in a fiery hot sauce.
Laninga's Travel Blog 