Seattle

Seattle – 10^th May

We were due to arrive in Seattle at noon but due to heavy winds during the night, we did not arrive until after 1.00pm. After the usual delay with U.S. immigration, we were not able to get off the ship until gone 2.00pm. Needless to say the cruisers were not happy queuing for an hour to get off the ship. However, we finally got ashore and boarded our coach for today’s excursion which was Seattle by Land and Sea.

The weather on our arrival was rather overcast and miserable and did not bode well for our trip, but as we got on board our boat the weather cleared and we had beautiful views of the city from the boat. We were even privileged to see Mount Rainier, which according to the locals is a very rare event in a city well known for its rain. The mountain appears to be floating in the sky. (see photos)

During the cruise around the bay we saw views of the Space Needle and the hotel the Beetles stayed at, where they famously went fishing from their bedroom window. We then passed the industrial end of town where Geoffrey viewed with interest the new container terminal, before returning to the quayside to reboard our coach. We then drive through the city seeing the headquarters of Amazon and other landmarks, before arriving at Pike Place Market, the country’s oldest public market. Here we decided to leave the tour and make our own way back to the ship.

The Market housed stalls selling flowers, especially exotic tulips (we understand Seattle is the second largest producer of tulips), fruit and vegetables, and crafts of many types. The market is well known for its fish of all shapes and sizes, including large salmon, huge prawns, enormous crabs and lobsters and ginormous crayfish – I think I have now run out of adjectives which describe the really fantastic fish on display.

Feeling in need of refreshments we went out of the market looked in at the first ever Starbucks (in the world) and went to the Hard Rock Café where we had a well earned drink before deciding to have a light snack?????????? as we would be too late to have a meal on the ship on our return.

After wandering around the town for a little while we caught the shuttle bus back to our ship………….. As it happens on our return we were advised that there had been a little industrial action taken by the waiters on board and the first dinner sitting had been cancelled, so we were glad that we had had the snack???? in town.

Second Day in San Francisco

San Francisco - 8^th May

We were again up early to catch the sun rising over Bay Bridge, before embarking on our excursion for the day entitled Redwoods and Artisans. Our coach took us again over the Golden Gate Bridge out of the city to an area in Marin County entitled Muir Woods. Here we spent an hour and a half walking through a valley surrounded by enormous giant Redwood trees, some 250 feet tall. A very spectacular sight with Geoffrey admiring the grandeur of the trees and Doreen spotting the small wild flowers, such as Triliums, Smilacena and others. All too soon we had to leave and drive down to Sausalito, a charming Mediterranean style village popular with artists.

We spent a further hour and a half walking around town – Geoffrey looking at the scenery and Doreen checking out the shops.

On our return to the port we decided not to immediately board the ship, but walk along to an area known as Pier 39. This area is popular with the tourist and has a thriving community of sea lions. Here we found a nice restaurant overlooking the Bay and Alcatraz, where we had a lovely lunch – including Clam Chowder and Sea Food Bisque, before returning to the ship.

We have been lucky with the weather in San Francisco, where it has been dry and sunny, but with a biting cold wind, so on our return to the ship we went up to the Crows Nest for hot drinks and warmth, where we waved goodbye to San Francisco as the ship sailed for Seattle and a much needed day at sea.

First Day in San Francisco

San Francisco – 7^th May

Today we got up early (at 6.00am) to watch our arrival under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. Our first task was to get through the face to face U.S. immigration procedure. In other countries this takes half an hour, however, in the U.S.A. they managed to take five hours. So despite our early arrive we weren’t permitted to disembark until 12 o’clock. Needless to say some of the passengers were getting very, very agitated.

Our ship was berthed in the very heart of town, between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, and right opposite the famous Alcatraz.

As we had an afternoon excursion we decided to have a quick lunch before joining our coach for a City Highlights tour. This turned out to be an extremely interesting tour driving around and seeing all the various districts of San Francisco, before driving over the Golden Gate Bridge for a brief photo stop to view the city from the other side of the bay.

We arrived back at 5.00 o’clock for a further quick snack before we set out again at 6.30pm for a San Francisco by night tour. Although this tour covered several of the sights we had seen earlier it looked totally different by night. We stopped for an hours walk around Chinatown, sampling China tea and getting a fortune cookie.

Finally we set off by coach out of the city – this time crossing the famous BayBridge to Treasure Island, to see the breathtaking views of the city by night. It was late when we finally returned to the ship and decided to have an early night to prepare for our second day in San Francisco.

Mexico

Huatalco, Mexico – 2^nd May

Huatalaco is a holiday resort being developed by the Mexican Government to compete with the success of Cancun and Acapulco. Although a new resort it was in a beautiful location and has great potential for the future. Today we took a coach tour to see the sights, which involved visit to a local loom factory, a wine store where we had a tasting of a local drink called mezcal (very strong for 10.00am in the morning). After a visit to a very pretty local church we drove along the coast to view the existing five star hotels and the ones being developed. All in all a very pleasant trip to see the potential of the resort.

Before we returned to the ship we strolled through the harbour area and sampled the local coffee before wandering round the market, after which we walked down to the beach and found a nice bar to drink a corona and people watch.

Acapulco – 3^rd May

We arrived early in Acapulco, again very hot reported to be 39 degrees and this was early in the morning, for a coach trip along the Acapulco’s main boulevard lined with hotel, bars and restaurants, where all the rich and famous play. We went up the hill surrounding Acapulco and viewed the houses owned by Sylvester Stalone, Kissinger, Oprah Winfrey, Placido Domingo and many others including the Beckhams.

After a return journey back through town we drove up to La Quebrada, where the famous death defying cliff divers perform, which we viewed from the terraces of a local hotel. This really was quite spectacular. The ten or twelve divers started their performance by jumping into the water and then climbing some 35 metres up the rocky cliff face to a shrine to say a short prayer before they, in turn, commenced their individual dives (some somersaulting). The finale was a young lad, (the right hand diver on the picture) who dived off the very highest rock into the water below.

Before we returned to the ship we walked along the beach, avoiding the many traders selling their wares, and found a very nice beach café, where we had a beer, and chocolate and banana shake, along with a typical Mexican lunch.

To cap off a very nice couple of days we were treated to a display of twenty or thirty dolphins jumping out of the sea right next to our window whilst we were eating our dinner (unfortunately camera was not to hand).

Costa Rica

Puerta Caldera (nr. Puntarenas), Costa Rica – 30^th April

Today we arrived in Costa Rica, in a small port called Puerta Caldera. Unfortunately a large American cruise ship had already grabbed the main berth in Puntarenas. We were about 9 miles outside town.

Our excursion was the Costa Rican Rail and River Ride. The weather again was very hot and very humid. However, we had an interesting drive through the countryside before we boarded a newly restored Pacific Railroad train for a half hour journey along a very rickety rail track. After a short delay when the brakes of the train had jammed, finally resolved when the conductor jumped off the train and picked up a rock to hammer the lever closed.

We eventually arrived at the Tarcoles River where we were given refreshments consisting of beer, juices and the most delicious fresh fruit. We boarded a small river boat to cruise along the river looking for wildlife. No sooner had we started we had a close encounter with a crocodile swimming three feet away from the boat. Here we saw cranes, herons, monkeys, macaws, but not a lot else.

On returning to the port and walking through the customary cruise terminal (and purchasing a few items), we returned to the ship rather drained from the humidity to a well earned meal and early night.