Part 2
If you missed part 1, go to this link for the first half of
our report:
After two days at sea,
we arrived at our first port, Mazatlán.
This was not a new port for us to explore: we have visited this city before. A great place to spend spring break, but not a
destination for older travelers. We
didn’t want to shop or see the folkloric shows so we went to the beach -- we
booked a tour with Azamara. The tour
took us to a clean hotel on the beach that served a nice buffet. We enjoyed our time sitting on the beach, in
the shade, reading, and watching the world go by. I walked out into the water, but it was too
cool to swim. After a few hours, we took
an “open roof” taxi back to the ship. It
was a relaxing day and that’s what vacations are for.
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| Beach in Mazalan |
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| Taxi back to the Celebrity Quest |
It was a ninety-minute drive to Todos Santos from La Paz
thru a desert landscape – very much like southern Arizona. Todos Santos is an artist colony on the
Pacific side of Baja California. We
enjoyed our tour of the town, but the major point of interest was the Hotel
California. We had a pleasant
lunch in the hotel restaurant and wandered thru the gift shop. Of course, the women bought t-shirts. After
looking at a map, I found that Todos Santos is halfway between La Paz and Cabo
San Lucas. Todos Santos is a difficult village
to reach, I guess that is why there are lots of artists and expats living
there.
Hotel California
Jeri & Anita in Hotel California
The next day, we talked to several people who took the 14-hour
tour to Copper Canyon and everyone seemed to enjoy the trip. The canyon is
larger than the Grand Canyon. I guess we
missed out on a nice train ride and the view of Copper Canyon -- the site stays
on our bucket list, but moved farther down the list.
Our next stop was Guaymas in Sonora. While living in New Mexico, I heard lots of
comments about this Mexican fishing village – many friends came south of the
border to fish in these waters. We
didn’t fish, but we went to a pearl farm, and I have the photos to prove
it. We managed to keep our wives out of
the pearl farm gift shop and kept lots of money in our wallets. We toured the city with a guide, but the
guide was careful not to let us leave the group. After seeing a few old buildings and plazas,
we wanted to return to the ship, but the guide told us we couldn’t leave the
group even when we could see the ship one mile away. Safety concerns?
Pearl Farm Demonstration
Pearl Farm
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| Azamara Quest at Dock in Guymans |
We were scheduled to stay over-night in Loreto, but due to expected
bad weather, the Captain changed our cruise schedule. Our original plan was to leave the next day
for Cabo and spend that evening in the bay at Cabo San Lucas. On Friday, we were to go to an “Amazing
Evening” event outside of town in the desert.
With the new schedule, the ship left Loreto in the evening (Wednesday) and
we arrived in Cabo a day early (on Thursday) for the rescheduled evening event
(a day earlier than originally planned).
We arrived in Cabo without any issues, but since we were tendered, we
stayed on the ship until our Thursday evening event.
Tree Lined Shopping Street in Loreto
Anita, Jeri, & Geri
Sunset in the Sea of Cortez
Azamara took most of the passengers – all that wanted to go
– to a celebration of the dead. The
evening show was held in a canyon, a thirty-minute bus ride from the harbor. The show was very well done and we enjoyed
the performance by local musicians and dancers. We enjoyed good weather and returned to the
ship about 10PM.
Celebration of the Dead
The next morning, still in the harbor at Cabo, the rain
came. We had a tour planned, but decided
to skip the tour – no fun in the rain. However,
we did take the tender into Cabo and have lunch at a small cantina near the
harbor. We didn’t stay in town very
long, went back to the ship and waited for the ship to pull anchor and begin
the two-day cruise back to San Diego. We
did see several whales and lots of dolphins during our time in the Sea of
Cortez. Most of our sightings were
between Loreto and Cabo.
Last Tender out of Cabo
While returning to San Diego, the first day at sea was
rough. Many passengers suffered with sea-sickness. I was wearing my prescription patch for
nausea and wearing sea bands: I didn’t have any problems. In addition, I continued to take Ginger
tablets along with the other motion-sickness preventatives. The second day at sea was not nearly as
rough, but we still had high seas and a lot of motion. Not the quiet days at sea that I had hoped
for when we left San Diego.
We love the Azamara Quest.
Our favorite venue is the sunset bar at the rear of the ship. Almost every night, we ate dinner at the outdoor
lounge at the sunset bar. The buffet was just inside the door and we made
friends with the bartender at the back of the ship. We hope to see him on our next cruise on the
Azamara Quest. One complaint: the
internet on the ship is not what I expected.
I was told Azamara had upgraded their internet service, but it’s still
slow compared to Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ships. Fortunately, we purchased an unlimited
internet package and we could take the time to download/upload our email messages. It was slow…
Good news: we were able to use WiFi calling with our mobile vendor while
in port and at sea. The WiFi calling
allowed us to call, and receive calls, without any international roaming
charges. Still, the WiFi was slow…
Enough said.
On the last day, we arrived in San Diego about 6AM. After
thirteen nights aboard the ship, we were ready to go home. After our boarding experience, I had some
concerns with debarkation, but those concerns were unfounded. We got off, cleared customs, and found a taxi
to take us to the airport within thirty minutes.
My thoughts of this cruise itinerary? I am glad we did the Sea of Cortez, but I
will not recommend it for most of our clients -- it is not a traditional cruise. However, we wanted the port experiences in
the Sea of Cortez so we could advise our clients about the ports and the sea. If you go to the Sea of Cortez, cruise on a
small ship. The ports and the towns along
the Sea of Cortez can’t handle a large ship.
Azamara is our favorite cruise line. We have sailed on Azamara eight times and are
scheduled to sail on Azamara twice before the end of the year. We love Azamara! Our next Azamara cruise is to Cuba.
If you have any questions about the Sea of Cortez or Azamara
Club Cruises, contact Anita, your Cruise Holidays agent.
