Cabo Robo

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Geo: 22.88, -109.9

Today we went to the hottest place I've ever been in my life… Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I-yi-yi Hot Hot Hot I was really excited for today because today was going to be the day we actually did what I like to do on vacation the most – swim, snorkel, get in the water!! I am a bit of a water baby and hubby had never snorkeled in the ocean before! After much back and forth thoughts about what we were going to do today, hubby and I decided to do the Carnival Sail & Snorkel Fiesta excursion in the morning …and then hire a boat to take hubby parasailing …and then hit Medano Beach for some more water fun …and stop by Senor Frogs for margaritas on our way out… and maybe a bit of souvenir shopping …a lotta to-dos and a lotta fun to be had!!

I woke-up super early again which has become a habit on this trip, probably because we are two hours earlier here than in Missouri. I took a quick shower, had our beach bags and towels ready, and was ready to go before we ever stopped the boat near Cabo. It didn't feel extremely hot in Cabo this morning and the boat literally stopped in front of the famous arch at Land's End so we could take fabulous pictures from our balcony!

Cabo is a tender port i.e. you have to take small boats (called tenders) to get to the port. I got the underwater camera ready and we were on the first boat to hit the shore and see a bit of Cabo.
We were quickly transferred from our tender boat to the Pez Gato III catamaran and immediately they started giving instructions and handing out gear – life jackets, fins, and snorkels/masks - as we headed to Pelican's Rock to snorkel. We were all given dayglo life vests to wear – we didn't have to inflate them but they wanted to watch the people in their group as this was a very popular snorkeling spot.

It was starting to get hot-hot-hot fast-fast-fast! Luckily, the ride to the snorkel spot was quick and the instructions were quick too. They warned there had been a sighting of jellyfish yesterday but only a few small ones and it was similar to getting a bee sting. We were willing to take the risk. We were ready to go! They had little boats around us to sorta form a barrier so we wouldn't get too far away from the main area – that, and there were SCUBA divers below us… mainly, I noticed the SCUBA divers were feeding the fish tortillas so they were all swimming in big swarms around us to eat… it was beautiful!I did a horrible job at taking underwater photos but actually being there was beautiful… the fish were just inches away from our hands and sooo brightly colored and graceful… many times cameras cannot capture the beauty of a place. We snorkeled around for about an hour and had a good time. It was a semi-small area and there were a lot of other boats around so it wasn't the magical snorkeling experience of a lifetime or anything like that and I would much rather snorkel somewhere without any type of life vest but… it was a good, good time and the water felt fabuloso!!

We got back on the catamaran and it was time for our "fiesta" portion of this sail… unlimited margaritas and a sail around the area!

We sailed past Lover's Beach where you can swim and enjoy the beach... and then we sailed past Divorce Beach… Divorce Beach is the place where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean and it can look absolutely calm and beautiful to swim in… and despite the HUGE warning signs EVERYWHERE for people to NOT swim.. people get in… and an undertow will take them away or huge waves will come crashing-in with no notice whatsoever… and people drown there… pretty much every month. Interesting choice of names for beaches, huh?

We sailed around the bays of Cabo and listened to semi-decent music and drank margaritas until our fantastic fiesta came to an end. It was a good morning.

I'm not for sure how to write about this next part of our day because it was terrible but we didn't let it ruin our day, necessarily. Basically… after snorkeling, hubby wanted to go parasailing… we went to a booth at the end of the pier to hire someone.… and so we did... Caborey Parasailing. We asked how long we would be out there... "about 12 minutes" they replied. We quickly paid, followed the guy to the boat, and became the biggest American sucker tourists of the year.

To make a really long and really pathetic story short…

…we got in the boat alone, then 2 couples joined us… and then.. a family of
eight Mexicans joined us… and we barely had room to sit in the boat

..the boat didn't start so they got a jump from a neighboring boat

…the boat huffed and puffed and blew black smoke everywhere... and never quit blowing black smoke, by the way

...and then... hubby had a FANTASTIC parasailing experience and I was REALLY excited for him and he was in the air for a long time and LOVED it!! I was sooooooooooooo happy for him!!

And then....
…we ended-up being stuck, in that cramped boat, going in circles in the bay, for OVER THREE AND A HALF HOURS…

…when EVERYONE had parasailed… the leader of the group of Mexicans began trying to negotiate his price to pay… he wanted to pay $10 per person and they were willing to go down to $20 per person. The rest of us had paid, ahead of time, in full and had to show tickets to the driver before getting on the boat.
It was hot, the boat was wayyyy too small for that many people, and we were practically sick from circling the water over and over. It was horrible.

Do I need to write much more?? The two couples that were with us were madder than we were. The lady next to me starting saying stuff out loud about it all.

When we finally got off that boat it was nearly four o'clock. Our day in Cabo San Lucas, our hopes of going to Medano Beach, etc… all went up in smoke… literally. I would never, ever recommend this parasailing group under any circumstances, obviously. Another guy in our roll call got stuck in the water (boat died, I think) for an hour and a half with the same parasailing company. If you are considering parasailing, you may want to consider a different company and ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS before getting in the boat!!
We got off the boat, walked to Senor Frogs and went upstairs. We ordered yard drinks and a combo platter. We need refreshment and a change of attitude... we found it... quickly...we both sucked down "The Yard" drinks and good food and refreshed!!

To end our day in Cabo… we ate, drank, and shopped for a few souvenirs and then went back to the ship. We put on shorts and walked around the ship in our casual clothes all night. No dining room meal for us tonight - we went to the buffet and brought dinner back to our stateroom. All in all it was an okay day. It could have been worse… at least we weren't actually "robbed"... just of our time and energy and sanity for a few hours...

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