{"id":11524,"date":"2016-12-10T07:21:40","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T12:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=11524"},"modified":"2017-01-01T11:26:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-01T16:26:31","slug":"cruising-to-huatulco-oaxaca-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=11524","title":{"rendered":"Cruising to Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday December 9, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n

Two nights and a full day at sea with ‘light air’ – 81 degrees, sunny with light clouds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8866\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had traveled 1292 miles from Los Angeles and our cruise continued south-easterly along the Mexican coast. We kept ourselves busy with a few silly shipboard activities and explored the gigantic floating hotel. \u00a0The heated Lotus Pool in the photo below was covered with a retractable glass roof. \u00a0The Island Princess sails to Alaska in the summer so we surmised this feature would be well used during chilly sub-Arctic days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8872\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Soft relaxing Asian music played in the Lotus Pool which was surrounded by thick soft green lounge chairs. \u00a0In contrast, the Lido Pool had loud harsh\u00a0music blaring out of speakers all day and night. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8875\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff and I had filled our iPhones with free audio books from our local library’s\u00a0Hoopla<\/em> site so we were well armed with our own entertainment. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday, December 10th \u00a0 Southwesterly Force 3 ‘gentle breeze’ – 84 degrees and sunny<\/span><\/p>\n

I awoke at 6:30 to a change in movement of the ship. \u00a0Island Princess had slowed as we approached land and the behemoth slowly and effortlessly backed into the narrow port alongside a long dock. \u00a0Amazing!<\/span><\/p>\n

Land looked perilously close to our balcony during this maneuver:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8900\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had not reserved a guided excursion in Huatulco (pronounced Wa-tool-ko<\/em>) because prior research showed it to be\u00a0a small manageable town. \u00a0According to Wikipedia, Huatulco is a Mexican “tourist development” begun in the late 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8924\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Huatulco was a charming walkable town whose architecture reminded me of Delray Beach, Florida although it’s located in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. \u00a0There was a nice little beach and modern condo developments spread across the\u00a0foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8928\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After a leisurely breakfast we walked down the gangplank off the ship. \u00a0The sun beat down on us and there was no cooling breeze. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_9005\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8947\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Island Princess and the Holland America ship, Veendam, dominated the seascape. \u00a0We wondered if the brightly colored shops were open after the ships left. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8952\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8985\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8998\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There was a small park in the center of town and local people had set up a market in the shade. \u00a0Huatulco had restaurants, bars, variety stores, and shops selling tourist stuff. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8983\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff and I talked about seniors who lived on ships and sailed to foreign ports instead of living in ‘senior housing’ or ‘assisted living’ facilities or relatives homes. \u00a0While it sounded adventurous, I have to admit I enjoy getting off the ship and standing on terra\u00a0firma.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_8966\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We walked around for a while seeking cooler shade as we went. \u00a0The sun was strong and the temperature was hot and humid. \u00a0Sweat trickled down my back and drenched my shirt. \u00a0We took photos, then decided to return to the ship’s air conditioning and the coffee bar for iced drinks. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"dsc_9055\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the afternoon, while Jeff relaxed with one of his audio-tapes, I participated in a Ring Toss game and won a Princess lanyard on the fourth try. \u00a0Jeff joined me later for a Trivia Contest in one of the lounges and we listened to the Romantica Quartet play selections from The Nutcracker Suite. <\/span><\/p>\n

We had a Mexican dinner in the Horizon Court then enjoyed a comedy act in the Princess Theater. \u00a0By the time the show was finished, the wind was blowing 55 knots creating huge waves outside. \u00a0The Princess rolled and shook and we held onto the railings which line all the walls to return to our room.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday December 9, 2016 Two nights and a full day at sea with ‘light air’ – 81 degrees, sunny with light clouds.\u00a0 We had traveled 1292 miles from Los Angeles and our cruise continued south-easterly along the Mexican coast. We kept ourselves busy with a few silly shipboard activities and explored the gigantic floating hotel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising","category-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11524"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11572,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11524\/revisions\/11572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}