Cruisin' Part 2

Puerto Vallarta

Our first port of call was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. This was a sleepy little fishing village until John Huston filmed "The Night of the Iguana" there in 1964. The film starred Richard Burton, and his then-lover Liz Taylor flew down to keep an eye on Burton and his co-star, Ava Gardner. The resulting media buzz put the locale on the map as a tourist destination. Resorts and cruise lines followed the buzz. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday the 23rd, and because the port is located north of the city there is not much to see once you are docked.

Marietta Island

The four of us booked an excursion through Princess for this port of call. The benefit of using the cruise line is that they make sure you get off the ship in a timely fashion and also, more importantly, back on the ship before it sets sail. If their excursion screws up the timing and you miss the ship, they fly you to the next destination. We grabbed breakfast at the buffet before leaving the ship to meet up with our tour group. We had selected a sailing/snorkeling adventure to Marietta Island, which is a national park and bird sanctuary. As it was breeding season, we saw many of the 72 varieties of birds who make the island their home.

Many on the excursion took the opportunity to swim through a cave to get to a private beach. As they mentioned you needed to be a very strong swimmer due to currents, and that they wouldn't know what the head clearance in the cave was until they got in there, Kathy and I chose not to do that portion. After everyone was back on board, we motored to a new location to go snorkeling.

snorkeling

Once we were all back on board, the crew served us some amazing tropical cocktails and a buffet lunch. Then we were offered the opportunity to kayak or try their paddle boards. As I did not want my first time trying to get up on a board to be in front of 40 of my new friends, I took pictures instead. Kathy and Paul both tried it, and Jim and Paul took a kayak for a spin.

Jim and Paul kayaking

As we headed back to the port, the crew of the boat put on quite a show for us. What a fun group of guys! We have been on many excursions in the past, but overall I would have to say this five-hour cruise was the best in terms of friendliness of the employees, food, drink and boating activities.

the crew

our ship

We all took a nap when we got back to the ship, and then showered before going to dinner. It was lovely to see the full moon as we cruised that night on our way to the second port of call in Mazatlan.

full moon