Day 24 West - 01/25/22 -Huatulco, Mexico

Mid morning the Captain came on the PA system and said that due to several instances of experiencing strong underwater currents, we would be arriving at Huatulco about 1/2 hour late or around 12:30pm.  As we neared the port, he once again came on and reported whale sightings.

 

We were eating our customary lunch in the Lido, starboard side, when we started seeing dolphins or porpoises along with jumping tuna.  I adjourned to the Crow's best to watch the final sail-in and then went outside on deck 9 in front of the fitness center.  I really like entering ports during the day.  And this little port is a real cute one.

 

We met in the Main Stage for our excursion and departed around 2pm.  We assembled alongside the ship and then walked the long pier to an assembly area near our boat where the briefing was made and snorkel gear passed out.  It turned out that the ride to the snorkeling beach was only 5 minutes to a large beach we saw during the sail in.  We dropped our personal possessions on individual tables inside a beachside company restaurant, did the final gear up, and departed in groups of eight.  And here the excursion went south for a bit.

 

We got in the water and our guide was nowhere to be found.  Eventually I found a guide who wanted to pair us with beginners which I declined.  He pointed us towards to the likely good snorkeling spot.  Off we swam through some pretty uninteresting and cloudy scenery.  Eventually we reached the mother lode, and the snorkeling scenery improved dramatically with lots of colorful fish but with slightly murky water.  The schools of Sargent fish were especially pretty!

 

After the return to the dock, the picture vendor wanted to sell us our pictures for $10 each.  We declined and the the price dropped to $5.  We still declined and walked away.  The vendor caught up with us and finally offered 3 pictures for $5 which we accepted.

 

Before reboarding the ship, we enjoyed some mixed ceviche at the dockside restaurant, Ve el Mar where we ate salsa and chips 3 weeks earlier.  It was really good, but the red sauce for the chips was blazingly spicey!

 

Back on the ship, we watched the departure from deck three before showering and cleaning our snorkeling gear.  We then went to the Hidden Identities game show which was pretty funny.

 

I spent the remainder of the evening selecting and editing my snorkeling photos.  I shot these in 4K movie mode in short segments using a GoPro.  I review each movie frame by frame using GoPro software on the iPhone extracting the pictures I want.  From there I transfer the photos to my iPhone photos library where I further crop and post process them using Camera+.

 

Our final stop was to raid the 10:30pm buffet for some spicy roasted chicken and pot stickers and pizza.  And so ended a second wonderful port call at Huatulco.



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