Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas Mexico

Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas

These were the last two ports on our cruise itinerary. It is interesting to note that one represents today what the other used to be 40+ years ago.

Huatulco is a sleepy little seaside resort with a small but serviceable port set inside one of about 5 gorgeous little bays.

There are a number of protected beaches and others that, although open to the public, are only accessible by water.

The water is pristine and snorkeling here a good choice, if you're so inclined. I like snorkeling but I wasn't so inclined this trip, so I opted instead for a combo land and sea tour to get a taste of this pretty area.

We were in port nearly all day and, since my 4-hour tour wasn't until 12:30, I though about going ashore early and walking around the shore area. The only problem was that it was HOT. And HUMID. And I was not feeling 100% to begin with, but I soldiered on and went ashore anyway.

I began to wither almost immediately. The walk down the pier seemed like it was ten miles but it was only about 500 yards. "Good grief", I said to myself, "get your shit together Sherita".

So I kept going. I was glad I did. The little town at the shoreline was compact and engaging. There were, of course, the usual souvenir shops and restaurant owners hawking the merits of their menus, cool drinks, shade and free wifi. I declined all offers with a sad smile and trudged on.

I soon found a small park with lots of big shade trees and benched scattered about. I plopped myself down on one and rested while I watched people walk by. After awhile I got up and headed back towards the ship. On my way back I found a beautiful little open-air church. I sat on one of the pews for a few minutes and enjoyed the quiet as well as the warm but soothing breeze coming off the ocean.

Oh look! There's my ship!

Loved this cute giraffe I saw in front of a store. Sadly, he was too large to carry home.

I walked to the meeting point for the tour and presently we boarded a catamaran type of boat and set off on a 90 minute tour of the pretty bays. They had an open bar so I had a margarita and assumed it would help kill whatever toxins might be lurking in my bedraggled body. Probably not one of the better decisions I've ever made, in retrospect.

The sea tour was very enjoyable and soon we returned to the marina and traded our boat for a bus. We headed out of town and up along a mountain road which gave us some lovely views of the harbor and bay. Our guide was a very exuberant man named Lalo and he seemed puzzled as to why most of us were tired and hot. We were a subdued bunch.

Lalo took us to another nearby town called La Crucesita and had us stop at a really pretty church with stunning murals inside. The ceiling, especially, was gorgeous. It was a full body portrait of Guadelupe, one of Mexico's patron saints, I believe. Lalo had us walk up the side aisle, turn towards the center, face the alter, then turn around to face the church doors at the rear. Then he had us look up at the ceiling. Guadelupe looked down on us in such splendor! Lalo told us that the church was only about twenty years old and that it took the artist 40 weeks to paint the murals in the church. I was most impressed.

Lalo then wanted to take us a few block's walk to a little museum but about a third of us had no desire to do so so he let us go back on the bus and wait. It was air conditioned in there and us weenies felt not one iota of guilt.

Can you see the man's face in these rocks?

A beautiful, unspoiled beach, accessible by water only.

Pretty church, with gorgeous murals inside.

The ceiling's mural

Soon enough everyone else returned and we started back to the ship. It was about this time that my stomach started hurting badly. It was that burning heartburn type of hurt. Gawd. I kept it together and managed to get back on the ship and to my stateroom where I dug through my little bag of emergency pharmacy mess and quickly chewed down some Tums. I soon felt better. Needless to say, I skipped happy hour that day. Maybe it was the combination of an acidic margarita and the oppressive heat and humidity, I don't know. Whatever. I feel like made the best of it, feeling lousy or not.

We enjoyed two sea days in between Huatulco and our next and last stop at Cabo San Lucas.

Our time in Cabo was very limited - just a little over 4 hours. It was also a tender port which cut down on port time even more since the tendering process was a good twenty minutes each way.

I had a short tour planned but quickly cancelled it when I found out that a fellow cruising friend was on another ship and would be in port at the same time. We messaged each other and planned to meet up at a restaurant on the marina. Sadly, his ship came in later than ours and by the time we met at the restaurant we had only about half an hour to spend visiting over drinks. Still, it was well worth it. It was fun to see him again and share cruising stories!

I will be stopping in Cabo in early 2017 when I go on my World cruise so I will rebook that tour for then. Good decision!

My first early morning view coming into Cabo.