There are plenty of bars and restaurants around the marina, but not many shops. They are for the most in the city centre, which is a short walk away. However, about halfway around the marina, there is a shopping centre. We decided to check it out as it was pretty hot and an air-conditioned shopping centre sounded like a great idea. Well, I could not believe my eyes. This was seriously upscale. Needless to say, we did not buy anything, but it was to stay out of the sun for a bit and to just have a look around.
Once we had enough shade, we continued our walk around the marina. We got talking to one of the guys that tried to sell us an excursion. He had spotted our
Disney Cruise Line baseball caps and asked if we had come from the Wonder. We confirmed that we had. He told us that Mickey and Minnie and their friends would be coming over in about an hour to see some of the local disabled children and their families. He pointed to a pavilion a short distance away, which was where this meet and greet would take place. We walked past this shortly afterwards and the line was longer than the worst pin line that I encountered during the cruise. While we walked past there, more and more people arrived. I thought that this was a nice touch. I also would have loved to see the tender boat with all the characters on.
We walked all the way to Medano Beach. We decided that we did not fancy walking all the way back to the tender port so we approached somebody on the beach who was renting out all kind of water sports equipment, but also offered boat tours and water taxi rides. We decided to take a water taxi back. It was only $2 per person. We had to wait a few minutes for a water taxi, but that was fine. We were quite happy to sit down on the chairs that we were offered and enjoy the view.
When the water taxi arrived, we had to wade a short distance into the sea and get onto the boat from the water. The guy who had called the water taxi for us, helped us to get on. The journey back only took about 5 minutes. I had hoped to get a closer look at the sea lions, but we were out of luck. When we got back to dock for the water taxis, there were other water taxis already tied up there. So we had to climb from our boat onto another one and then onto the dock. We were more than a little bemused when the guy from the other boat told us that it was customary to tip people for good service. We assumed that he thought that we had not tipped our skipper, which we had. We had also tipped the guy at the beach. So we told him that we had tipped our skipper. He then told us that we had not tipped him. I know that the tipping culture is different outside of Europe, but I always assumed that you tip to reward service. I had not realized that you are supposed to tip somebody who is in the way and is inconveniencing you.
We decided to head over to the craft market to have a look. This was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of it was typical tourist fare like t shirts, magnets and other mass-produced souvenirs, but there was also a good selection of handmade things including wood carvings, ceramics and embroidery. My eyes were caught by two beautiful embroidered cotton dresses. I decided to check how much they are and then found out that the bargaining techniques that I have perfected in the soukhs of Dubai work in Mexico as well. I managed to negotiate a nice discount for buying both. Graham reckoned that I could have got the price down even further, but I was happy with what I paid.
After this, we decided to head back to the ship. They had set up a drink station with iced water and lemonade by the tender dock, which was a nice touch. We did not have to wait long for a tender. On the way back, I got another good look at the sea lions and also at the scenery, which is really very pretty. The sea was a bit choppier then it had been in the morning so getting off the tender boat was a bit more challenging than getting on it had been in the morning.
Once we were back on the ship, we headed to Triton's for some lunch. Graham had Chicken and Vegetable Consomee followed by Steak and Fries. I went for Chilled Tangerine Soup followed by Pulled Pork in Kaiser Roll, Coleslaw and Potato Chips. The also had Mango Berry Margaritas on the menu. We decided to try one each. They were absolutely delicious even though they were of the frozen variety. I prefer my Margaritas on the rocks or even straight up.
After lunch, we headed back to the cabin to drop of my purchases and Graham wanted to get his telescope. I decided to get changed into one of my new dresses and then we headed up to deck 10. Graham managed to find some whales through the telescope. I really struggle using a telescope, but I managed to focus for long enough to get a brief glimpse of the whales. What really shocked me was that some of the little water taxis went very close to the whales. Whale watching in Cabo does not seem to be anywhere near as well regulated as it is in Puerto Vallarta. This can't be good for the whales and I doubt it is safe for the humans to get that close in tiny boats.