Jan 20 - Our Last Day At Sea

Malcolm and I moped about the whole day today. We were depressed. We don't do the end of holidays too well. Today was our last day at sea. Tomorrow we head home. As we closed in on Los Angeles, the weather had turned cold. This necessitated jeans which I discovered had become a rather snug fit...I made the most of our last buffet breakfast and savoured the ability to have breakfast without having to make it myself. I am going to miss Triton's and BBB immensely.

I tried to start packing with little success. My heart was just not in it. I decided to finalise our photo purchases instead. Having completed this, I went back to the stateroom for my second attempt at packing. I was saved by my need to pick up Jonah for some lunch. This short interlude was much appreciated before I had to pack some more. We took another breack and watched the children do their little show on stage. Even though we had seen the same show on the Magic, it was still so special to see the excitement and joy on the children's faces to be up on stage. We packed some more and then had dinner. Our servers had saved us the menu from the Panama Canal crossing and had written little messages on it for us. It was so sweet! We took the opportunity to give them our tips. We finalised our accounts, filled in our comment cards and let Elliot swap a pin with a cast member. And then it was straight back to the room to complete the task. Yes we had a lot to pack! Being spread across two cabins and having sleeping toddlers didn't make the job any easier. The deed was finally done and we could go to bed.

Our last sunset...

Jan 19 - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

We woke up to the most beautiful view of Cabo San Lucas! Along with the Parsons and the Kohs, we made it in time to board the first tender off the ship. As we pulled into the marina and walked off the tender, we were confronted with an endless number of tour operators spruiking their services. We bargained our way to our glass-bottomed boat for our morning expedition to the famous Land's end. Daniel was our guide for the morning. The view looking out of the boat towards Land's End was spectacular... sea lions, rock formations, uninhabited beaches... but the kids were transfixed by the semiopaque "glass" bottom of the boat which revealed the occasional white fish. It was only when the barking of an entire sea lion colony and the squarking of all the pelicans started to compete with their volume that they looked up and finally became excited about that too. The real excitement, however, was yet to come.

A view of Land's End from our balcony at dawn

Wake up sleepy heads, we have a tender to catch!

The tender process

The Statendam, also moored at Cabo San Lucas for the day

Looking back at the Wonder

Whale

Views coming into the marina

On the glass bottom boat...oh so sunny!

Enjoying their life vests

Spectacular rock formations

Secluded beaches

Abundant wildlife

Daniel dropped us off at Medano Beach, a haven of beach side activities, busy cafes and luxurious beach front resorts. Eight Albanys and Kohs bravely donned life jackets, handed over valuables and excess offspring and jumped on a slippery inflatable banana. We managed to communicate to the speedboat driver that thumbs up meant go faster and thumbs down meant slow down. The boys and girls had very different ideas about what they should be doing with their hands. The speed and spray had us all squealing but a little too dry for the driver's liking. With an evil grin he hung it to the left with venom and tipped us all in to the frigidly cold waters to be eaten by sea lions. Just as we were all about to be submerged we heard the familiar warcry from the Koh boy, "Awesome!". The girls watched us from the back of the speedboat for the rest of the trip.

Give me one of those!!!

Medano Beach, you can just see our afternoon hang out on the left

We spent the rest of the morning at "The Office", a restaurant made up of a multitude of umbrellas set up so close together by the beach front that they formed a "roof" and provided the much needed shade. We indulged ourselves with smoothies, and corn chips with salsa and guacamole. Daniel picked us up right on time and too us back to the marina. We wondered around the shops at the port. With the Statendam at port as well, it was busy and full of atmosphere. We decided to head back to the ship for lunch. We showered the sand and salt water off everyone and dropped the children at the kids club. It was bliss to be able to enjoy ice-cream on pool deck and watched the ship sail away from the port.

As we went for dinner, I realised that I had left my camera up on dec! Doh. I frantically went back up to search in vain. My faith in human kind and Disney magic was rewareded with the appearance of my camera at Guest services before the end of dinner! All decked out for our last formal night, we took up our seats at the Walt Disney Theatres for the much anticipated award winning show, Disney Dreams. It was awesome! As always, the music, the set changes, the costumes, the details were all phenomenal. It was a show I could watch over and over again. I took the opportunity to some last minute shopping and went to bed feeling very happy. What a wonderful day!

The girls never fail to love dressing up

The poor child pushed to exhaustion again...

The award winning Disney Dreams

Cinderella about to be transformed!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!

The Little Mermaid singing Part Of Your World with the most beautiful harmony I've ever heard

Belle

Look at her gorgeous gown!

Jan 18 - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

One of the joys of having a balcony room is being greeted by the view of the ocean or a new port when you wake up. When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, we got a view of...Walmart.

We were about to embark on our second ever DCL excursion, called “Historic towns and tequila making”. I was disappointed to see 6 big buses lined up by the ship, all marked to do the same excursion. Perhaps I have been spoilt by a more independent style of travelling or perhaps I was used to exploring in small groups, but I could not see how anyone could enjoy or learn anything in big swarms. To make things worse, the places we visited were small with narrow streets which necessitated travelling in a long line. It was impossible to hear anything from the back. We visited three small towns which was nice but to be honest one town would have been enough to capture the essence as they were very similar. We decided then and there never to do another DCL excursion.

We tried to not to let the poor organisation and people management take away from our Mexican experience for it was so full of interesting things to see and the people were incredibly warm. It was so nice to be able to drive through the countryside for the scenery was beautiful. We drove to Valle de Las Banderas or Valley of Flags, named after the flags and banners held by the native Indians when the Spanish first arrived. It is a typical town which is based around the church and a main square. When we were able to hear Jesus, our guide, he was actually full of interesting information! He walked us around the small town and we also stopped to see a tortilla factory which was fascinating. Jesus bought some for us to try along with some cheese. It was unlike any tortilla I have ever tried.

After visiting two more similar towns, we stopped by a very small craft shop before being taken to a Tequila factory. This was probably the most interesting part of the tour! We were taken through the whole process of tequila making from the beginning to the end. This included tasting a variety of tequilas which I refrained from participating. The number of tequilas brought out seemed never ending!

We bought a souvenir sample pack for our family and boarded the bus to our lunch destination. As usual, because of the number of children we had, we were the last to get off and hence the last to be served. The food was alright but the margarita was magnificent! As a person who doesn’t usually drink alcohol, I should have known to take it slow...I was drunk after one drink! It didn’t take me long to feel ill after. I couldn’t breathe and felt nauseated. I felt so ill that I couldn't face the prospect of shopping when we arrived back at the port!

I crawled into my bed and slept. When I woke up, the ship was leaving and we got to sail past and wave to the Sapphire Princess. I survived dinner at Parrot Cay but decided to give the show a miss. I felt much better after the gang returned from the show and joined in their room service late night snack. I will not be touching another margarita for a while...

Are we in Mexico?

Amazing scenes driving through the countryside

The gorgeous Mexican country towns

Tortilla factory!

Lara showing off her new dress

An artisan at work

Pottery

Colourful weavings

Jonah relaxing whilst waiting

The beautiful roof line of the Tequila factory

10 year old blue agave plant is needed

The leaves are cut off

What's left is cooked in a special stone pit

Then chopped and pounded

Fermented and distilled

Tequila!

Some were so busy laughing and taking photos that they forgot to drink...

Lunch where mummy got drunk on a single margarita

Sailing past the Sapphire Princess

Saying goodbye to Puerto Vallarta

Late night snack courtesy of room service (free)

Lara, being spoilt by Luan, who bought her a Tangled wig...