On November 5, 2005 Anita Dyck of Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise hosted another group cruise vacation. The excited group departed Calgary and arrived in the wonderful city of San Diego where our 12-day journey began.
The first evening we attended the theatre in Old Town for the hilarious comedy “Too Old for the Chorus – But Not to Old to Be a Star” The next morning after breakfast at the hotel we boarded San Diego’s Old Town Trolley for a fully narrated tour that combined colorful anecdotes, humorous stories and historical facts. We were able to choose between taking the two hour continuous tour or making it an all day experience by getting off at any of the 8 stop and exploring. The stops include Balboa Park, Old Town State Park, the Cruise Ship Terminal, Seaport Village, Downtown, Horton Plaza, Coronado and the World Famous San Diego Zoo where you can take the amazing bus tour, ride the Skyfari aerial tram, and visit the spectacular exhibits like Absolutely Apes, Polar Bear Plunge, Gorilla Tropics or Tiger River. The late afternoon was spent exploring Old Town State Park full of history and entertainment. At 8:00pm the group met in the hotel lobby for a Bon Voyage Party hosted by Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise.
On November 7, 2005 we embarked on the recently refurbished MS Ryndam for a 10-day cruise. The ship set sail at 5:00 pm. We spent the first two days at sea exploring the ship. Some of us lounged by the pool on the lido deck, some attended the cooking demonstrations held in the Wajang Theatre as part of the new Culinary Arts Program and all of us enjoyed the superb food and service in the dining room.
Puerto Vallarta was our first port of call. At 7:00am on November 10 the MS Ryndam docked in the charming city of Puerto Vallarta. Located on the west coast of Mexico in the state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is built on 25-miles of Banderas Bay and along the Sierra Madre mountain range. The city was once little more than a sleepy fishing Village but in 1962 director John Huston selected the location for his film “Night of the Iguana” starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. Today more than two million tourists visit Puerto Vallarta each year. Puerto Vallarta has long been known for its tropical appeal to vacationers. New eco and adventure-oriented attractions have added to the enjoyment of the miles of beaches. Activities include water-skiing, wind surfing, deep-sea fishing, wind surfing, fly fishing, sailing, whale watching, scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, and kayaking.
Our second stop was Mazatlan. This ‘Pacific Oasis” has become a major international seaport and tourist resort due to its natural harbor. Mazatlan boasts the longest stretch of uninterrupted beach in Mexico. Since it is located along a main migratory route it is a haven not only for sun worshippers, but bird watchers as well. Nature lovers will love Acuario Mazatlan home to over 250 species of fish. The aquarium has an auditorium and botanical gardens. A large number of our group choose the Mazatlan City Tour with visits to the El Faro lighthouse and Cathedral. Then we stopped at the waterfront to admire the brave high divers. We ended our tour with a folkloric show featuring the famous Papantla Fliers. These daredevil Totonac Indians ascend a 75-foot pole, and descend on ropes spinning around the pole to the ground.
Topolobampo is a beautiful seaport located 20 km from Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico; this was our third port of call. Topolobampo is on a deep-water bay in the Sea of Cortez. It is also the gateway to the region’s most spectacular attraction “The Copper Canyon”. There were 14 people in our group that choose to visit the canyon – we met in the theatre at 4:00am along with 322 other passengers, at 5:00am we boarded buses and traveled to El Forte, at 7:00am we made our way onto the South Orient Express Train for our 6 hour train journey to the Copper Canyon. Wow! It is one of the world’s greatest engineering feats – 39 bridges, 87 tunnels and hundreds of miles of rail spanning the most rugged and remote terrain imaginable. It also offered us incredible views of raging rivers, waterfalls and sub-tropical forests. The Copper Canyon is four times larger than the Grand Canyon; it is actually a massive maze of 200 gorges that combine to form a series of canyons covering more than 25,000 square miles. We had an hour to view the canyon and take many photos. We were then taken to lunch at the hotel. We left the Copper Canyon at 3:00pm and began our 6 hour train trip back to El Forte and then the 2 hour bus ride back to Topolobampo. The captain was on the pier to greet the weary travelers on our return, along with many crew members with hot face cloths, juice and water. Once on board we were treated to a midnight buffet. It was a very long and tiring day but well worth the once in a lifetime experience.
Welcome to Loreto, Mexico our next stop. Loreto is located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. On the east coast of the Baja California Peninsula facing the Sea of Cortez. It is approximately 1200 kilometers south of the US/Mexico border. The historic town of Loreto, known as Concho (red mangrove) in the local language is the oldest European settlement in Baja California. The area was established in 1697. Loreto boasts nearly 250 km of coastline, 750 square km. of sea and 14 islands. The Sierra La Giganta mountain range, one of the tallest and most spectacular in Baja, overlooks the town of Loreto and creates breathtaking panoramic vistas. The surrounding desert is rich with unique plant and animal life and the water teems with aquatic life, creating unlimited eco-touristic opportunities. The weather of Loreto is generally warm with more than 300 sunny days and a year round temperature averaging in the 80’s. We dropped anchor in the harbor at 8:00am and tender service into Loreto began. Once on shore we hired a local taxi for a tour of the quite town. Loreto has much to offer for the entire family. In addition to its legendary sportfishing, you can enjoy numerous outdoor activities such as swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, golf, beachcombing, horseback riding, tennis, kayaking and sailing. On a trip to the nearby islands, you can marvel at the marine life that includes sea lions, exotic birds, playful dolphins and whales. In the mountains at nearby San Javier, you can explore ancient missions and captivate your mind with the local history. At 6:00pm we set sail for our next port of call Pichilingue.
On November 14 we docked in Pichilingue our fifth port of call. Pichilingue is referred to as the entry point to La Paz. Located on a large bay on the Sea of Cortez, 16 km away from La Paz, the port has a fishing dock, a commercial dock and a cruise ship terminal. Our choice of shore excursion was Paradise Cove Kayaking. From the pier we were taken to Balandra Beach and given a short briefing on our kayak. We manage to paddle into paradise cove and view the abundance of local birds and into a natural mangrove forest. Some of our group traveled by bus into the city of La Paz. It is a real Mexican city where 170,000 Mexicans live and work. It dedicates just a five block strip for tourist shops, restaurants and tours. Local business establishments intermingle with tourist stops and give the city a lived-in
feeling. La Paz is quickly establishing itself as Baja’s eco-tourism center with a wide variety of tours offered by professionals dedicated to preserving the environment. Others stayed in port and watched the folkloric dance group perform in the cruise sip terminal or shopped in the local market stalls. At 6:00pm we set sail for our last stop – Cabo San Lucas.
The final port of call on Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise’s recent group cruise tour was Cabo San Lucas. The resort town of Cabo San Lucas is named for the slender cape extending eastward from Baja’s southernmost tip, gradually
developed into a tourist hot spot the last forty years. Today, Los Cabos is booming and is currently the seventh most popular tourist destination in Mexico and the second fastest growing resort community in the country. Cabo has been blessed with what many describe as the perfect climate. Average year-round temperature is 25 degrees, it is a little cooler in the winter and a bit warmer in the summer. For years Cabo was the remote playground reserved solely for private yacht owners. They flocked here to be near “Marlin Alley”, as the waters around Cabo have often been described. The name is well deserved, as Cabo San Lucas is the undisputed billfish capital of the world. . Cabo’s signature landmark is El Arco (“The Arch”), a rock formation at the tip of “Land’s End,” where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. A boat trip there is a must, if only to come face to face with the hundreds of noisy sea lions who reside on the rock formations. If you have time, hire a water taxi to take you to “Lovers Beach,” the only beach in the world bounded by two different oceans. A whale watching excursion is another “must do,” if you are there between December and March, when thousands of California gray whales and other species are making their
annual migration from colder climates.
Our last day aboard the MS Ryndam was spent last minute shopping in the duty free shops on board, hoping for better luck in the casino, and watching the final evening show in the Vermeer Theatre. Before supper Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise treated the group to a private cocktail party in the Crows Nest Lounge and celebrated Jean & Alex Gorrie’s 59th wedding anniversary.
On November 17 we arrived back in San Diego for our flight back home – each of us having made new friends, renewed old friendships, and all with very special tales and memories of our ‘Mexican Riviera and Sea of Cortez Cruise Vacation”.