Tinkerblue

Aquarium of the Pacific - Long Beach, CA

Woohoo it's always fun to spend a day with friends. Morag lives in London (UK) and no she did not come all this way just to spend the day with me!  She was visiting another friend in San Diego for two weeks, and was able to come up to Long Beach on the same day we were in port. 

 

 

The Aquarium of the Pacific is not far from where the ship docks and I've been past it many times on the bus.  Morag and I both love being tourists so it was an easy decision as to how to spend our day. The Aquarium is not overly big, but there was more than enough to keep a busy for a few hours. We didn't even see all the exhibits.

 

 

We paid a little extra to do a behind the scenes tour which lasted an hour or so and was well worth it.  It was Sunday of the Memorial Day long weekend, so the Aquarium was crowded.  The behind the scenes tour got us away from that hoard for a little bit.

 

 

This is a piece of artwork that hangs above the entrance to the museum.  It's created from junk that ends up in the ocean. As a piece of artwork it's really cool, but it sucks that all that crap is just floating out there. 

 

 

During the tour we got to go above the tropical reef.  It's the largest exhibit in the Aquarium.   One of the first animals we saw was the turtle.  Usually he's sleeping on the bottom of the reef, but today hwe was looking right at us.  Can you believe he's actually a confiscated animal? Someone tried to smuggle him in from Central America somewhere, and customs caught the smuggler.  So now he lives at the Aquarium.  (The turtle, not the smuggler).

 

 

 

The tank below houses fish that are in quarantine.  Once they have been declared fit and healthy they will be added to the exhibits.

 

 

Watching the fish from above the tropical reef.  There are two divers in the reef giving a demonstration, it was odd to watch from above the reef rather than from the otherside of the plexiglass.

 

 

 

While we were above the reef we fed the fish some seaweed.  They were almost jumping out of the water to get the food, and they were fighting for it.  

 

 

 

During the tour we had to disinfect our shoes before going in and out of all the tank rooms.  My shoes were quite wet but very clean by the end.  Remember Jacques the shrimp from Finding Nemo? He's a cleaner shrimp.  We got to put our hand in a tank with a cleaner shrimp and have him clean our hand.  My hand was either very clean or he was very full.

 

 

We also chatted to two of the divers who had just come out of one of the tanks. The divers at the Aquarium are all volunteers, have over 50 hours of diving and are all rescue dive trained.  As a bonus one of them was really cute - nice eye candy for the day.

 

 

There was a lot more to the tour...we saw shark eggs incubating, baby sea horses that are smaller than the nail on my little finger, gold fish and guppies being raised as food for the bigger animals, sea monkeys (remember those kits from the 80's and 90's), food being prepared for the otters and sharks and coral that had been confiscated by customs from stupid people at the border.

 

 

After the tour we wandered through the aquarium for a bit long.  Some of my favourite things to see were the sea dragons. Not to be confused with sea horses, sea dragons are found in the southern waters off the coast of Australia, especially around Tasmania.  I'm pretty sure I've never seen a sea dragon of the coast of Tassie, only ever in aquariums in North America, but then I've never snorkelled or scuba dived at home. Sea dragons are considered an endangered species. 

 

 

I love the jelly fish.  At least when they are in a tank with a thick plexiglass wall between them and me.  I could sit and watch them for ages.

 

 

But I could spend even longer watching the sea otters. How adorable is this little guy sitting in the sun?

 

 

And the penguins?  When can I have a pet sea otter and a penguin?  The fairy penguins at Philip Island are cuter, but these guys are still very handsome.  Although that one at the front left could do with a bath.

 

 

After the Aquarium, Morag and I had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, grabbed an icecream and walked back to the ship along the foreshore.  I've always caught the bus from the dock to downtown Long Beach, but the seawall walk to the Aquarium area only took about 20 minutes and it was picturesque.  I might have to walk it again, or even go for a run.  Beats running round in circles on deck 12.

 

 

Thanks Morag for coming to visit for the day, and for the donuts they were very much appreciated by the shoppies.  Who is going to come and visit me next?

Chocolate of the Caribbean - Moho Chocolate, Belize

 

Moho Chocolate was pretty much the only reason we got off the ship and took the world's longest tender ride to shore. Well that and an internet connection.

 

 

Moho Chocolate is located right in the port compound - or it's official name is Fort Street Tourism Village.  It's between terminal 3 and 4. 

 

 

They have a small cafe inside, the chocolate factory, and an outdoor bar. Inside you can order hot or cold coffees, milkshakes, tea smoothies and icecream.  I had both the Oreo cookie milkshake and the Humble Monkey.  So very good.  A little on the sweet side, so splitting one milkshake between two people might have been a better idea.

 

 

We could have toured the chocolate factory. I think the tour is about $2.00 and you get to make your own chocolate bars.  We never actually did this, not sure why.  Maybe David or Victoria or Jorge can tell me why we didn't?

 

 

We did however enjoy their free samples. Many times over.  Sure we could try plain dark or milk chocolate or dark or milk chocolate with almonds. But why would we? Instead we tried the dark/milk with chili, dark/milk with ginger, dark/milk with cocoa nibs, and dark/milk with salt and lime. Can you guess which was my favourite?

 

 

Moho Chocolate was established in 2012, and its name is taken from the Moho River Valley in Belize where the cocoa beans are grown.  Did you know chocolate is good for you? It is.  It helps build a strong immune system, aids digestion, helps with absorption of calcium and makes better bones!

 

 

The week before Christmas Jorge and I decided we would finally treat ourselves to a chocolately drink at the bar outside.  We had a Moho Buzz. Once upon a time I knew exactly what was in it.  I do remember Bailey's, Kahlua and ice being mentioned.  It was very, very good.

 

 

They had free wifi, so Jorge and I sat and savoured our drinks and facebooked everyone so they could be jealous!  Sorry.

 

 

 

Chocolate of the Caribbean - Kaokao Chocolates Damarsicheli

I love chocolate.  Plain milk chocolate is my favourite.  I have developed a liking for dark chocolate over the last year or two.  White chocolate? Bleh.  Don't like it at all.  So of course I managed to find some locally made chocolate in the Caribbean. 3 brands.  There's probably more but these are the ones I found and like.

Kakao Chocolate - Cozumel, Mexico

 

 

Kakao is a tiny little "factory" in Cozumel.  Jorge, Marissa and I took a cab from the port. It took less than 10 minutes to get there.  We were meeting friends elsewhere so we didn't have time to do the tour, we just did a tasting.  The tasting was fee, the tour is $10.00.  

 

 

We tried the Mocha/Cafe, the coconut/coco, the Milk/con leche, white/blanco, hazelnut/avellana, and dark/oscuro noir.  Not suprisingly I liked the milk and the hazelnut, suprisingly I liked the Mocha and of course I hated the white.  But at least I tried it.  My favourite?  The seasonal chocolate they were making for the Christmas season - with Cactus and hot chili.  It was good. 

 

 

We also tried the honey with cocoa nibs, which was good but I still prefer leatherwood honey or fireweed honey.  We all said we'd go back another time and do the tour.  On the tour you get to make your own chocolate and try the hot chocolate. I like the hot chocolate discs.  I'm pretty sure I still have some (different brand) in my storage locker in Vancouver.  

 

 

We each bought a couple of bars of chocolate and then took our cab to meet our friends at the beach. I'm pretty sure all three of us ate our chocolates before we left the beach. I don't think any of it made it back to the boat.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro - San Juan

 

Way back when, September 18th to be exact Manny and David and I went to Castillo San Cristobal in San Juan. Almost 2 months later Victoria, Jorge and I went to visit it's partner Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

 

 

We could have walked there from the port, it's only 2km or so but it was hot and we didn't have a lot of time. So we took the free trolley.  

 

 

While San Cristobal protected from land based attacks, El Morro was built to defend the entrance to the  harbour.

 

 

Construction began in 1539 and it took over 200 years to build.

 

 

It has 6 levels and includes dungeons, garitas, (domed sentries)  a light house, cannons, tunnels and 

 

 

my favourite, a triangular staircase.

 

 

We spent a good hour or so exploring and taking photos.  We didn't watch the film or take the ranger guided walk. 

 

 

Things we learnt:

The only time El Morro failed to protect San Juan was when the Duke of Cumberland occupied it in 1598. And he attacked by land not by sea.

 

 

The oldest part of El Morro is the Old Tower, a very original name.

 

 

The first shot of World War 1 by the US was fired from El Morro on March 21st 1915

 

 

There are three flags flying over El Morro.  The US flag, The Puerto Rican flag, and the Burgundy Cross.  The Burgundy Cross is the Spanish military flag, that flew during most of the Spanish colonial period.

 

 

The grassy area area in front of the fort was once a golf course.  

 

 

Barcardi Distillery - San Juan

It's not often we get a full day in San Juan.  Usually I'm port manning and can't get off the ship or we have a general boat drill and then we only have two-three hours. But about a month ago we didn't have boat drill and we had the whole day in San Juan.  After stopping in Starbucks for some free wifi and then wandering Old San Juan spending money on items we din't really need we decided on the spur of the moment to visit the Bacardi Distillery. 

 

 

We could have taken a shore excursion through the ship for about $40 each or grabbed a tour from one of the many operators right outside the ship for about $20 each. But we went with the cheap option.  We took the ferry - it's about a 3 minute walk from the cruise ship.  The ferry cost a whole 50c for the return trip.  We did get a laugh when the ticket they gave us said Seniors!  The ferry takes about 10 minutes and then it's a quick cab ride to Bacardi. The cab ride was $3 each.  The Bacardi tour?  It's free.  And it includes two drinks.  

 

 

You arrive at the visitor centre, a huge big covered area with tables and chairs and more importantly the bar.   First stop - at a tiny desk where a not so friendly employee gave us our tour and drink tickets. We had just missed a tour and had about 20 minutes to the next one, so it was a good time to have our free drinks.

 

 

For my first drink I had the classic Cuba Libre, and for my second I tried Black Razz Rum with orange and cranberry juice.  It was oh so good.   I could have drank oh so much of it! Just as we were getting comfortable they called our tour.

 

 

We took a tram across to the tour building.  It was not far, we could have walked easily, but the tram is their way of keeping everybody contained.

 

 

The tour is not actually a tour of the distillery, we didn't actually get to see the rum being made.  It's more of a fancy infomercial. Also we hadn't realised how late in the day it was and the tour was going to finish after the ferry back to Old San Juan, which would have meant us missing the ship, so we were a little stressed.  Still it was fun.

 

 

The tour starts with the history of sugar cane and the origins rum making. A short movie follows with the Bacardi family history and the rum making process. The guide took a long time getting everyone seated and starting the movie. This section of the tour could have been done in half the time.  I don't remember too much about the movie except that the ceiling was pretty cool.

 

 

Moving on into a reproduction of the original factory, the guide talks about the tells you more about how rum is made, how it's stored in the oak barrels, etc. Did you know they don't clean the Bacardi bottles with water? They clean them with rum so they don't dilute the product.

 

 

By now all four of us were getting a little ansty about missing the ferry and the ship! We asked if we could leave but the guide wouldn't let us, she said we had to go to the next part of the tour and then we could leave.  The second to last part of the tour is the bar.  You don't actually get any samples or drinks here, but a bartender talks about the different rums, and the cocktails you can mix.  

 

 

Finally they let us go, we raced back to the ferry, which was not at 200pm as we had been told but at 215pm.  Which made us very close for the 230pm back on board, but we did infact make it.  We still need to go back to Bacardi.  We had to skip the gift shop all together. Next time, we'll skip the tour, have our two free drinks and then go to the gift shop.

 

Bushwacker at Paradise Point - St Thomas

 

Okay, okay so Paradise Point in St Thomas might be one of those tacky tourist traps, but we wanted to go anyway. I signed on to the ship July 18th and Paradise Point has been closed up until now.   So this was the first chance we had to see what it was like.  

 

 

First off, it's expensive. $21.00 per person.  Lucky for us there is crew discount which made it much much much more affordable.  I think I might have baulked if I'd had to pay the full $21.00.  Or maybe not. The whole point of working on a cruise ship was to travel, see the sights and enjoy myself.  

 

 

Anyway we waited maybe a whole 5 minutes for the cable car to arrive.  There was only two other people waiting to board so Victoria, Jorge and I and a car to ourselves. The ride up takes about 45 minutes and the views are spectacular.  

 

 

There is a a lot of construction happening at the top of the tramway, so the nature trails etc are all closed.  However the lookout is what you go up for and it was open.  We took all the requisite tourist photos and then some.  Three people, three cameras, three smart phones. That's a lot of photos.

 

 

At the top there isn't really much other than the view.  A few souvenir shops that carry the same stuff you can get anywhere and a restaurant that only accepts cash (no cards) but there is no ATM to get cash.  The menu is limited - very.  No more than 6 items. And they were expensive.  We didn't eat.  But they do have free wifi.  Very important to facebook starved ship crew.

 

 

We decided to drink instead.  That's a wise decision when it's 40c out! But Paradise Point is famous for it's Bushwacker.  

 

 

Depending on who you talk to or what you read the Bushwacker was first served in St Thomas or Florida.  I'm going with St Thomas purely because it suits me and I'm in St Thomas, not Florida! 

 

 

The bushwacker looks like a chocolate milkshake but holy cow is it way more potent! Basically it consists of rum, vodka, Bailey's, Kahlua, Amaretto, Creme de Cacao, crushed ice and nutmeg.  Very very tasty.  I'd go back for another.

 

 

The Royal Dolphin Swim - Cozumel

I've said several times that I would never swim with dolphins. But I'm eating my words.  In Cozumel last Monday I went swimming with dolphins and it was awesome.  I don't like that the dolphins are fenced in or that they are performing tricks they wouldn't do in their natural environment, but I'm going to have to be hypocritical about it. The dolphins at Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel are apparently all born under human care and were not captured from the wild, but I still feel conflicted.  But I thorougly enjoyed myself.  It it one of the highlights of my contract so far - up there with the Amazing Secret River that I went to with David.

 

Jorge, Me, Karl getting ready for our dolphin swim

 

dorsel tow

 

handshake - my eyes are full of salt from the dorsel tow, and I couldn't get them open!

dolphin kiss with Luke. Our dolphins were Luke and Leia!

Hand touch - also can you see Karl holding on to my life vest? The current was strong and kept pushing me off the platform.

The foot push. There are two dolphins - one under each foot.

Dolphin Discovery - Cozumel

Castillo San Cristobal - San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is one of my favourite ports, we come here every second week. But one week I'm port manning and can't get off the ship, the other week we have our crew boat drill and don't get off until late. I never get enough time in San Juan. Oh the problems of ship life!

 

After the last boat drill Manny, David and I went to visit Castillo San Cristobal.  It's a Spanish fort that was built over 150+ years ago to protect the city from attacks.  

 

Hanging out in the Sentry Box

Castillo San Cristobal is the largest fort that the Spanish built in the Americas. 

 

Once upon a time they fired canons from here, now I get to sit and enjoy the view!

 

It once covered over 27 acres but nearly a third of it was demolished to allow for the expansion of the city.

 

David trying to look cool on top of the 200 pound mortar shells.

 

El Morro guarded  San Juan from ocean attacks, San Cristobal guarded against land based attacks.  We didn't visit El Morro - too far to walk, and with what time we had left we wanted to go and eat lunch. Food in our belly was more important.

 

Manny and David doing what they do best - playing the fools!

 

The fort doesn't just look pretty, it's seen it's share of battles.  The first shot by the Spanish in the Spanish-American war was fired from here.  The US used it during World War II.

 

View from the Observation Tower

 

Just in case anyone wants to know, Castillo San Cristobal is walking distance from the cruise ship dock. We spent about an hour to an hour and a half here and it cost us $3.00 each. One of the cheapest tourist attractions I've been to in a while. You can spend longer here, we didn't watch the movie or explore some of the inside displays.  But we didn't really feel like we missed anything.

 

Hey, their bunks are bigger than ours! But ours may be just a little more comfortable.

 

That's our sightseeing and history lesson for the month. No doubt next time we have some time in port we'll go back to sitting in restaurants or cafes for food, drinks and internet.  

 

Don't fall - it's a long way down to the ocean on the other side.

The Amazing Secret River - Shore Excursion from Cozumel

David and I have been talking about doing this excursion for a while.  We had a whole group of people lined up to go, but everyone else cancelled at the last minute - either too expensive or too tired or whatever. So it ended up just being the two of us. 

 

We booked through the ship, because it requires a ferry ride to get there and we didn't want to miss the ferry back to the ship. That wouldn't be good!  The ferry ride was about 40 mines, then a 1/2 hour bus ride to the Rio Secreto Natural Reserve.

 

You cannot take anything with  you into the caves. No camera's, no jewelry, no sunscreen, no body oil etc.  So the first stop is the change rooms and then an outdoor shower to rinse off. You can choose to wear a wetsuit or not, it's included in the price.  Our guide assured us the water wasn't that cold so our group all chose to not wear the wetsuits.  You are also given water shoes, life jacket and helmet with headlamp.  If I were doing it again, I'd bring my own water shoes.  

 

From the base it's a 10 minute or so walk through the jungle to the Rio Secreto.

 

Inside the caves you travel nearly 11 miles either walking or floating and it takes about 90 minutes, I think. I lost track of the time.  I've been into quite a few caves over the years, but I have never swam in any.  The cave system is huge, it's pretty much under all of the state of Quintana Roo (the Yucatan peninsula) but much of it is unexplored.  The area where our tour went is called Pool Tunich.  It's seriously a labryinth of waterways and amphitheaters filled with stalactites and stalagmites formed from limestone and quartz crystals.

 

 

The water is cool, and crystal clear.  At some points it was only ankle deep but in other places it was over my head. Yeah I know, I'm short but David is taller than me and it was over his head too.  The bottom is either rocks or sand. my favourite parts where when we just floated along, looking up at the stalactites.  It was stunning.

 

 It was really awesome. I can't really put in to words how I felt.  But I wanted to spend more time just exploring, listening to the silence.  Even in a group of 8 it was so peaceful.

 

 

One of my favourite parts was when the guide had us all float on our backs, close our eyes, turn off our head lamps and then open our eyes.  It was dark.  Really dark.  My eyes never adjusted to the darkness, and I couldn't see my hand in front of me.  Every one was absolutely quiet and we just floated there for 5 minutes.  You could hear water dripping from the stalactites.  Amazing.

 

 

Seriously if you are ever vacationing in Cancun or Playa del Carmen or Cozumel you should go to the Secret River.  It was well worth it.  I would go again.  The tour I went on was to the Secret River or Rio Secreto.  But you can also do an underground river tour at Xcaret.   It's all part of the same cave system.

 

 

(all photos are from Rio Secreto CD and you can't take your own camera)

 

 

Hot Stone Massage at Painted Boat Resort

 

Today was a gorgeous day on the Sunshine Coast. Blue sky, sunny and warm. It was also my birthday. As a birthday present from my Nan I spent a good chunk of the day at the Painted Boat Resort. 

It's a few miles up the road from here. I arrived at noon for my 1:00pm appointment.  Why so early? Because they have the Spa Garden that you can use before and/or after your treatment.  

 

 

At reception I checked in, signed my life away, collected a locker key, was given a quick tour and then left to enjoy the hour before my massage.  In each locker there is a clean bathrobe and towel.  I think there were about 12 lockers so I can't imagine it ever being really crowded.  The change room was nicely stocked with extra towels, face washers,  cleanser, moisturiser, body lotion, razors, shaving foam, hair spray, hair dryer and curling iron.  I changed into my swimsuit and head out to the spa garden.  

 

 

The garden has a huge firepit which was on but not really needed today. Beyond the firepit are a salt water floatation pool, hot tub, sauna and two glacial rain showers.

 

 

 

I chose not to partake in the glacial rain showers today (we have no hot water at home right now, so I've had enough glacial showers for the month). I did float in the salt water pool for a bit, but spent most of my time in the hot tub or laying out in the sun reading my book.

 

 

Just before 1:00pm I went inside to dry off, cool down and grab a glass of water or two before my massage. I love getting massages and the hot stones are just awesome, they make the knots feel like they are just melting away.  It is just so relaxing. I might even have dozed off for a minute or two. 

 

 

After the massage was done, I spent 15 minutes in the steam room. Michelle gave me a fresh glass of water and a small tub of glacier clay to rub on any dry areas (elbows, knees etc) before heading into the steam shower. The clay is really moisturising, I didn't think it would be.  I felt so good when I was done.

 

 

After the steam room I headed back to the change room to take a hot shower, something I haven't been able to do for the last 5 days! I thoroughly enjoyed the hot water. I wrapped myself up in the bathrobe and headed back out to the garden to read in the sun for a little bit longer. Then it was finally time to get dressed and head back to the real world.

 

 

It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.  Thanks Nan.  

 

 

Where? Painted Boat Resort, Spa, Marina 

What? Hot and Cold Stone Massage

Price? $135 for 60 minute massage includes use of spa garden

Duration? I arrived at noon for my 1:00pm massage. Massage was 60 minutes. I left at 3:00pm. 3 hours in total. I could easily have spent longer. There is no restriction on how long you use the spa garden for.

Atmosphere? Beautiful, quite, relaxing, clean, and the staff are friendly and unobtrusive.

Worth it? It's definitely a splurge.  Way more expensive than just having a regular massage but you are paying for the spa experience. For me, I think it was worth every penny.  I'd love to go back.  It would be a great place for a girls weekend. 

Would I go back? Yes.  I'd like to try the exfoliating body scrub or the Signature Ritual, but I'll have to save my pennies for those.  A pedicure might be more doable for now.

Recommend it? Yes.