COMPARED TO THE COST OF HOTELS in the LA area, a cruise to Mexico is a bargain. For less than the cost of a week in a mid-range hotel we spent ten days cruising to Baja and Puerto Valarta. This would be our first time on Princess, with many of the same ports-of-call as the Love Boat made back in the day. Grand Princess is larger than its fictitious sister ship; 950 feet long with a capacity of 2600 although we sailed with only 1500 passengers, each and every one of us vaccinated and tested negative.
Grand Princess from shore
We first visited Cabo, La Paz and Loreto back in 2006 on a six-week camping trip to Baja—Puerto Vallarta would be a new destination—but truthfully we used the cruise to fill the time before we leave for Hawaii. This would be the first time we were looking forward to spending time on board the ship and having someone else cook our meals and clean our room.
Cabo San Lucas is for Touristas
Mariachi
Cabo San Lucas has changed. With more than 200,000 residents and who knows how many drunken touristas, it’s more like “Condo” San Lucas. And like any Mexican resort worth the salt on its margarita, Cabo has a Señor Frog’s. We got a little off track searching for birds and ended up walking seven miles, too much of it in soft sand.
Church in Loreto
Playful Dolphin
That's All, Folks
La Paz and Loreto lie on the Sea of Cortez, aka Gulf of California, which is a major destination for whale watching. We counted about 50 whales, mostly migrating gray whales with a few humpbacks along with pods of dolphins. Connie claims there were also some remarkable sunrises, which I can neither confirm nor deny. But I did see another green flash as the sun dipped into the sea.
