World Cruise Day 24/152 - Cabo Vu

Cruise day: 24/152
Ports days: 9
Sea days: 15
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 6

It's Day 24 and we've added another port day - yea! But the port, country, and continent count remain the same as we are back in Cabo San Lucas.  As Yogi Berra so aptly put it: "It's like déjà vu all over again." Oh well, we'll make the most of it.

The day started with a beautiful sunrise as we sailed into the bay in the Sea of Cortez to anchor.

We followed the Regent Seven Seas Explorer into port. They were already anchored when as we dropped anchor.

As we were positioning, it is always interesting to see how they maneuver a vessel like this. The ship's main propulsion system consists of two rotating azipods.  The propellers are mounted on these azipods.  The azipods can rotate all the way around allowing the captain to direct thrust from the back of the ship in any direction, including forward.  That can be used in an emergency to rapidly slow the ship down to a complete stop.  In addition, the ship has side thrusters that allow the ship to easily spin 360-degrees without moving forward or backward.  This morning, we watched as they engaged the side thrusters to position the ship before anchoring. I am always amazed at how maneuverable a ship like this is.

As usual, the information I was provided is incorrect and Cruise Critic member Heidi13 was quick to point out my errors.

The Viking ships do not have an Azipod system of propulsion. They have 2 Rolls-Royce Promass integrated propeller/rudder systems with additional bow thrusters and a stern thruster. The propellers are 6 bladed and I believe the rudders are high-lift with a trailing flap.

Propellers do not rotate and are also fixed pitch. 

So, I will stop believing what I am told or read in other posts.

After breakfast, we made out way to the Star Theater for instructions on tender boarding.  Our group got called and we were off to the dock. Once on land, we boarded our tour bus for the ride to San Jose del Cabo.  I was pleasantly surprised that unlike at other ports, Cabo's busses had leg room!

On the ride over, our tour guide, Vincente, told us about Cabo's history and the history of the Baja California peninsula.  One of the more interesting items was about the whales that travel here in the winter to breed.  The area here between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo has the second largest salt mining operation in the world.  The natural salt leeches out into the Sea of Cortez, raising its salinity and making anything in the water naturally more buoyant.  Baby whales can drown as they are not good swimmers at birth.  The increased buoyancy from the increased salt content helps keep the babies close to the surface so they can breathe until they can swim better.  It is interesting how the whales figured all this out.

We arrived in San Jose del Cabo, specifically at Plaza Mijares.

We walked around and did a little shopping.  It was a quaint square and we enjoyed our time there.

On the bus ride back to the ship, Arlona spotted a nice sun dog.

We also noted that Los Angeles isn't the only place disguising cell towers as palm trees.

After returning to the dock area, we spotted some friendly crabs hanging out and looking awesome.

Lunch featured some pretty amazing-looking desserts.

We resisted, as the last two dinners were more than we expected.  

Tonight, Viking threw a meet and greet for the group of folks that have been communicating about this cruise for the last 18 months on Cruise Critic.  Another cruiser, Jim, coordinated all this communication and worked it all out with Viking to hold this event.  We had it on deck 7 aft on the Aquavit area by the pool.  We had the Captain, General Manager, Financial Officer, Guest Services Manager, and other officers in attendance as well as the global hospitality manager from Basal Switzerland. It was an impressive event.

After the last two night's amazing dinners, we expected a night off.  We were wrong.  Viking presented tacos tonight.

Fish tacos, Mahi tacos, shrimp tacos, chicken tacos, veggie tacos, and more!  They were awesome and super tasty.

Tomorrow, they are having a fresh pasta lunch and surf and turf dinner.  Our waistlines are doomed!

Tonight, at the pool, they showed Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.  They set up chaise lounges with wireless headphone and offered drinks and popcorn.  While the movie wasn't stellar, the experience was fun.

Tomorrow is another sea day en route to Peurto Vallarta - finally a new stop!

World Cruise day 15/152 - We're in Cabo and it's a Miracle we had a whale of a good time!

Cruise day: 15/152
Ports days: 5
Sea days: 10
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 5

The last time we were in Cabo, it was on a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Carnival Miracle.  Today, as we pulled into Cabo - it's a Miracle - a Carnival Miracle.  We get to share the port with the same ship we were on last time we were here.  Funny how things work sometimes.

We were off the ship at noon so we did not hear the Captain's noon briefing today.  We did, however, hear from passengers that will be joining in LA that they received notice from Viking of a webinar this Sunday at 10am PST explaining changes in our itinerary and port policies.  We heard nothing.  When we got back on the ship, there was a letter at our door explaining the same thing.  So, we have to wait until Sunday to see what this cruise will be like.  We remain guardedly hopeful.

Our tour didn't leave until late morning, so we hung out on the balcony and watched the action.  Parasailing is a big activity in Cabo.

We watched as the Star dropped her lifeboats to function as tender vessels.  Since Cabo has no cruise ship dock, all visiting cruise ships anchor and then use tenders to transport guests to and from the port.

One of the tenders released a ton of orange smoke.  We heard that an emergency smoke flare had gotten activated. We don't know if it was a test or an accident.  Either way, it was interesting to see.

Today, we opted for the Land's End and whale watching excursion. We boarded the twin-hull Caborey with a little over 100 Viking guests.

 

While we waited to depart, we took in the sights.  There were some mighty nice-looking ships in port.

We saw a hungry sea lion hitching a ride on a boat, looking for a handout.

We also saw a lazy pelican land on the motor of a passing boat and take a tour of the harbor.

Cabo San Lucas or Cabo for short is located at the tip of the 775-mile Baja Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean on the west meets the Sea of Cortez on the east. We sailed off past Land's End, a large rock that is the most southern point on the peninsula.  We passed by Lover's Beach that overlooks the Sea of Cortez.  On the opposite side through the opening in the rock, the water you see is the Pacific Ocean and that beach is known as Divorce Beach.  So, if you're on Lover's Beach and have a bad day, you can take a short walk and take care of business.

One of Cabo's most famous features is the Arch of Cabo San Lucas.  It is a natural stone arch reaching out into the ocean.

A small rock near the arch held a loud barking family of sea lions.

We sailed past Land's End and headed out looking for humpback whales.

As we headed out, an ultralight aircraft from Cabo Sky Tours kept flying over - for the more adventurous traveler.

Looking for whales didn't take long as multiple humpbacks were swimming just out of port. They seemed curious about some of the smaller boats out watching as they surfaced right next to several of them.

Back in port, we walked into town.  The walk is somewhat boring with little to see.  Arlona wanted to go to Diamonds International (DI) to get her free charm to round out her DI charm bracelet.  then took a bicycle taxi back to the port.

Along the tender dock area, we saw some interesting sea life hanging out in the shallow water.

On the way back, we caught a couple of nice views of our home for the next nearly five months, the Viking Star.

As we waited to sail out of the harbor, they finally loaded up the last of the tender ships, a.k.a. lifeboats, and we started making our way to LA.

The sun gave us a spectacular show and farewell to Cabo.  

Next up, two sea days and then a couple of days in Los Angeles.