Acapulco

Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 January:

We had been cruising for three days before we arrived in Acapulco. It took two days hard steaming (they don't really steam any more but steaming sounds better than dieseling) from the Panama canal to Acapulco. It was very pleasant on the ship and we enjoyed just relaxing, reading and watching the wildlife that we saw in the water. There were some interesting birds, rust in color but with white and black breasts.They followed the ship for a long time. When the bridge would spot wildlife they would alert the passengers and we did get to see some small dolphins and the occasional sailfish as well as the birds. There reports of a whale but we did not see it.

Saturday morning we arrived in the Acapulco harbor about an hour late. Since there were already three other cruise ships in the harbor we did not have a berth so we had to go onshore by tender. Acapulco was not as nice as Cartagena but we still enjoyed the day. We had booked a tour called Amazing Acapulco which included a tour of the sights around the city and a visit to the famous cliffs where the divers would jump into the water from high up the cliffs, up to 1156 feet. The city was in a beautiful setting with a natural harbor and surrounded by mountains. Our drive took us up one side of the city where our tour guide showed us where the rich and famous live. Funny, it was the same names that we heard in Grand Cayman, i.e. Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Sylvester Stallone and lots of older luminaries like Bogard, Hedy Lamar, etc. We went to the famous Black Lagoon where a lot of water scenes were filmed especially in the older Tarzan movies with Johnny Weismuller. Our tour guide was humorous and very good. He told us many interesting stories of how Acapulco became famous as a vacation area for the Hollywood and political crowds.

The last stop on our tour was to view the cliff divers. The youngest of the divers was seven years old and they dove from different ranges of heights, the highest was from 115 feet. They dive from greater heights as they get more experience and lose their fright of the heights. The water is from 12 to 16 feet deep and they had to judge the waves so they would land when the small basin was fullest. The divers all belong to one family and there are several groups of them so some would see different divers. In the group we saw there was one girl who is a young teenager. After the divers there was a small show with locals dressed in native costumes and doing a local dance. When we left the area the divers were lined up with a plastic bag for tips. They seemed to do quite well.

That being our last stop we were dropped off at the quay to catch our tender back to the ship. The quay had several shops where you could buy local crafts, etc. We got back to the ship about 3:00 in the afternoon, had a lunch and rested the rest of the day.

Today is Sunday and we went to church. The service is led by the captain and is a generic service. Our usual routine on days when we are not in port is we walk around the promenade deck for about 45 minutes. Today is a very blustery day and was quite windy so we did not sit out on deck for very long. Now we are in our cabin getting ready to go down for dinner.

We hope you all had a nice Sunday and we sail on. Next stop, San Francisco.