Cruisin'

February 4-9

Pre-Cruise 

We flew out Tuesday evening to Newport Beach and stayed the night with our friends Sarah and John.  They were such great hosts.  We got delicious mediterranean takeout, stayed up late talking and laughing, ate delicious crepes for breakfast, and then had the royal treatment of a private tour around town from Sarah.  We hit up the banana stand on Balboa Island and finished off with fresh fish tacos.  Sarah dropped us off at the cruise terminal and we were so sad to say goodbye.

We met up with Tommy & Rilee and Kate & Jake for our four day cruise (Wednesday-Sunday morning).  First stop:

Catalina Island

Our first stop was Catalina Island.  I thought it was absolutely beautiful there and such a cute little town.  We rented electric bikes which were actually amazing and we rode around all day on them.  We rode to a botanical garden, different beaches, and the Lobster Trap for lunch.

^^Deep in conversation...

^^After getting caught on our bikes in the rain.  We hiked up to a bell tower and enjoyed the beautiful view.

Ensenada, Mexico

First we took a rather tourist-y bus ride out to El Bufadora.  What they had promised to be a 30 minute drive turned into nearly an hour and a half - and we were a little skeptical as to what we'd gotten ourselves into.   It ended up being lots of fun though, and the blowhole was pretty cool to see.  We all ate lots of churros, pina coladas, and street tacos.  We bartered a little for our few purchases and bought some stale Mexican candy.

We made a quick stop on the way back at the beach.  The girls were all freezing because it was getting later and was windy by now.  The boys all took a quick swim just to say they did it.  The girls found a place to get a massage before we headed back to the ship.  

Around the Ship

We had lots of fun playing card games, hot tubbing and just hanging out together.  Even though the weather wasn't quite as warm as I would have liked, it was usually sunny and really nice to be out in the sun.  

^^Time to get off the ship.  I'm so glad we had friends who wanted to vacation with us.  We had such a fun time and were happy to have this little break from reality.