The week before school started we went on a 7-day Carnival Cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We were aboard the Carnival Splendor. We left from Long Beach, CA. There were only 2 ports of call. The first was Cabo san Lucas. We’ve been to Cabo on a cruise before, but this time we were all scuba certified, so we tried diving. The dive site we visited was called “Pelican Rock” but it was not far enough away from civilization, so the visibility was terrible. There were small rays and some eels, and the fish we could see seemed to be very large, but if we got more than a couple of feet away from each other, we were pretty much lost. It was not anything like the Cayman Islands where we took the kids diving last year, so we declined a second dive, and hoped when we got to Puerto Vallarta it would be better.
We had 2 days in Cabo, so the second day we did the zip line tour that we’d done on a past trip. The company is Costa Azul, and the zip lines are over huge canyons. We also got to do some rappelling. We’d recommend Costa Azul to anyone going to Cabo! We did some shopping and had lunch at Sammy Hagar’s restaurant, Cabo Wabo. It was a Rockin’ Place! The food was good, too.
Puerto Vallarta was a new port for us. None of us have ever been that far down in Mexico before, and we were pleasantly surprised at the modern, clean city that it was. The dive company we used is called P.V. Sea Divers. They were all from England; young, fun, and very professional. We’d dive with them any time.
The first site we dove was called “The Arches.” The kids got to do a backward roll into the water, which was new and fun. The water was warm and clear. We were diving along the San Andreas Fault, which was pretty cool. The second dive site was where “Night of the Iguana” was filmed. There was a big pole with iguanas on it.
We saw eels, sea snakes, rays, and tons of puffer fish. There was a pretty big sea horse hanging out on some coral. None of us had ever seen a sea horse before. He was well camouflaged, and we had to have him pointed out for us. We saw octopuses and more puffer fish than we can count. The kids were getting pretty good at finding hidden sea life, and Cameron somersaulted, and flipped, and spun until she burned her tank of air and had to go back to the boat early with one of the dive masters on both dives. We didn’t mind though. If that’s her idea of a fun dive, we’re glad she had fun.
We had 2 days at sea to get back to L.A. Megan, Ryan and Cameron had fun hanging out with other kids on the ship. With unlimited food, room service, (and ice cream all day long) and the freedom to swim, golf, and socialize, without having to be right with their parents is one of the reasons a cruise is not a bad option. The last day was kind of cold and rainy, so they closed the glass roof on the pool area, and turned the Olympics on the big, big screen. It was fun to cheer our U.S. athletes in the midst of an international crowd. Here is the link to the album of photos from the trip.
https://picasaweb.google.com/106563589911434999602/MexicanRivieraCruise2012#
the bottom of the canyon before the heat of the day hit us. As soon as we got to camp, we dropped off our packs, changed into our swimsuits and headed over to the waterfall. The water was freezing cold, the color was a gorgeous blue and the heat was over 100 degrees! The surrounding landscape was dry as a bone, yet the area right by the waterfall was an oasis of shrubbery and greenery. There were picnic tables set up all around the base of the waterfall, and while some friends slept on the table, I slept on a little walkway that wrapped around the waterfall. It was only about 3 feet wide, had I rolled to the side at all I would be soaked and a bit unhappy. Overall it was a great experience! I cant wait to visit again.
