Cruisin'

Jason and Elisha took a cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico!

What?  No kids?  Heck no!  They got to spend time with Namaw and Grandparents McCullough.

Our first sight of our cruise ship from the parking garage.  Aaaah!  So excited!

 Our Carnival cruise ship.

 Day 1 was just getting on the ship and familiarizing ourselves with the various levels.  There was even a practice emergency drill where we had to go to our meeting place and receive directions.  FYI: if your ship goes down, you must FIRST go get your life jacket THEN go to the meeting place.  Don't drown on the way.

Day 2: Catalina Island, west of LA, California

We took smaller boats from the cruise ship to the island.  Leaving super early means getting right on!  It was the only time we took advantage of the free room service.

 The ship is SO tall!

 

Goodbye ship!



Seeing the island closer.  The round building is a movie theater, and has one of the top sound systems around!

 

 Ship from land

 

Enjoying the island!

 We took the land-sea tour.  First, we learned the history of Catalina, which includes the Wrigley family owning it and using it for the Chicago Cubs and later open to tourism.

 

 

 

A beautiful building on Catalina with a mermaid mosaic

The mermaid up close

After the land tour, we took a sea tour on a glass bottom boat.  What would you think to see through the bottom of a boat?  Beautiful reef fish, right?  Well....

Looking through the bottom.  The boat had 6 of these windows with benches around them.

The fish!  Thanks to feed, it drew them to us.  Only brown fish, though.  The one orange fish was too far below.

 
We LOVED Catalina Island. It was a quiet place to sit, shop, eat, and wander.  We'll be back one day!

Day 3: Ensenada, Mexico

After arriving in Ensenada, we quickly discovered that we needed to take a tour or walk the unnerving streets of Mexico.  We decided to visit the Bufadora "blow hole" and market.  Best choice we could have made!

It was mango season, so mangos were cheap and delicious!  Note: get the samples!  They're great and free and you get full!  The pina coladas are non-alcoholic.  We so wish we would have known that!

The market leading up to the Bufadora.  The fresh fruit was amazing along with fish tacos and churros.  Bartering was an interesting experience.

 There are only 3 blow holes in the world.  It starts with water building pressure in an underwater cave, which blows up, relieving the pressure.  The other two are in Australia and Hawai'i.

Elisha checking out the bufadora

Elisha with the bufadora

Jason with with bufadora

The bufadora mist

The Bufadora in action!

View from our ship

More view

A beautiful view as the sun set in Mexico

Unfortunately, Elisha got sea sick on the way back to California from Mexico.  No vomit, just an unhappy tummy.  Jason was wandering around and heard seals.  Later, while Elisha came out for fresh air, she heard them, too.  Here they are!

Well, okay, there's one sticking his nose out.  His friends were too far away.  But, it was cool to hear them barking!

Here are some fun things we enjoyed throughout the cruise

How cute!  Each night, for turn down service, the staff would make a towel creature, give the next day's activities, and a chocolate.

towel rhino

towel bunny

towel puppy

towel guy

 This towel guy gave us the biggest scare!  Jason was the one to open the door, and there was this guy - sitting on our bed!  It was even funnier when when the staff was just down the hall laughing at us.  We thought it was so great we had people come see.  If you look closely, Jason's shorts and shoes are used with Elisha's sunglasses on a towel head.  A robe is wrapped around a bigger towel.  When we arrived home, this was Harrison's favorite story to here, and tell.

THEN we took a class to learn how to make towel creatures!

towel elephants

towel bunnies

towel piggy

The ship

Let's look out the window...

...whoa!  Were'd the window go?!

The ship seen on top deck

Inside the ship - looking down the levels

The upper deck at night

ice sculpting...

...an indian chief!

Other aspects of the cruise we enjoyed included:

The comedian -

The food - delicious and fresh.  Note: you CAN order more than one item at dinner!  Yes, the crab AND the steak!  The cake AND the ice cream!

The people we met at meal time.  Not to mention the conversation!  Dense/drunk people make life interesting.

Our homework from the towel-making class was to make our own towel animals for the staff before leaving our rooms.  Jason made the elephant, then Elisha, in her nauseous mood, suggested a big snake out of the beach towels.  So, we leave for you to see last, too.