It was noticeably cooler and less humid as the ship arrived to the port of Manzanillo, Mexico early this morning. Of course, as the day progressed, it did warm up nicely. The entire coastline has been shrouded with a sea haze ever since we began sailing from Puerto Chiapas, maybe even sooner than that. Today was no exception. From the looks of the hillsides, we think the mist of this haze helps the native brush, as it does not look as if it has rained here in quite a while. In fact, we think this is the end of the dry season, and the rain will come in June. According to the TV screen, the temps were in the low 70's at 9am.
Leaving the room for breakfast, we found a photo from yesterday's Mariner Event in our mail slot. It was the largest size available, and of course, it was complimentary. We waited until 10am, when all of the tour groups went off. Shore excursions today were a drive to cities Colima and Comala for 6 ¾ hours. Looking at a map of the state, these towns are located further north, and a long ride back & forth. There was a salt-fruit-clay bricks tour to see how it was collected or made for 5 ¼ hours. A Manzanillo shop and beach stop was 6 ½ hours, while an open-air ride and beach excursion was 4 ½ hours. They ranged from $50 to $90. Not bad, but a lot of bus riding for sure.
We walked the town from one end to the other, and with the tour groups gone, we were about the only cruise ship people in the crowd. The malecon or main walking street is quite spacious. It included many patios with seating, a fountain that operates with music, a place to watch the dozens of fishing boats, and monuments of all kinds. At one end is an avenue dedicated to the signs of the Zodiac with modern art sculptures. The centerpiece has to be the gigantic figure of a blue sailfish. Actually, Manzanillo is the sailfish capital of not only Mexico, but in the world.
The naval facilities were in this section of the malecon, and when we began walking in the area, we were asked to leave ….nicely. Had it been roped off or fenced, we never would have walked there. Our destination was the large church we could see towering over the downtown. Going out the gated road, we strolled over to the Cathedral. In order to access the upper level, there was a very long flight of stairs. Only one of us was willing to do that. Too many stairs are not my friend these days. Going up….not so bad. But going down….not good. Many photos were taken, and that would be just fine with me.
Locating what looked to be the main street, we walked past numerous small shops, bars, a hotel, restaurants, and food stalls. It was very busy with locals this morning. All of the vendors were masked, but not all of the people. Once again, we are not taking any chances and stayed masked most of the time. Every business required a mask however. One thing they have a lot of here is shoe stores. And just the type one of us was searching for. The only problem is that almost no one wears a size 10, and highest the sizes was 9, of course. I have much better luck in India, or at home.
By now, the skies were clearing up, and the sun was getting stronger. The breeze in town was much less, so we headed back towards the malecon, and eventually back to the ship. As we entered the fenced entrance, our temperatures were taken and we had to sanitize our hands. Why going back in, we don't know, except there were some souvenir tables set up there. One of the vendors asked us where the people from the ship were. Our guess was that none of the tours were back yet. Guess her sales were really slow. We noticed that some of the offerings were definitely Guatemalan, not Mexican.
Little did we know it, but the best part of the day was yet to come. Having gotten involved with down loading pictures, we stayed in our room having snacks for lunch. We popped in and out of the veranda to watch the harbor traffic, since we were facing the water being on the starboard side of the ship. Now, if anyone would have told us we would see a whale today, we might have thought they were crazy. But see a whale? We sure did, and right off of our veranda no less.
A naval vessel had just passed our room, which caught our eye. So we went out to get a photo, and there was a large splash across from us near the bulkhead. It had to be something big, then suddenly, there was the whale breaching. Not a fully grown one, we suspect it was a young humpback. Well, it put on a show for all of us on this side for an hour. Then it stopped and appeared to be resting….floating like a log. Occasionally it blew its spout gently, like it was sleeping. Very odd to see just one, we wondered if it had lost its mother and the rest of the pod.
A few local boats, including military, came close to take photos, which woke it up every time. The whale stayed all afternoon, until our side thrusters were activated, stirring up the water. The whale strayed out beyond the bulkhead, and turned into the large bay. We never saw it again, but we did see some turtles as we sailed out of the huge harbor.
The ship left after 4pm, and we did watch for more whales, but saw none. The Captain had mentioned that it is not uncommon to see humpbacks as well as other varieties on this coast. We shall keep an eye out for them all the way to San Diego now.
Dinner was in the dining room with one bowl of chicken noodle (spaghetti) soup, a Caesar salad, and one entrée of cordon bleu and one fettucine with Bolognese sauce and shredded beef rib meat. It was delicious. And we shared as well. The head chef made another visit to the tables, and we thanked him for the different dished tonight. Finally, dessert was one rocky road and a neopolitan dish of ice cream.
Tomorrow's port will be Mazatlan, another stop we have not made for years. And this evening the clocks went back one hour. We really like that.
Bill & Mary Ann
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Report #123 Manzanillo, Mexico 8am-4pm April 19, 2022 Cloudy And Hot 80 Degrees
