The clocks went back again last night, we are now 19 hours behind Australia. This means that when we awoke this morning – January 26th, 2020, the time at home was 2 am January 27th. So what happened to Australia Day? It appears that we missed it. As I have said before, this travel through time can really mess with one’s head.
It will be a week tomorrow since we left Puerto Quetzal Guatemala. A week made memorable by rough conditions, champagne tasting, a quick stop in Mexico and a highly delightful but dubious sailing away party.
Although kindly forewarned by our Captain Cook, it’s still a bit of a surprise on awaking one day out of Puerto Quetzal, to Force 11 north-easterlies, wind-gusts of over 80 miles per hour and see-sawing seas. Common to this area – the Gulf of Tehuantepec, the ship’s bridge likened the conditions to those of a hurricane – a far cry from the earlier smooth sailing.
Surprisingly, although a tad nervous, my head and stomach appeared to cope with the upheaval so in the belief that it would help me ignore what was happening outside, I took myself off to a champagne tasting session. It proved to be the perfect remedy with everything forgotten apart from trying to identify the seemingly endless glasses of high-quality champagne.
Manzanillo, Mexico – one of Mexico’s busiest ports, a city renowned for its offshore fishing, splendid beaches (so the guide says) and located approximately 500 miles from Mexico City. Ignoring the offered excursions, our only desire here was to find some good guacamole alongside, hopefully, some good wi-fi. It takes a few hours of trudging the Mexican steamy streets; of ignoring the poorly maintained crumbling buildings but enjoying the interaction with the locals before we find our guacamole stop.
Internet cafe Mexican style 
Always a shoe-shine stall somewhere 
Drinking spot
It’s a little thatched restaurant sitting overlooking the plastic-infested harbour and with its good quality wi-fi, cold beers and continuous supply of guacamole is exactly what we were after. The remainder of our time in Manzanillo is spent browsing for gifts, walking the waterfront and stocking up on water.
Whilst attending the champagne tasting class a few days earlier, I had been talked into purchasing invites to the Manzanillo sail-away party. Located in a private location at the very front of the ship, the views on offer as later that afternoon, we depart Mexico are memorable and gorgeous. What is also very memorable are the large numbers and even larger varieties of cocktails we are plied with.
The last few days have been spent travelling northwards alongside the Mexican then American coastlines. The further north we travel the shorter the days and the colder the temperatures – we are nearly back to British weather conditions. Tomorrow we arrive in San Francisco – we are looking for flowers for our hair.
(Not so) Fun Facts – Our visits to Tonga and Samoa have been cancelled due to measle outbreaks. We have been compensated with a stop at Tahiti instead.
It’s a bit of a worry hearing about the spread of the Coronavirus, situated as we are far from family and friends.
1 Comment
Maak and lynne
Very interesting, Emma keep the blog going! Would love to tag Crystal into this but she leaves ship tomorrow! Mark and Lynne
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