Today’s schedule is a complete change of pace. The ship anchored a mile off shore within sight of Cabo San Lucas. We had an afternoon ship’s tour schedules so we had to wait for the morning tours to be tendered ashore. We were finally able to get on a tender at about 10:00. The process of getting on the tender, motoring to the pier and off loading from the tender took about three quarters of an hour.
We visited a number of shops around the harbor. We talked with one shop owner who had first come to Cabo in the 80's when there were only a thousand people living there. We had taken our first cruise in 1997 and Cabo was our first port of call. At that time, there were a small number of shops around the harbor and a small number of apartments and condos in the hills around the village. Now, there are a thousand shops around the harbor, even a couple of large malls, and the hills are covered with buildings from hotels to condos to apartments. The small shops have become WalMart and Target. We stopped for a real Mexican lunch at Captain Tony’s overlooking the harbor.
After lunch, we found our tour group, leader and bus. First stop was to a hotel/restaurant complex outside of Cabo San Lucas overlooking the bay and the tip of Baja California. We were provided drinks and an opportunity to take pictures of the three ships anchored in the bay. Back on the bus, we drove north along the coast for about ten miles to the city of San Jose del Cabo. In the center of town is the Plaza Mijares and the main church of the city. Beautiful church, however there was a funeral in progress and we did not interrupt the service. Next to the church was a small museum with local artifacts. The photo shows some of the bead work on display. Small glass beads are pressed into a layer of beeswax to make the patterns.
We were given some free time to do some shopping. Sandra has been looking for a special key ring similar to one she lost years ago. After a number of visit to different shop, one owner admitted he knew what Sandra was looking for and that he could make the item. We have his name and email address and will contact him after the cruise.
Last stop on our tour, a glass factory in Cabo San Lucas. They gave us a demonstration of glass blowing by making a small Mexican turtle with a bottle in hand. As usual, we were given time to shop. Finally, we were back on the bus making a high speed run to the pier. Last call for the tenders was 17:30. We got there at 17:25. We made the last tender, since we were on a ship’s tour, they would have waited anyway. By the time we arrived back at the ship, it was too late to clean up and dress for dinner. Instead, we dined at the Lido on the top deck. It was a long day, but fun
