Cruise to Cabo/Puerta Vallarta

My first cruise was a success! I say first cruise because I plan to go on more in months and years to come. What a fun time! What a great place to lie around, relax and man oh man was the food fantastic, probably my favorite part! During the cruise I thought of good headlines to write about and to share my experiences. The first is LEARNING TO RELAX…. With school, coaching and upcoming grad school I’m glad I was finally able to go on a cruise. I did go by myself but I’m finding as I go on vacations by myself, I never have to ask other people what they want to do and when they want to do it. It’s pretty much therapeutic! Ha The first day after boarding, I scheduled myself a hot bamboo massage that felt amazing!! I need more massages! Then I got myself a haircut along with a moisturizing facial and shave. I thought that was pretty cool having someone else shave my face. The ship had an awesome gym in it, so I signed up for a boot camp course to keep me active and also to give me some new ideas for my gym classes next fall. Also that first day was the first buffet. During the school year I always had to scarf my food in order to get back to class on time. On the cruise, there weren’t very many clocks hanging on the walls. At all!! This was frustrating at times when wanting to go to shows at the comedy club, or to dinner, or the huge theater but I got the point in a hurry. RELAX!! YOU’RE ON VACATION!! Time doesn’t matter!

At the first dinner, I was put at a table with a couple really old people. One of which I literally had to lift him out of his electric moped and put him in his chair. I felt bad for the old guy, but I wanted to sit with a bunch of fun young people. So I found a few teachers I had met earlier and sat at their table. I’m glad I did! DIDJA Each night on the menu there was a section called DIDJA. As in, did ya ever try…. So every night, I ordered the DIDJA. There was shark, octopus, alligator and even frog legs. Most of it tasted like chicken, but I’m glad I can now say I’ve eaten a few of those rare delicacies.

SHOUT OUT On the ship there was a huge theater for Vegas like shows to be performed. On the second night, I was watching one of the shows when across the room I hear a loud crash of plates and glasses and this young guy rolling down the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he knocked his head on the banister at the bottom. Surprisingly, no one got out of his or her seats to help the kid, or even to check if he was ok. So I got out of my seat, walked across the theater and had the kid lie down and stay calm. After I assessed the little guy, no cuts, no broken bones I just told him to lie still. A few moments later, one of the cruise directors, Troy, came over to see if everything was ok. He asked who I was and if I knew what I was doing. As soon as he realized I had the situation under control and there was no real alarm he got to know me a little bit and told me he appreciated my help. All of a sudden, a lady came rushing down from her seat and grabbed the boys wrist and started checking his pulse. I asked her what she was doing and she responded by saying, “Taking his pulse, I’m a nurse!” I responded and said, “He is alive, breathing and talking to us. Why are you taking his pulse?” She gave me a look, got up and left! haha The boy was perfectly fine and from then on, whenever Troy saw me at the main deck parties, he pulled me up to the microphone and always made sure everyone knew Duke Haynes was in the house! He even gave me a big thank you the morning show he was co-hosting on the last day of the cruise. This is about what he said…., “I just want to give a shout out to Duke Haynes. A few days ago he helped a little boy who fell down some stairs. Great guy! I talked and got to know him a little bit and found out he came on the cruise by himself. When I asked him if he needed me to introduce him to some people he told me that he was ok. Now whenever I see him he always has a harem of girls following close behind him! So I think he’s doing fine! Thanks again Duke, we’re glad you came with us!” SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS I decided to have a little fun and go on an excursion when we got to Cabo. I decided to swim with the dolphins. Some of you may be thinking it sounds kind of girly but I have to admit it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done! They let us hold on and take a ride around the tank, hug them, get kisses and I even got a French kiss! Haha Way cool! I couldn’t believe how smart the dolphins were. Amazing! YOLO On the second day in Cabo I was asked to show the girls at my dinner table how to get to lovers beach. So we left early in the morning and started short walk to the beach. We were lucky we left early, had we not we would have been stuck on the boat with the other 2,500 cruisers because the wind was blowing to hard and making too big of waves for the transporter boats to take people to shore!

When we finally found a good spot in the shade we spent hours exploring, playing in the waves, building sand castles, digging in the sand and laying out in the sun. On our way back, the girls saw people jumping off this rock out in the bay so they decided to swim out there and jump too. We kept hearing people yelling YOLO when they were encouraging people to jump from the top. Now I know it means, You Only Live Once. It’s a good motto to live by when you want to have fun! No Thank You The next day we made it to Puerta Vallarta. It’s a much greener place than Cabo and I thought it was a lot more modernized. Once again I played bodyguard for the girls and I’m kinda glad I did because every few seconds there were vendors, some a little scary looking asking for you to buy their goods. Even as we sat down on the beach at a restaurant for lunch we were harassed every few seconds and had to say no thank you. I bought a small hammock from one of the vendors but it was really a really cool looking hammock. When I was carrying the hammock on my arm, one of the guys trying to get our attention yelled, “Hey Mr. Bowflex! Come look at my shop!” We all smiled and laughed. I’m guessing we said “NO” over 100 times each! So annoying! I was glad to get back on the boat. Plus it was soooo hot and humid. Definitely needed to grab some ice cream! Random Things During the cruise I would make a trip to the 24-hour ice cream dispenser and fill up my glass 3-5 times a day. Multiply that by 7 and that’s a lot of ice cream! I’m glad I signed up for the boot camp! On the way back to Long Beach, I saw a whale shooting water from his blowhole and watched it until it was out of sight behind us. I also saw lots of dolphins swimming along side the ship. Between Cabo and Long Beach the water is so blue. Its almost like a fairytale. It was truly serene.

Our main servers name at our dinner table was Louis. He was such a fun guy from the Philippines. He would ask us what we wanted for dinner and he would double it or add a couple of different menu items. When I got off the boat customs asks us if we have anything to declare. When I told the officer that I only had the hammock and some playing cards he gave me a look and exclaimed, “You went to Mexico and that’s all you brought back? No alcohol or cigars?” I raised an eye brow and thought why would I want that stuff. So I said no. As soon as I raised my eyebrow he took me to the back room and had to search all my stuff. Definitely an interesting experience that I never want to do again. The new friends I made on the boat were amazing! I’m glad I met them and was able to build new friendships. They really made the trip worthwhile. Will I go on another cruise? In a heartbeat! Can’t wait!