Cruise report - day three
Dec. 21st, 2007 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookaddict43This post's a bit more travely than the last two. There's lots of scenery description ahead.
Day three found us docked outside Cabo San Lucas and we had to get up way too early in order to join our excursion group. 'Cabo by land and by sea' was the tour picked for Browncoats to join if they wished. I wished, and so did Kimie and Cana so off we went on the tour.
First we had to disembark into tenders which took us ashore, where we were directed to a larger boat for the first part of our tour. For the first time since I'd left home I was warm, so I sat up on the deck and basqued in the sun!
I was delighted to see Ron enjoying himself on the boat and later also saw Jonathan and Nectar getting on the bus. In my opinion, it was this willingness by the VIPs to join in our other activities which really made the cruise unique.
Kimie taking photos
Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed the trip around the edge of the peninsula as we looked at the natural wonders around us. The rock formations were fascinating, there were seals in the water and pelicans and lots of beautiful sand. I really hope they don't ruin it with too much resort building right on the sand...
Sand and sea My natural habitat :D
Rock formations The sea was a really gorgeous colour and it always gives me a bit of a thrill to realise that my home is on the other side of this huge expanse...
After the boat trip we were shepherded off to a couple of buses for a tour of the island. On the way to our first stop the guide told us a bit about the area. I was interested to learn that all their drinking water etc was provided by a de-salination plant and that the many, many golf courses were kept green by the use of recycled sewage water!
Me and Tim (TD Brown) on the bus Hi Tim! *waves*
The spirit of recycling was alive and well at our first stop, the Glass factory. All the items made at this factory were made from recycled bottles and such discarded by the hordes of tourists.
One of the glass blowers at work
Also of interest was the fact that the factory 'employed' kids that had got into trouble. Apparently each kid is assigned a mentor among the glass blowers and works with him during the day and learns the trade. I thought that was a great idea and probably works better than just sticking them in a jail full of other troubled people. *hops off soapbox*
Once the glass blowing demonstration was over we were let loose in the factory shop and lots of folks bought things. There was some truly gorgeous stuff there and I wanted lots :)
beautiful Christmas ornaments I wanted to bring them back with me - but they wouldn't have made the trip *sigh*.
Once the buying was over we hopped back on the bus for a drive to the other side of the peninsula. The vegetation was all cacti and low bushes on one side while the sea was on the other. We stopped at a picturesque spot for a drink and some photo taking.
The Three Roomies in Cabo
After this we were back in the bus for a drive to the next small township where we could have lunch. I was starving by this time and willingly followed the guide's directions to the cafe he recommended. I'd say more than half the bus did the same and I think the cafe staff were a bit overwhelmed by our numbers. They provided a pretty good meal all the same and the guacamole was delicious. *mmmmmmmmmmmm*
Cabo Wabo
Lunch and our 45 minutes stop over, we got in the bus again to drive back to the town near the port. We, and some others got off at Cabo Wabo and went inside to get a drink. It was sooo loud in there even my punk-rock desensitised ears noticed it!!! But we made our way to the bar and ordered Tequila shots for everyone. The bartender lined them up along the bar and we licked, sipped, and sucked in time honoured fashion. Drinks over most of us escaped to the outside again, it was really too loud in there...
Once outside, we split up and headed toward town for a look at the sights and search for the internet. The new prompt was due for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
firefly100 and I’d promised the little guy I’d email him. We found a café where if we bought something to eat we could use the internet and settled down. But boy was it slow! I gave up trying to access gmail at all and finally posted the prompt about half an hour later. We gave up on the internet, and being tired headed back to the tenders to go back to the ship. On the way there were several guys with huge lizards in the arms, some of these lizards even had hats on! The idea was probably to have photos taken with them, but ick, the poor things just weren’t natural!
Back at the ship we had some downtime; chatting about fan fiction, watching Safe and planning what we might put on Shaun's chair.
Shaun was the good-natured target of a challenge from Jonathan. Everyone was to find, or steal, the tackiest things on the ship and then attach them to Shaun's chair. Jonathan was going to judge on the last day and I think the prize was a drink from him.
Cana doing her 'too much hair impression'
Dinner that night was the first of the 'dine with the celebrity' dinners. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to dinner with Ron(one advantage to being online when everyone else is asleep) and so was Kimie. I took my camera to this and didn't take one photo! I really hope the professional photographer got a couple of shots I can snag.
Anyway the dinner was great. Ron was, as you would guess, a wonderful table companion and the conversation was good. During the dinner was the first time he let us know some of 'the secrets' from the Shepherd's tale comics. We had quite a conversation about how one could find god in a bowl of soup and at the end of the dinner, he told us the last tidbit. Part of the Shepherd was artificial...
The staff sang again and we got a fine view from our table of Jonathan dancing on his chair, behind us in the other direction Michael was apparently dancing too! Ron didn't dance but did enjoy it and treated us to his laugh again. It didn't matter how often I heard that laugh, it was just as infectious as the first time I heard it :D
After dinner was a combined concert of Sonny and The Bedlam Bards. The Bards were in fine form and it was great to hear Sonny's Love song again. The Bards sang their Kaylee song which I'm hoping will be on our DVD. Near the end of the concert they played the Firefly theme song together. Sonny had asked the Bards to write out the words and he played and sang it for the first time (I think) since he recorded it for the show.
When the concert was over we grabbed Shaun and stuck our decorations on his chair and then Kimie, Cana and I once more settled in for the Karoake night and had just as much fun as the night before.
The letter is actually one of the letters from Jayne to his Ma from my Letters series!
A ship's postcard with a letter from Jayne on it
A paper chain made by Kimie with each coloured circle representing a member of the crew We also attached a person from the train display and some tinsel swiped from someone's door...
Ron actually came and sat with us for a bit during the Karoake. He had been talking to one of the singers out in the sports bar and came in to him sing. It was the first time he'd been to Karoake and he was amazed at how well some of the folks sang. We were also joined by fellow Browncoat Mike and we stayed on for till the end and I even sang. I was nowhere as good as Cana, but had great fun.
Kimie and Cana being back-up dancers for some guy we didn't know :)
At the end the organiser handed out hats to a few people and they did a spirited rendition of YMCA. I stayed safely off-stage and watched. Unfortunately my photos of this are pretty terrible so I can't use them to bribe anyone :( :)
Just as the song finished, Ron rushed up and grabbed Kimie and whisked her away. It turned out that he'd got talking to a lady at the bar who was very interested in Firefly and he wanted Kimie to recruit her! LOL We stood and chatted while Kimie talked to the woman and Ron asked my name! *swoon* He was so nice and gave Kimie the biggest hug ever at the end...(I do have a photo of this and will post it later if Kimie says I can)
Kimie was over-the-moon after this and couldn't stop talking about Ron hugging her as we wandered off in search of something else to do. We ended up at the disco where we met up with some more Browncoats and danced with them for awhile before heading off to bed and the end of another great day...
Day three found us docked outside Cabo San Lucas and we had to get up way too early in order to join our excursion group. 'Cabo by land and by sea' was the tour picked for Browncoats to join if they wished. I wished, and so did Kimie and Cana so off we went on the tour.
First we had to disembark into tenders which took us ashore, where we were directed to a larger boat for the first part of our tour. For the first time since I'd left home I was warm, so I sat up on the deck and basqued in the sun!
I was delighted to see Ron enjoying himself on the boat and later also saw Jonathan and Nectar getting on the bus. In my opinion, it was this willingness by the VIPs to join in our other activities which really made the cruise unique.
Kimie taking photos
Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed the trip around the edge of the peninsula as we looked at the natural wonders around us. The rock formations were fascinating, there were seals in the water and pelicans and lots of beautiful sand. I really hope they don't ruin it with too much resort building right on the sand...
Sand and sea My natural habitat :D
Rock formations The sea was a really gorgeous colour and it always gives me a bit of a thrill to realise that my home is on the other side of this huge expanse...
After the boat trip we were shepherded off to a couple of buses for a tour of the island. On the way to our first stop the guide told us a bit about the area. I was interested to learn that all their drinking water etc was provided by a de-salination plant and that the many, many golf courses were kept green by the use of recycled sewage water!
Me and Tim (TD Brown) on the bus Hi Tim! *waves*
The spirit of recycling was alive and well at our first stop, the Glass factory. All the items made at this factory were made from recycled bottles and such discarded by the hordes of tourists.
One of the glass blowers at work
Also of interest was the fact that the factory 'employed' kids that had got into trouble. Apparently each kid is assigned a mentor among the glass blowers and works with him during the day and learns the trade. I thought that was a great idea and probably works better than just sticking them in a jail full of other troubled people. *hops off soapbox*
Once the glass blowing demonstration was over we were let loose in the factory shop and lots of folks bought things. There was some truly gorgeous stuff there and I wanted lots :)
beautiful Christmas ornaments I wanted to bring them back with me - but they wouldn't have made the trip *sigh*.
Once the buying was over we hopped back on the bus for a drive to the other side of the peninsula. The vegetation was all cacti and low bushes on one side while the sea was on the other. We stopped at a picturesque spot for a drink and some photo taking.
The Three Roomies in Cabo
After this we were back in the bus for a drive to the next small township where we could have lunch. I was starving by this time and willingly followed the guide's directions to the cafe he recommended. I'd say more than half the bus did the same and I think the cafe staff were a bit overwhelmed by our numbers. They provided a pretty good meal all the same and the guacamole was delicious. *mmmmmmmmmmmm*
Cabo Wabo
Lunch and our 45 minutes stop over, we got in the bus again to drive back to the town near the port. We, and some others got off at Cabo Wabo and went inside to get a drink. It was sooo loud in there even my punk-rock desensitised ears noticed it!!! But we made our way to the bar and ordered Tequila shots for everyone. The bartender lined them up along the bar and we licked, sipped, and sucked in time honoured fashion. Drinks over most of us escaped to the outside again, it was really too loud in there...
Once outside, we split up and headed toward town for a look at the sights and search for the internet. The new prompt was due for
firefly100 and I’d promised the little guy I’d email him. We found a café where if we bought something to eat we could use the internet and settled down. But boy was it slow! I gave up trying to access gmail at all and finally posted the prompt about half an hour later. We gave up on the internet, and being tired headed back to the tenders to go back to the ship. On the way there were several guys with huge lizards in the arms, some of these lizards even had hats on! The idea was probably to have photos taken with them, but ick, the poor things just weren’t natural!Back at the ship we had some downtime; chatting about fan fiction, watching Safe and planning what we might put on Shaun's chair.
Shaun was the good-natured target of a challenge from Jonathan. Everyone was to find, or steal, the tackiest things on the ship and then attach them to Shaun's chair. Jonathan was going to judge on the last day and I think the prize was a drink from him.
Cana doing her 'too much hair impression'
Dinner that night was the first of the 'dine with the celebrity' dinners. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to dinner with Ron(one advantage to being online when everyone else is asleep) and so was Kimie. I took my camera to this and didn't take one photo! I really hope the professional photographer got a couple of shots I can snag.
Anyway the dinner was great. Ron was, as you would guess, a wonderful table companion and the conversation was good. During the dinner was the first time he let us know some of 'the secrets' from the Shepherd's tale comics. We had quite a conversation about how one could find god in a bowl of soup and at the end of the dinner, he told us the last tidbit. Part of the Shepherd was artificial...
The staff sang again and we got a fine view from our table of Jonathan dancing on his chair, behind us in the other direction Michael was apparently dancing too! Ron didn't dance but did enjoy it and treated us to his laugh again. It didn't matter how often I heard that laugh, it was just as infectious as the first time I heard it :D
After dinner was a combined concert of Sonny and The Bedlam Bards. The Bards were in fine form and it was great to hear Sonny's Love song again. The Bards sang their Kaylee song which I'm hoping will be on our DVD. Near the end of the concert they played the Firefly theme song together. Sonny had asked the Bards to write out the words and he played and sang it for the first time (I think) since he recorded it for the show.
When the concert was over we grabbed Shaun and stuck our decorations on his chair and then Kimie, Cana and I once more settled in for the Karoake night and had just as much fun as the night before.
The letter is actually one of the letters from Jayne to his Ma from my Letters series!A ship's postcard with a letter from Jayne on it
A paper chain made by Kimie with each coloured circle representing a member of the crew We also attached a person from the train display and some tinsel swiped from someone's door...
Ron actually came and sat with us for a bit during the Karoake. He had been talking to one of the singers out in the sports bar and came in to him sing. It was the first time he'd been to Karoake and he was amazed at how well some of the folks sang. We were also joined by fellow Browncoat Mike and we stayed on for till the end and I even sang. I was nowhere as good as Cana, but had great fun.
Kimie and Cana being back-up dancers for some guy we didn't know :)
At the end the organiser handed out hats to a few people and they did a spirited rendition of YMCA. I stayed safely off-stage and watched. Unfortunately my photos of this are pretty terrible so I can't use them to bribe anyone :( :)
Just as the song finished, Ron rushed up and grabbed Kimie and whisked her away. It turned out that he'd got talking to a lady at the bar who was very interested in Firefly and he wanted Kimie to recruit her! LOL We stood and chatted while Kimie talked to the woman and Ron asked my name! *swoon* He was so nice and gave Kimie the biggest hug ever at the end...(I do have a photo of this and will post it later if Kimie says I can)
Kimie was over-the-moon after this and couldn't stop talking about Ron hugging her as we wandered off in search of something else to do. We ended up at the disco where we met up with some more Browncoats and danced with them for awhile before heading off to bed and the end of another great day...
