Puerto Vallarta

Or as the old woman in the hotel called it: Porto ValARTa.

Our first stop was Puerto Vallarta, where we got off our ship and onto another boat. Yep, I didn't see a thing in Puerto Vallarta. I didn't even leave the gated area where the cruise ship docked. But, I did have a good adventure.

That's our cruise ship in the background.

The tour for the day was called "Dolphins, Whales, and Snorkeling." I thought we were just snorkeling. I was a little peeved about the whole dolphin and whale thing. I just wanted to snorkel! We spent a lot of time looking for whales. First was some flying giant manta rays. The tour guide said it's the baby rays that fly like this. They do it because they're playing. Cute.


Then we started to see whales. Lots of them. Mammas, babies, males fighting over the female. They were close. They were big. And frankly, freaked me out!

My video is not HD, not the highest quality, but you can certainly see the whales.

And then it was time to snorkel. They took us to Marietas Island which is a protected area where the booby birds live. The water was cold at 68 degrees, so they gave us wetsuits.

Before freezing our tails off.

Then we jumped in and it was immediate shock. I wiggled and hyperventilated. Finally I settled down and swam over to where we could see the fish. Dave followed right behind me. He's much better with the cold water.

Now in the water pretending we're not cold.

Dave became a fish and swam with them. (Listen for the whales in the video.)

Did you see the goosebumps on my arm?

(If you're having trouble with this video and it gives you an error, close out with the X button and then click on the video called "Snorkeling." It should work.)

Finally we had enough of being cold and were two of the last people to come back to the boat. We warmed up, had some lunch, and suddenly we were on a booze cruise. There were margaritas and music and dancing. Before we knew it the trip and the day were over and we were back on the ship heading to our next destination....