April 1: CABO SAN LUCAS

So today is our first port day!! I was super excited for this day and was hoping for the best. I didn't get much rest last night...you see for some reason our balcony door was whistling all night. You could hear the wind blowing right into the room and I would wake up to this whistling sound and it sure wasn't a "hey good looking" whistle either. Karl says "What is that sound???"   Oh that? It's this hurricane outside didn't you know? I love messing with this newbie.

I used the tv to monitor the weather outside this entire cruise. It said it was 64 degrees outside and the "apparent wind" was 38mph I had to keep reminding myself that I was NOT in the Caribbean. I honestly wasn't sure how my body was going to adapt to this. Today...we had an excursion booked that involved being on and in the water. YIKES!

We all headed up to the buffet for some breakfast at 7:30am. I was completely shocked to find (or should I say not find)...

Wait what? There's no bacon to be found? How can this be???? Bacon doesn't get a vacation while I'm on vacation. I need my protein! Is this a thing? I had no idea that Carnival does this. What is so special about the bacon getting a vacation on Carnival but NCL doesn't allow their bacon a bacation? I was so confused. I mean this was only day 3. They couldn't have ran out already...right?

I managed to find the omelet station and found a couple pieces of what they called some type of sausage that didn't quite taste like the sausage I'm used to and actually it kinda reminded me of the Pig and Anchor Sausage links they serve. I guess that would be the extent of my "meat" for breakfast and I cheated with 2 hashbrown circles just because I was pouting about the bacon at this point.

Ok, something I just have to mention (and praise) about Carnival. THE POP!! We would learn on this cruise that when you went up and ask for a pop, they gave you THE ENTIRE CAN!!! YES! This is with the soda package. They didn't pile your glass up with ice and pour pop out of a 2 liter that has been shaken up and lost it's taste. They gave you a glass of ice and the entire can! We absolutely LOVED this! No watered down pop this cruise. This alone has me wanting to cruise Carnival all the time. Everyone here knows how much I love my pop. It's my one luxury I give myself. People always think I'm weird because I wake up and drink pop. Well...don't you wake up and drink coffee? What's the difference? I get my caffeine in the morning the same way you do. Except I find yours bitter and mine sweet. 🤷‍♀️ I've just never acquired the taste for coffee as much as I've tried. 

So I'm looking at the time and I see we are pulling into port around 9:30am. I start to freak out thinking we are coming in late and thinkin we are supposed to meet for our excursion a little after 9. All these thoughts were racing in my head about them leaving us because we are not there yet. "I thought we were supposed to be here at 8am for some reason" I told the hubby. I raced back to the room to see what I had written down from my booking and was relieved to see that it was the excursion that said as soon as we arrive at 10am we are to come there when we could get there. Whew! And...the excursion place was supposed to be right off the dock within walking distance. I was relieved. 

We headed back upstairs and the kids played a little ping pong. A lot of the activities were going on up at the Sports Deck and people were on the ropes course as well. 

Now one thing about this cruise...I wanted to see a whale. I have been talking about it for months! The entire cruise I was constantly looking out the balcony window looking for a whale. While on the decks...you guessed it, I was looking for a whale. Karl was constantly saying "Look! Is that a whale" just to get me to look. I'm pretty sure I disowned him a few times already over the last few days of the cruise just for doing this to me. Sakari thought it was funny and started doing it too. 

Then she points out in the distance (on the side of the ship) and says "Is that a whale?" I glance over trying to not let them see...with a slight glimmer of hope but knew deep down in my soul knew that they were messing with me still...and I look to the back of the ship and said "NO BUT THAT IS!!!"  I think they were waiting for me to say "GOT YA!' but....

Yep, there were whales playing in the water!!!! HA! I seen my whales now and was as happy as can be! Karl was amazed and him and Sakari couldn't stop talking about it. They thought I was joking when I said I was going to be spotting whales on this cruise!

Coming into Cabo:

I noticed that we were not alone in port today. This would be the first cruise that I didn't even bother to look up how many ships were in port with us. I don't know...for some reason I pictured us being the only ship cruising the Mexican Riviera. I don't know what I was thinking. LOL We would have a Princess ship with us today and it was already there. 

Our balcony was on the side of the Arch and I was happy that I had done my research and picked that side. I was able to get pictures of it as we pulled in. I had looked at a lot of pictures prior to this cruise and knew what land marks to look at (the Arch, Lovers Beach, Pelican Rock and so on). 

Lovers Beach (with Divorce Beach on the opposite side)

The large rock in front of Pelican Beach that people climb on and jump into the water:

Pulling into port and the ferry boats and pilot boat was coming our way.

It looked like it was going to turn out to be a beautiful day. The clouds today  😶  Oh my gosh they were so pretty!!!

Once the ship was situated, they started tendering people off. First the VIP people and those with Carnival excursions.

As we waited for our turn, we stood on our balcony watching the boats along the shoreline and noticed this...

Can you see them above my name?

There was a VERY LARGE school of dolphins. Like really, so many of them!

Look at this video and you'll be able to tell just how many there were. It was amazing!

So now I've seen whales and dolphins and my life was complete! Just saying...

We decided to head down to deck 3 and wait for our number to be called. They called tender tickets 1 & 2 and then it was our turn. We were on the tender by 10:55am. We will consider this Karl's first real boat ride. LOL

It was a short tender ride over to the port and now we were headed to find our excursion.

So what are we doing today....none other than going on a Whale Watching tour of course!!!

After researching various companies for a tour, I had came across a vendor named Kelly Boat Cabo. We exchanged emails back and forth and they had good communication. I had told them I wanted to do a whale watching tour and also wanted to go to the Arch, see Pelican Rock and the Sea Lion area and then go to a beach afterwards for a little while. I had also mentioned maybe snorkeling if possible. 

Their website states they have 3 boats that can accommodate anywhere from 12-18 people depending on the boat. They offered regular tours and private tours. NOW.... according to their website, it said if you want a private tour they charged by the hour with a minimum of 1 hour. Included are pictures and bottled water. You can do a whale watching tour ($79), snorkel tour, or arch tour ($35) and then go to the beach offered as a group tour and they leave once the boats are filled up.  

When he gave me a quote on everything I wanted, he said $79/pp. I ask...is this a private or group tour and he replied "private" just us. Hmmm, that sounded weird to me. So I ask "Is this per hour or for the entire tour?"  He replied "79 dls for the tour arch and whale watching and beach time (optional) everything".  I still wasn't understanding and I quoted their website saying "I would really like to book this tour, but why does your website say private tours are by the hour with a 2 hour minimum? It states $79 per person for 1 hour. "  He said "Arch and whale watching tour plus beach time in 79 dls per person the price is for all the tour not per hour.. don't worry" and then threw in "But if you want to pay $79 per person per hour that is better to me"   LOL

So, we booked. I mean...why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't anyone? A private tour for all of this for only $79/pp. Others were offering the tour for more and it was a group tour. 

I kept thinking there had a to a catch some where. But, I read online reviews and they had great reviews and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves to I was taking that chance!

Just a little information they give you about your day in Cabo:

So just to give you a reference of how close Kelly Boat Cabo is to the dock... (I was researching multiple whale watching tours to use and this one was the closest to walk to).

We headed down the dock and to the right. I knew it wasn't very far. However, I will say it was a little further than what I had pictured in my mind looking at the map. There are little stores up and down the dock. I stopped to ask a lady if she knew where Kelly was and she said "That's me" and pointed at their place. She ask my name and said they were waiting on us. She called the owner (I assume the guy that I had been talking to via email prior to the trip) and then handed the phone to me. It was hard to hear with people all around and the reception didn't seem the greatest but I heard the words so and so "was going to take you out to see the whales and you're going to have a good time". 

We got off the phone and the lady said "That will be $400". Wait what? No, no it's not. It's $79 per person and that is $316!  I have the email confirming this. She called the owner back and put him on the phone. He explained that $79/pp was for a group tour and we were doing a private tour. The private tour was $100 per person. NOPE! I'm not playing that game. I specifically ask MANY TIMES about the price and if it was private. I have the email...and then I started reading it off. He states that for $79 he could put us on a group tour. NOPE! Not having it. You said $79/pp and private and either that's what we get or we will find someone else (even if it was a group tour with someone else for the same price, they would get my business). Once again, I started reading our conversation via email to him. "Ok, ok, we will do the tour for $79. No worries" he said. 

I honestly hate when they try to pull something like this. But I stood my ground, I paid the price I was told and down the dock we went to the boat at 11:14am. 

Then we were off...On the way out of the marina, we seen Poncho. If you don't know who Poncho is...he's pretty famous here. He follows the fishermen in and jumps on the back of their boats and rides back into the marina...waiting for a handout of freshly caught fish. Oh the life he has. He's so funny. There's so many video's online of him doing this that he has become famous. When we were heading out, he was on the back of a boat hitching a ride in. lol  I was too slow seeing him that I wasn't able to get a picture (not to mention I was on the wrong side of the boat). So I will give you a picture of this Pelican instead to tie you over. 

There were sealions just laying around on the docks.

We were headed to see the arch.

You can always tell where the Pelican's hang out all the time...you'll see the "snow covered" rocks...to put it nicely.

The rocks meeting the water was just beautiful!! Notice, not that crystal clear blue water you will get in the Caribbean but the rocks made it so pretty (not to mention the sky out today).

Here is Lovers Beach (or Playa de los Amantes in Spanish) in the distance. On the opposite side is Divorce Beach. It is the meeting of two bodies of water on either side (the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California).

Legend has it that the name comes from a fated love story of a Japanese sailor who was rescued by a Mexican girl on Lovers Beach back in the 18th century and they fell in love. This beach is on the calm side and you can swim here.

Walk over to the other side and you will find Divorce Beach. It is rough and dangerous and you cannot swim on this side. 

This large rock protruding from the water is called Peninsula Rock. He said it was the furthest rock out from Cabo.

This is called the "Pacific Window"

This is a hole through a mountain of rock that joins the Sea of Cortez with the Pacific Ocean. It is referred to as the window because you can see all the way through to the other side. It's pretty cool and unique. 

The boats pull in really close for you to get a good view of it. 

Getting very close to the rocks at the window.

Up next would be Los Arcos ( a Spanish word meaning Land's End) or the Arch as people call it. It is the most recognizable place in Cabo and is a natural wonder showing the beauty of tidal and wind erosion that shapes the rock formation into an arch. 

Our tour guide took multiple pictures of us with the arch in the background.

Along the rocks you would see sea lions. This one was basking in the sun with not a care in the world.

Well at this point, we had seen everything along that area and it was time...to head out to look for whales!!!

We sped off in search of any movement in the water that might be a whale. Wait, is that white over there a whale? Is that their spout? Nope, just the wake in the water. Ugh!

At one point we stopped and the captain of the boat said he thought he might have seen something and there were other boats in the area so there had to be one here right? 

We waited and waited...but we didn't see anything. Honestly I was losing hope at this point. I wondered exactly how long they wait to see something. Do they just sit there the entire time until a whale pops up? Would it be hard to see? Would we only see their spout blowing in the water? Would they be too far away to really see? Would we move on? So many questions running around in my head. My anxiety was building all while losing hope. 

The hubby looked like he was a little disappointed as well. I mean I've never done this before so I didn't know what to expect. I did know it was the end of whale season and it was possible they had already migrated...I mean we did see the one off the back of the ship migrating north on our way to Cabo. Maybe it was the caboose of the whales?

Just a little information about Humpback Whales. They usually range from 39 to 52 feet in length and weigh around 40 tons. They are black on the upper surface and white below.

They feed on krill, small fish and plankton (remember our land vacation to Isla Mujeres Mexico where we swam with the Whale Sharks feeding on the plankton that ended up in our hair when we got out of the water? That was THE MOST AMAZING experience we've ever had).  When feeding, it is called bubblenetting. They exhale bubbles, which traps the prey in a small area in the middle. They live off their blubber in the colder months and only hunt in the summer.

The Humpback whale is the most vocal of the whales and can make a variety of sounds. We actually considered a whale watching tour with a vendor that had some type of contraption that they put in the water and you can hear them making sounds.

The Humpback is the most acrobatic and frequently breaches by jumping belly-up, completely out of the water, then arching backwards making a splash in the water. When they are getting ready to breach, you will see them dive deep down into the water, their back hunches and their tail comes up out of the water perpendicular to the surface. 

They are very intelligent with brains weighing up to a ton! They can travel over 25,000km and remember locations and also organize hunting groups. 

They get their name from a hump under their dorsal fin, which is visible when they arch their back to dive. 

Female humpback whales breed every 2-3 years and have more than one male partner over their lifetimes. The males compete in groups around the females by singing, breaching, charging, sparring and slapping their tail and fins. If they are rejected, they leave the group.

Baby calves interact with their mothers by brushing fins and whispering. Mother and baby will share a bond for one year. A newborn weighs around 1-2 tons and are 12-15 feet in length. The mother nurses the baby with up to 100 gallons of very thick, rich, yogurt like milk a day!

So there's your Whale knowledge for the day. Now let's hope we see one!

So after sitting there for what seemed like eternity (but I'm sure it wasn't...it was just the excitement of the unknown), we decided to move on. 

All of a sudden we sped up and was zooming across the water to where there were other boats. 

We stopped and he pointed off in the distance, toward the rocks, close to shore...

IT WAS A TAIL!!! THERE'S A WHALE HERE!!!

Then we seen a splash!

We patiently waited...

Then all of a sudden...it got VERY ACTIVE!!!

There were fins and flappers and tails and spouts everywhere. They were jumping up in every direction and one even had her baby with her teaching him how to jump. 

It was SO AMAZING to watch! My heart was filled with excitement!

You see the big fin coming up? They were flapping their fins against the water. Oh what a display!

Out on the other side of us there were more!

We zoomed over to another area and one of the whale's that had a baby with her was repeatedly flapping her fin against the water...over and over and over. 

Whenever you seen their body come up and then dive down quickly, you knew a jump was about to happen!

We were so caught up in the excitement that I wasn't even paying attention to Karl to see how he was reacting to seeing his first whales...Oh hey Karl...the whales are over there. You're not going to see them looking down into the water like that...

Yep, he was sea sick. LOL  Puking up breakfast several times. Well, I guess that answers my question about whether or not he is "one of us". I brought medication with me just for this but he had refused saying he would be ok and ok he was not.

The guide asked if we wanted to stay longer and I told him we could go since we had a "member that was a little sick". 

We started heading back and on our way back...more whales, so we stopped again for awhile. 

By this time Karl was feeling a little better and moved up to the front of the boat...trying to compose himself and not making eye contact with us from embarrassment. It's ok Karl, not everyone can be water people like us. He assured me that he was fine and enjoying "every minute of it". I ask if that included face planting off the side of the boat. I wasn't sure if his laugh was genuine at this point or not. I guess I will have to ask him later if he is still a good fit for this family. 😄 

I had also seen that there was a Pirate ship that did whale watching tours. I had considered it just because I know how much fun Sakari had in Aruba on the Pirate ship. As we passed it, they were playing music and dancing. However, with a boat that big, I didn't feel like they might have been able to zoom off in different directions when they spotted a whale and had decided against it. But, now that I'm thinking about it, them being up so high off the water they probably had a great view for sure!

Well, our original plans were to go to Lovers Beach for awhile after the whale watching tour so we pulled up and were told "You have to jump out here". Well it was very wavy in the area and I was really wondering just how this was going to work...especially carrying all of our bags (they were dropping us off and coming back to pick us up later so we had to take our bags with us). 

He made several attempts to get close enough but the boat was rocking and rolling. I just kept saying "I don't know about this". So he mentioned that he could take us to Pelican Beach and it should be easier to get out there. Ok, looks like we were going to Pelican Beach instead. As much as I wanted to go to Lovers Beach for the experience and awesome pictures that I've seen others take of the area, I wasn't willing to risk me getting hurt nor did I feel like experiencing the cold Mexican Riviera water for the first time by plunging in that deep of water either.

We pulled up to Pelican Beach and there were a lot of people there. The water was not as deep and they were able to get us pretty far up there. Yes, the boat was really rocking still. 

Now it's not much of a "beach" like you would think. There was two areas, one that was more of a beach like setting going off into the water and the other was where the boats were coming and going. Then most of the "beach" area was rocks.

It is really close to the ship docked out in the water too. 

So now came the task of getting out of the boat. Our boat had a ladder to climb down and I started my journey...after the last step, I put my foot down into the sand in the water and a wave came along and when it dropped, it dropped the ladder right down my entire ankle as it sunk into the sand. I let out a scream and knew instantly that I was hurt...on my bad foot. I didn't want to look down. The hubby panicked asking me if I was ok and hurried off the boat to rescue me. I limped to the shore then looked down. I was bleeding with a scrape at my previous stiches/hardware line. It was painful but I was going to be ok. 

After I picked my spot out on the rock I was going to sit at and the bleeding stopped, it really didn't look that bad. It was just painful because of the area it hit being so sensitive since my 3 surgeries. But I'm hear to tell ya, it scabbed, it bruised, it healed and I'm back to normal. Whew!

As we sat on the rock, the hubby caught something out of the corner of his eye...it looked like a chipmunk. He was very curious of us and kept coming around and then would run off and hide in the rocks. 

We sat around watching the wildlife as I had decided to rest for awhile.

So this is what you will see at the "beach"...lots of rocks. Rocks here and there, rocks everywhere. Just pick your spot. Plenty of seating available. 

Sakari and Karl had went over to the beach. I noticed them trying to get in and could tell by their reaction (freezing every time a wave came in like they were a mannequin) that the water was definitely too cold to get all the way in. They just stood there.

I decided to go over and by the time I managed to get there, they had given up on getting all the way in the water and had picked out a spot of their own.

I looked over and seen some kids climbing a very large rock. My heart was sinking just knowing the possibilities that could happen. But I guess this was a popular rock to jump off of and jumping they were! Hey, this rock has nothing on our Dominican Republic Waterfalls jumping! Just saying...

Then I look to the side and the rock looked like a face to me. Can you see it?

Before long, there was a group of kids that decided to climb that rock too. Now that rock looked very dangerous and if you fell, you're not falling into the water. So scary.

We all headed back to the other side and met up with the hubby. I noticed our Kelly boat was coming in and our tour guide waved at us. I knew that meant it was time to go. We gathered our things and headed back down to the beach for me to attempt to get back on the boat without getting hurt again.

I was back on the boat safely and we headed back to the port. It wasn't the beach day I was expecting but the rocks along the beach was so pretty and made the perfect backdrop to the ocean.

On our way back in there were seagulls and pelicans everywhere gathering fish being stirred up by the boats.

We would also see multiple sea lions swimming by. I kept asking if Poncho was around since we seen him coming in to port on our way out. Then we spotted him. He was resting on the dock with a few friends. He must have gotten his belly full and needed a nap.

Notice this yacht with its own helicopter on the back of it!!!

After returning to port, we decided to walk around a little bit and do some shopping.

Around 3pm we decided to head back to the ship. There was a very long line for Princess, but since our ship was here until 7pm, there was no line for us.

Yes Karl, you have to get back on yet another boat. You'll be fine. It's a short ride.

We were all starving at this point and can you only imagine how Karl's belly was feeling now. We would find (like every cruise we go on) that we just never get back to the ship at "the right time". Everything was closed so we ended up in the back of the ship to try out the pizza. 

With our bellies full, it was time to go back to the room to drop our things off and we would find our towel animal welcoming us back.

We set out on the balcony for awhile as the time grew near to leave this beautiful port along with the most amazing day had...except for Karl, that's still out for debate.

The sun was starting to set and it made for some beautiful pictures.

The Pilot boat was ready to kick us out...

Goodbye Cabo...until next time!

So here's a video I did of our whale watching tour. I hope you enjoy it. I really wish that I would remember to hold my phone sideways when I use it for video's. It never matches my GoPro video and you can always tell when I've switched to my phone by the small picture. Oops, one day I will get the hang of it. lol

I hope you enjoy it. 

So before pulling out of port, I check in with Kendra. Oh Kendra...who is watching the animals while we are gone like always and playing house. 

She says "Does Sakari's bird fly now?"

Me "Well, his wings are growing in and he's learning. We need to clip them again. Why?"

Kendra "Well....he flew down from her loft in her room and then out of her room. No worries though, I got the dogs out of the house before they got to him but he crashed into a few things"

Me "YOU CAN'T LET HIM OUT OF HIS CAGE UNLESS HER DOOR IS SHUT!!! OMG!!"

Kendra "Well, I think he's hurt."

Me "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S HURT??? You just said the dogs didn't get to him????"

Kendra "I think his wing is broke. It's bad"

Remember right before our last Spring Break Cruise her bird flew down stairs and the dogs got him and killed him the night before our cruise...it was heart breaking. Sakari loved that bird. She saved her money and decided this time she wanted a parrot...and not just any parrot...one that cost her $3500 type of parrot!*

I just sat there in silence. I didn't know what to say or do. I'm so hurt and mad at this point. Then Kendra says "I think I might have sat on it". Wait what??? You said he crashed into things then you changed it to you sat on it? Which is it.

APRIL FOOLS! I'm going to kill her and Kam when I get home now. So, I start to tell Sakari this story and as I go along, she's tearing up. I immediately blurted out "THEN SHE SAYS APRIL FOOLS!!" I couldn't let her think that for more than a few seconds. She was getting very emotional. Never a dull moment with Kendra I tell ya!

Alrighty then. We all gathered our composure and then headed off to....tonight's big event....THE SILENT DISCO PARTY!! I have never been to one of these and I know that NCL used to have them back in the day (not sure if they still do) but Sakari has seen them online before and we couldn't wait. 

First we stopped by Pixels to take a look at our pictures. We found our Bon Voyage picture

Sakari said when they were up at the Sports Deck when we were coming in this morning, there was a photographer up there taking pictures of them...we seen them too but did not purchase them. 

Ok, time to get this party started!!!

You check out the headphones (only one person in your party gets everyone's) and there's 3 channels to pick from at any given time. Everyone is singing and dancing to their selected channel and then you randomly change the channel to something else. We had THE BEST TIME EVER! It was so much fun to try to figure out what the other person was listening to and dancing to. Oh my gosh! Why haven't we done these before???

Of course Sakari always has to do her little feet moves that a group of kids taught her back on a cruise years ago...when she wasn't so shy to meet new people and go to the kids club. 

Then you have everyone singing together on the popular channels..

We really didn't want to leave but it was now 8:15pm and we hadn't ate dinner yet. Can you believe that Karl was not even thinking about food until I mentioned it? 

We headed to the buffet to eat and we were surprised to see that the Silent Disco Party was still going on. I had almost wished that we hadn't turned out headphones in at this point.

So we just decided to go see a show instead. 

Tonight was a guy named Jonathon Timpanelli. He was on America's Got Talent and is famous for being able to roll his eyebrows in a very unique way. It's pretty hilarious. But he mostly sang older songs and he refers to himself as "The Old Soul". Man could this guy sing! He was great!

We were back to the room and in bed by 10:30pm. It had been the most eventful day ever. Who could ask for anything better than whales, sea lions and silent disco parties? Life is good.