Today we find out why the inside cabins are so much cheaper, as we get up at the unGodly hour of 0500 to get breakfast before our shore excursion meeting time of 0645, slather on sunscreen, and go outside to find Acapulco pitch dark and pouring rain. Sigh.
After hastily gulping down some food and much-needed coffee, we met up with today's excursion, the Shotover Jet Boats in the Puerto Marquez tropical lagoon. I wasn't sure they would go on with it, but it turns out they do, equipping us with towels and rain ponchos and wishes for good luck.
In my guidebook, it says Acapulco is sunny roughly 360 days of the year, so apparently we've gotten lucky and hit one of the 5. We load onto a bus and the guide drives us out to a lookout part-way to the lagoon for some photos of Acapulco Bay.
It's really a pretty town, from a distance at least--we're sorry we don't have much time to explore it, as our ship sails at 1pm.
We continue on towards Puerto Marquez, which is said to have the highest Mangroves in the world. It's situated in sort of an odd area, where a wealthy-appearing golf course is right next to an area that looked like trash pick hadn't happened in the last month or so. They divide us into two groups, at which time we have to wait around for them to find another jet boat and clean out the water and debris.
We finally get in and our driver speeds us along the waterways at high speeds, occasionally whipping us around in 360 degree turns. It's fun and would be even more fun if it weren't still pouring, causing the rain to pelt us in the face with the force of a dermabrasion treatment.
Here's a sample picture of us, and no, you can't see me, as I'm cowering behind my poncho, trying not to have my face blasted off by the force of the water.
Later, he drove us into the mangrove groves. The trees are remarkable for their dense root structures that extend out of the water. They must be fast-growing, as they have to regularly machete open tunnels for the boats to maneuver through. Sometimes the ends of the roots are so close in, he has to tell everyone to duck down to avoid them.
As we enter an area with such heavy mangrove growth it almost acts as a cave, I take the opportunity to get some photos. This may be a mistake, as later I notice the camera has escaped it's plastic bag and gotten rather wet.
Anyway, it's pretty fun as I said, although the other boat apparently has problems and breaks down, causing them to all have to be taken off and then put back on again after it was fixed.
We then are given the opportunity to buy a cd of the photos, which we end up doing, despite the fact that all you can really see of us are our ponchos.
After the bus ride back, we hire a cab to take us to the cliff diver area, wait for us, and then drive us back to the port terminal. He drops us off and we happen to walk in the same time as one of the Disney tours, which reassures us that there will be another show soon (there doesn't appear to be a regular schedule.) I think it also saves us admission fee, as I notice fee signage on our way out, but no one ever asked us for any money.
We see some of the cliff divers just finished from one drive, and have the sense that, perhaps, these are not the ones prominently featured in the advertisements, and Love Boat.
We find a place to spectate and hunker down, at least as well as can be expected when everything is soaked from the recent rain (now stopped, thank goodness.)
This is the cliff that they dive off of, and the shrine on top where they pray before diving, presumably for not-death. It is about this time that I begin to think the camera may not be happy about the whole getting wet thing earlier, as it begins to randomly emit loud "CRACK" sounds that resemble gunfire. I manage to keep it working for most of the dives, but it is clearly needing a rest.
Finally, after much waiting, the divers jump into the water, swim to the other side, and climb up the side of the cliff. All except the guys at the top that just suddenly appear from the back. It makes you think no one tells the newbies about the elevator.
Nobody dies, and the cab driver is still waiting for us when we come out, so we consider the whole thing a success, although I am still concerned about the camera.
We make our way back onto the boat, and are greeted by a familiar face on boarding.
After some recovery time and a lesson in origami flower folding, we go for dinner in Animator's tonight.
The curry crab nachos are a little different than what I expected but still makes a good pairing with the mango salsa-thing that accompanies it. Ox enjoys the grilled shrimp and scallops, but has difficulty taking the shell off, as the grilling makes the shell stick to the shrimp like nobody's business.
As our entertainment, Minnie comes in and does a little dancing, Mexican-style. They have a Mexicali deck party up top, but we don't make it because in general, our server doesn't seem to be able to get us out of dinner in shorter than 2-2.5 hours.
I mean, he seems really nice and is always enthusiastic about greeting us when we get there, but then he'll disappear for 30-45 minutes at a shot between courses. Periodically the Head Server comes by to ask if there's anything he can do for us, and I always feel like saying "yes. Can you check on R---? Because I think he might be dead."
The night ends with a churro eclair, as the deck party buffet supplants the usual midnight buffet and, alas, no chocolate covered strawberries. Apparently they aren't Mexicali enough.
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