We wake up to the vibration of the anchor dropping. Bernie heads down to get his tea and we sit
out on the balcony to enjoy the view. It
is cooler right now but it seems like it will get very hot later. The Patter says it will be 34C/93F Sunrise is
5:42 and Sunset is 5:53.
While sitting on the balcony Bernie spots a pod of whales
and we sit out and enjoy the whales as they breach and tease us. Not many people are up on their
balconies. Probably down have breakfast
I am guess.
We are in another tender port and there are a lot of ship’s
tours. We are planning on going ashore
in our bathing suits and finding a restaurant and relaxing for the day.
I decide to try breakfast up in the Horizon Court, this time
I was smart. I went to the waffle
station and saw that the machine was loaded with fresh waffles so I wait for
them to be cooked and take one of them and this way I know they are hot. They were very good. I also enjoyed a big plate of fresh
fruit. This trip has had a huge selection
of fruit, bananas, watermelon, pineapple, melon, oranges, apples, plums and
today I even saw peaches.
We relaxed for a few hours enjoying a coffee on deck five
watching the people heading to the dining rooms to get their tender
tickets.
Around 10 am we head ashore and a few minutes earlier they
called for open tenders so no tender tickets required. We have no problem getting on a tender and
head up to the top to enjoy the vista and the cooler breezes off the
water.
For this port it would be very difficult to almost
impossible for someone with mobility issues to get off the tender onto the
dock. It has steep stairs, there is a
ramp but it was very steep and that too would be difficult, so be warned if you
have mobility issues you may want to talk to Purser’s desk about options.
Once ashore we are hit with two things, HEAT and sand! Yup Sand!
The wind picks up the sand when you walk along the beach and whips it at
you. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
There are a few venders with the port area and as soon as
you leave the port gate there are numerous other vendors. There were taxi and guides there offering
tours and rides to Granada, etc. Fares
are not on meter so agree to a price before you get in.
We decide to walk along the beach to get cooled off. Today is Sunday and the beach is full of
families who have come down to enjoy the day with their families. Kids are playing in the water, playing in the
sand, playing soccer and enjoying picnics.
It is a lovely sight.
We walk all the way to the end of the bay. The sand is hot as it is black sand from the
volcanos and the beach isn’t that clean.
Sadly there is various types of garbage around.
Doesn’t look that appealing to swim in. They really should look at coming and
cleaning up the beach every day, but it doesn’t seem to be a priority and it
doesn’t appear to be in their culture to throw items in the garbage instead of
leaving it on the beach. It was much
cleaner at the end of the bay than where we docked.
The water is lovely and just what we need to cool off. But as soon as we walk out the wind kicks up
and one side is pelted with sand. It is
hard to lay on the beach without getting an exfoliating treatment to one side
of your body. We last only for about 40
minutes before we can’t bear it any more.
We decide to walk out to the street and follow the beach
this way. Nothing really along the road
except for homes. Lots of places you can
rent out too. It is a lovely area, minus
the blowing sand.
We walk along the main street and see a cute little
restaurant/bar that I believe is called The Howler (after the monkey). They served freshly made fruit smoothies and
so we order up two and a mango quesadilla, which was so good.
We decide to head down a bit further and maybe stop
somewhere for a beer along the beach. We
do stop and a large thatched roof restaurant right on the beach. Bernie orders one of the local beers and I
get a margarita and we sit and people watch.
Lovely place and the people are so nice too.
As we leave the restaurant we decide to walk up the street
to the main square and church and wander around a bit. This place is so tranquil and quite
reminiscent of some smaller Mexican towns we have visited. There are no big name stores, restaurants,
shops here. It is way way laid back with
many small stores/restaurants.
We decide to head back on board so we enter the port area
and we check out a few stalls selling items.
We see some lovely belts, the one I was looking it was all embroidered and
they are asking $12. A guy is also
looking at it and he offers $10 and she says yes, so I pick it up and say $10
and she nods. Bernie see a different one
that is not as intricate and the other woman says to him it is $14. When he asks why this is so much more than the
one I want she responds, oh that one is $16, this one is $14. I comment really this woman said $12 and took
$10. Really I said…. And we just walked
away. I don’t mind paying a fair price
but I hate when someone is just trying to take advantage.
There is absolutely no line for the tender… Wow what a
difference today’s tender operation was compared to all the others. Today’s was very very smooth.
We are back on board and in the cabin around 3:00 and first
thing we need is a shower to try and remove most of this sand.
Barb and Craig invite us over for a drink for sail away… so
nice to have such great friends with us.
We spot more whales as we leave.
Tonight we decided last minute to head to the Crown Grill
and Johan is joining us. We are given a
nice booth by the window and Hector is serving us again. The place is relatively quiet although there
are fewer waiters around too. I believe
there are three waiters for the entire place tonight, or maybe two waiters and
one assistant and the head waiter.
We enjoy a bottle of Merlot from Tabali winery we went to in
Chile… and we are reminded of our great day there.
I ordered the salad to start and it comes and there is too
much salad dressing on it. This ship
really seems to enjoy dousing their salads with dressing. I should of ordered it on the side. Oh and Bernie also ordered the other salad
with the beets and it too had way too much dressing on it. As I always say “less is more”, I can always add
more I can’t always take it away.
I then enjoy the Black and Blue Onion Soup which is great as
usual. For my entrée I have gone back to
the fillet mignon and it is served on it’s own and cooked perfectly.
We get garlic fries, spinach and mushroom for our
sides.
The garlic fries are once again
very plain with very little seasoning, including no noticeable garlic. I comment about this to Johan and he agrees
and wonders what has happened. The head
waiter comes over and brings us a fresh one done the way we normally get it and
right away we get a wiff of the garlic.
He comments that the old chef there had gone home and the new one is not
making it the same.
For dessert I try the lemon tart and it is very good, but
Bernie ordered the chocolate obsession and darn it sure looked good but I am
glad I tried the lemon tart.
Sadly service was really lacking I thought. Often our water glasses were not filled and
we often had to pour our own wine.
Plates sat in front of us for longer than normal as waiters rushed passed
us to try to accommodate those in the restaurant.
Overall we have dined here three times this voyage, and
three times in Sabatinis and none of the experiences have been that great, good
but not great. Sabatinis seems to have gone
downhill, and even when friends with us said they wanted to go back we both declined. Crown Grill had good food most of the time
but service seems to be lacking. Not
that the waiters are not good but there just was not enough of them. Just not the personalized attentive service
we use to get. Not sure why they didn’t
call down another waiter.
After dinner it is relatively quiet everywhere as most
people seem to be in a show somewhere.
Jennifer Fair a vocalist is performing in Explorers, she did have a
lovely voice. Chris Bliss a comedian is
performing in the Princess Theater.
We are back in the cabin around 10 pm and we read for a bit
before we can’t keep those eyes open any longer.
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