Day 5 - Puerto Vallarta

A beautiful day in Puerto Vallarta! We both woke up feeling a little better this morning, but now both have lovely chest coughs. All we have with us is Excedrin and Immodium so we needed to lay in a supply of cough medicine if we are to survive the rest of this trip. Fortunately, and likely not coincidentally, good ol’ insidious Wal-Mart has opened just across the street from the cruise port. We followed the sea of our fellow cruisers and filled our cart with Kleenex and some liquids that we hope will turn out to be cough syrup. These products were suspiciously close to the Nicorette (the only boxes printed with words we recognized) so we’ll either quiet our coughs or decrease our non-existent cravings for nicotine. Note to self: learn some Spanish words for common ailments, like cough, before next trip to a Latin American country!

We came back to the ship to drop our “treasures” and then headed back out to find a cab to take us to the tour we had booked. Who needs bungee jumping or skydiving when, for less than $10 for two people, you can take a ride in a Mexican taxi?! Despite our cabbie’s best efforts, we made it to our destination in one piece, and in time to find some lunch. We found a little cantina, named 8 Tostados, that served great ceviche and guacamole!

Finally, time for our tour – whale watching! We have been looking forward to this for weeks! We were greeted by our guide, Fernando, who looked and spoke much like a 12-year old Latino surfer but introduced himself as a marine biologist. He spent about 30 minutes teaching us about whales, their physiology and their behavior in a manner that demonstrated either a good understanding of the species, or a talent for memorizing a script and anticipating our questions! After the lecture we trooped off to the dock. Andrew, me and 9 octogenarians donned our lifejackets and loaded in to the 12-seat zodiac. We trolled past million-dollar yachts on our way out of the marina and were soon zooming along out to sea.

We spent the first 60+ minutes on a very bumpy ride listening to complaints about back pain while straining our eyes to catch sight of a whale blow. Alas, none were to be seen. “We’ll try one last spot” said Fernando, “but it’s a little late in the season so we may not see anything.” Finally, about 25 miles out to sea, a shout arises from the rear of the boat – “Thar he blows!” Cheers erupt from behind the oxygen masks and we quickly veer in the direction of the evaporating whale mist.

For the next 90 minutes we were treated to the show of a lifetime. A mother, her 3-4 week old (but weighing in at about 5 tons) baby, and their “escort” (either a juvenile or older male) were content to let us follow them in lazy circles. The baby was particularly active “waving” his pectoral fins, slapping his tail on the water, and even jumping out of the water more times than we could count. There were instances that they came within 15 feet of the boat, which really puts your size in to perspective. The female was about 50 tons, and about 40-45 feet long. The male escort was a bit smaller, but still looked like a giant. Even the baby was big compared to our 15-foot boat. I took a ton of photos, and was lucky to get a few good ones (below). Most of them are just of the splash left behind. No matter how much we pleaded, we could not get the baby to jump slowly! J The 90 minutes flew by and, too soon, it was time for the hour ride back to the marina – all in all, an amazing day!

The baby "waving" his pectoral fin

The "escort" - too bad you can't judge his size here.


The baby jumping