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Published: February 15th 2007
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Coco Loco, anyone?
This was a signature drink in the area. I know it had tequila and coconut juices. Beyond that, I haven't the foggiest. Zihuatenejo/Ixtapa, Mexico
Let the beach bummin' begin! We met up with our tour group at 8:00 this morning to head out to a small island for the day. The ship was anchored in the bay of Zihuatanejo since the docks here cannot accomodate ships this large. There are three "tenders" which is ship lingo for water taxi. At least, that's my interpretation. While there are many more basic lifeboats on cranes all around the ship, there are three much nicer small boats which are used as taxis in cases such as this. Each boat holds 150 passengers so they are quite large and in my opinion, comfortable. We took the water taxi into the docks where we boarded large tour buses to head through the town. There was a great tour guide telling us all about Zihuatenejo as we drove through. While it's a very old city with a rich history, Ixtapa was formed in the 70's. It's a "city" which was formed for the sole intention of being a vacation resort area. It's only a few miles from Zihuatenejo and is remarkably beautiful. There are a number of fancy resorts including a club med which was among the first ones
Excellent beach
The beach on this island was nice and quiet. It had a nice private feel which none of the beaches we've been on seemed to have. built. There are no schools or public buildings of any sort in Ixtapa. It's one big resort area with golf courses and gorgeous buildings housing mostly hotel rooms though there are a few buildings of condos. According to our tour guide, there are nearly no full-time residents of Ixtapa. The condos are constantly either full of renters or their overseas owners who spend a few weeks or months a year in them. Eventually our bus ride ended at a small fishing bay where a water taxi took us across the bay to a small island with three very secluded beaches. There are walking paths through the center of the island connecting the three beaches which face different directions. There is no electricity or running water on the island but they manage to make it quite comfortable. A small boat runs constantly back and forth across the bay bringing out fresh water, ice, drinks, cooking ingredients, etc. We first went for a swim in the water which was nice and calm, not to mention comfortably warm. Then we sat out under a nice large umbrella in two beach chairs for a while. While we didn't intend to do any of the
Another nice beach?
There were small walking trails connecting our little beach to two others even more secluded. The three beaches and their bars are the only thing on the island. That and a killer view! "extra curricular" activities, one guy was offering banana boat rides for $5 so we joined another honeymooning couple for a ride through the bay. The banana boat is just an inflatable raft the shape of a long torpedo. There are 7 or 8 handles down the middle so everyone straddles it sort of like riding a horse. It's pulled by a boat in the same fashion as water skiing. After this, we just had a few drinks before heading back to the ship to continue on for the day. Unfortunately, it is a decent distance to Puerto Vallarta so we had to be back on the ship quite early to head out in time. I think we only had about 2.5 hours on that beach. Once back on the ship, we had a few hours before dinner so I worked on the computer some then went to the gym to workout while Acacia walked around the ship and stopped by the sundries store to pick up some things we were running low on, as well as to claim a tote bag which we won for our performance in the mock watermelon eating contest yesterday. For dinner we chose to try
Christa and Trevor
We first talked to these guys on this beach and later got to chat some more on the ship. They are another very cool/friendly honeymooning couple. They are from Alberta, Canada. out the Sterling Steakhouse on Deck 12. One of the many dining options on the ship is this spectacular steakhouse which is the only food on the ship that is not "included" with the price of the cruise. To eat there, it costs a flat $15 per person for the evening. While I'm glad we tried it once, I don't think we'll be going back again. It was good, just not so good that I'd be eager to spend the additional money again. After the appetizers and drinks arrive, they roll out a cart with the various available cuts of meat on display. They had a ribeye, a porterhouse, filet mignon, and a New York strip. Don't worry about how many ounces each one was. Just trust that each one was A LOT! The appetizers were notably higher quality than those generally avaiable in the dining room, though unfortunately, Acacia's shrimp cocktail was terrible. We suspect there was a bag of shrimp which simply stayed in the freezer a little too long. The caesar salads were mixed to order right at the table, not only with anchovies in the genuine dressing, but with whole anchovies mixed into the salad. I
View from the beach
Looking out across the small bay from where we were sitting loved it but the waiter laughed that this "genuine" touch is a bit much for many passengers who request not to include them. I forgot to include the most important part of the meal! Jim and Joan joined us. They had been eager to eat dinner a little earlier as our normal dinner seating at 8:00PM is much later than they typically eat. Acacia and I were hoping to make it to a swing/jitterbug competition in one of the lounges but our dinner went a little longer than we expected so we ended up missing it. Not to worry, though! It was well worth it. We ended up sitting in one of the quieter lounges with a live band, sipping on a few long island iced teas and watching a few couples dance before making our way to a juggling show. In the main theater, Dan Bennet, a juggler/comedian put on a great show with cool juggling tricks and as with the magic show, terrific humor. He's a former math professor with a Ph. D and the academic spin he puts on his humor is hysterical. He speaks INCREDIBLY fast, throwing in all these obscure references to advanced mathematical and
Water taxi driver
This cute couple operated the water taxi that took us out to the island and back. physics theory, using them to describe both what he's doing and what he's thinking about what he's doing. 99% of it is garbage, but he's yelling it out so darned fast whlie performing that it keeps you in constant suspense. Finally it came to an end and we made a mad dash to the bed. Tomorrow morning we hit up Puerto Vallarta for the day.
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