Moving on....
I think that our bed on the Grand Princess is the most comfortable we've ever had on any ship. The mattress is just perfect. I am spoiled by sleeping under just a duvet (no top sheet for us to get tangled in). Our inside cabin is dark and quiet and cool and...well, that must be the reason we're sleeping so much. It was 8am today before I opened my right eye and peeked at the clock. Then I immediately started coughing. And coughing. And coughing. I tried to bury my face in a pillow but that wasn't enough to allow G to sleep through the commotion. I struggled in the darkness to find the box of throat lozenges I'd bought in Hilo, but couldn't locate it. So I instead reached for a piece of chocolate from Carol's Quality Sweets in Edmonton. It did the trick perfectly. :-)
I checked for an email from Mom, so easy to do now that we have normal Internet again. It's not fast, of course; we're on a ship at sea. But, compared to what we had on the Pacific Princess, it's a different world of technology. First, I have three bars of wifi signal strength. In our cabin on the Pacific Princess, I never had more than one. Then, the Grand Princess wifi pops up immediately to be selected. You might have noticed I actually posted food and show photos yesterday, on a sea day. Yes, things are definitely back to normal on that count. Thank you for bearing with me while I was on the dark side of the Moon.
I showered and dressed as quietly as I could, then left the cabin to allow G to continue to sleep. We were not arriving in Cabo until noon today, which, I must say, is a very civilized way to cruise. Arrivals at noon; departures at 8pm. I think anyone could get behind that as a vacation schedule. There was no need to rush today. I went down to the IC just to get a cup of coffee. After last night's wonderful dinner, I wasn't particularly hungry, and knew I could grab something at the Horizon Court Buffet before our excursion.
We did not bring our 2-way radios on these cruises, due to the weight restrictions we were facing in Air Tahiti Nui, and, while I didn't miss them at all on the small Pacific Princess, I am definitely missing them on the Grand Princess. I returned to the cabin after coffee just to see if G was up and about yet, but might have preferred going to a culinary demonstration or a lecture on whales instead.
When I finally got back to the cabin, G was just starting to stir. He requested brewed coffee, stat, and so I took his Princess travel mug up to the bar on Deck 14 to get him some. No, they only had specialty coffee drinks, no brewed coffee. So I went down to the IC on Deck 5, where I knew that they had brewed coffee. Unfortunately, they also had a long line of people waiting to get froufrou coffees, and they take time. By then it was 10:30am and neither one of us had had a bite to eat, so I did something I have never done before on a ship: I picked up two of the bacon, egg and cheese muffins in the IC. McDonalds on a cruise? Maybe, but desperate times... Carrying them and a pastry (just 'cause this had all been so grueling ;-)), for each of us, I climbed those curved marble stairs in the Piazza balancing two plates of food and went to Crooners to get brewed coffee. Unfortunately, I arrived just behind three couples ordering six Bloody Marys. This was not going well. Happily, another bartender showed up to get me a simple cup of coffee, and even more ladened, I returned to the cabin. G had wisely left the cabin door partially opened...he knew I'd be returning with full hands. And that's where we ate breakfast, bacon, egg and cheese muffins in the cabin while watching TV. Very untypical for us, but a little variety won't hurt us.
We were to meet at 12:20pm in the Princess Theater to join our group for our excursion today: pirate ship sail and snorkel. I knew exactly why friend Carol had selected this tour: we have a group history with St. Thomas. Water Island, an impromptu pirate ship transfer back to Havensight, copious amounts of rum and the mysterious appearance of tattoos. However, our tour today was cancelled before we even left the ship, due to the wind and disminished visibility in the water. Temporarily stymied, we (Grant, Carol, Phil, Jan, G and I) immediately rebooked on a harbor catamaran tour. Let's be honest here...what we really wanted were margaritas on the water and an up close view of El Arco, the rock formation for which Cabo is most famous.
Well, we certainly got all of that, plus some magnificent whale sightings. I mostly relinquished my photographer responsibilities to professional photographer friend Phil, but have a couple of photos to share. Several (and I mean several) margaritas later, we were back on the dock and made our way to a nearby waterfront restaurant for the fish tacos for which Cabo is famous and yet one more margarita each. I think that's the one that really finished us off.
At this point it starts to get a bit fuzzy. I remember mariachi singers, and walking back to the tender dock in two groups of three each, arm in arm like the characters in the Wizard of Oz strolling down the yellow brick road. Once back on the ship, we had a quick pizza at Alfredos, the sit down pizzeria on board, and that was as far as we got. No Elite Lounge, no big dinner, no shows...we have to do this all over again with a full day excursion in La Paz tomorrow. The alarm is set for 6:30am (help me). Is it possible that we've survived 96 days in French Polynesia only to be finished off by Mexico and tequila and our Canadian friends? Stay tuned...