Day 79 Manzanillo, Mexico

Day 79 Manzanilla, Mexico

Acapulco had been our first port of call in Mexico but it had been cancelled due to political unrest, thus leaving Manzanillo our only port.

As the ship sailed into the harbour we could see thick smoke emitting from several smoke stacks belonging to the power station. We again joined a private tour, this time it had been arranged by Roz and Arnold. 26 of us departed on a 44 seater bus for Colima, the capital city of Colima State. Most of us on the bus had the luxury of having a double seat to our self. It took about 90 minutes to drive on the toll road, through the lush countryside which had been partly obscured by the smog from the power station. Our first stop was the step pyramids, just outside the city.   The step pyramids were built around 1500 BC by a pre-Columbian society. We had been informed this civilization were not Incas or Mayans. Their houses and buildings had been built high on layers of steps made from the local river rocks in order to escape the accumulation of heavy rain that would have pooled at the base of these structures.

Next we visited the art gallery and museum of the artist de Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo who had been commissioned to paint a series of Christmas Cards for UNICEF's fund raising.

We enjoyed a traditional Mexican style lunch of Tapas at an open-air restaurant overlooking the town square in the quaint town of Comala. This little town features cobblestone streets, the preferred construction style which helps to drain the heavy rainfall of the area, red tiled roofs and white painted walls. Of course the main church of the town faces into the square, typical of most Mexican plazas.

Comala and Colima are situated very close to each other between two active volcanoes. Our guide explained tremors are felt several times a day and buildings are constructed in a way to cope with the movement. While we were there we didn't notice any tremors.

We arrived back at Manzanillo in plenty of time to have a quick look around the esplanade shopping area and realised we had done the right thing by going up to Colima for the 5 ½ hours we were in port.

Paul and I were sitting in our cabin, enjoying the cool effects of the air conditioning. The curtains were open but the sliding door closed, keeping the heat of the day outside. At around 4.50pm we could see the DP had left the pier but had not progressed further than about 20 feet from it to remain stationery for over 20-25 minutes. Mm mm, I went outside onto our balcony and saw a tug boat trying to push the DP off a sandbar. It looked as if the wind had swung the ship into shallow waters as DP tried to sail out of the bay. We were stuck there for less than 30 minutes but the funny thing about the exercise happened to be the Captain did not mention it in his usual 5pm broadcast!

Captain Todd McBain leaves the ship in Los Angeles to get married. Most of the passengers will miss his style of leadership. He kept us fairly well informed with the ship's progress since Sydney and he appears to be very supportive of his crew. Paul and I have enjoyed his charm both on a previous cruise and now this one. He will be sadly missed. Congratulations to the future Captain and Mrs. McBain.

I have some sad news to report. There are a least two Australian couples leaving the ship prematurely in Los Angeles. Both have a partner who is showing rapidly growing skin cancers. The Doctor on board considers it necessary to treat sooner than later.  This highlights how important it is to slip, slop, slap. (Cover up, slosh on sun block, smack on a hat)