DD-748 Reunion - Day 1

Yesterday afternoon was the first official beginning of the 2016 USS Harry E Hubbard DD-748 reunion. Sign in and socializing with my shipmates was held in the Harborview Room on the top floor of the Holiday Inn Bayside in San Diego. Today the group went on a bus tour of the San Diego area.

The signage in the elevator reminded us where our reunion was held.

The view of the harbor from our meeting room was so nice!
I guess that's why it's called the Harborview Room.

Our first stop was at Coronado Beach.

A more artistic view of the lifeguard station.

The famous Hotel del Coronado.

Rooms start at a mere $495/night (plus tax).

Hmm, a museum exhibit about Cannibals?

I wonder if the body parts shown are on their menu?

Interesting that they were doing the mural upside down.
Eye-catching though.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System train leaving the terminal.

We stopped at the Harbor Seafood Mart for some browsing.

Pretty place full of specialty stores. Susan bought a cute hat here.

One of the shops had an interesting tree in front.

Our next stop was at the Bali Hai Restaurant for lunch.

We loved the chef's head perched on top of the restaurant.

Our last stop was at the Cabrillo National Monument.

The story of Cabrillo's ships with the monument in the distance.

 The monument of the Portuguese navigator Joao Rodrigues Cabrillo.

The view of San Diego from the monument.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

A map seen in the Cabrillo museum that shows our bus trip:

Our hotel is above the small harbor just right of Shelter Island.

The Hotel del Coronado is lower right.

The Cabrillo Monument is lower left.

San Diego, California

Yesterday we left the Nieuw Amsterdam and checked into the Holiday Inn Bayside Hotel in preparation for my annual Navy ship's reunion which begins tomorrow. Today we're going to explore the yacht harbor.

The view of San Diego from our room as the ship docked.

The Holiday Inn Bayside is built to resemble a ship. It is located a short block away from the yacht harbor.

A short walk from the hotel and we're at the harbor. Boats everywhere!

A monument dedicated to sportfishing captains.

One of the docks filled with fishing boats.

The Shogun is loaded up and on its way out for an overnight fishing trip.

There are a lot of sailboats, too.

Even more sailboats. . .

I loved this trimaran with newfangled solid sails.

Gorgeous succulents lined the sidewalks.

One of my favorite succulents.

Jacaranda trees were in bloom all over San Diego.

Panama Canal Cruise - Day 15 - At Sea

Our last day aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam was spent cruising northwards back to the good ol' USA. Tomorrow we will arrive in San Diego where we will depart the ship and begin the next phase of our 31-day adventure.

We had one last session playing Phase 10 with our shipboard friends from Canada, Joan and Gillian. And the winner was (hint: she has the biggest smile) . . . Gillian!

Panama Canal Cruise - Day 14 - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Our last port of call was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Today I get to check something off my bucket list - I get to drive a mini 4x4 offroad through the desert, up and down sand dunes and along the beach! Whee! Susan opted out as she wasn't feeling well.

The ship anchored outside of Cabo San Lucas.

We took the ship's tender into town.

This is the Arctic Cat mini 4x4 that I will be driving offroad for the next several hours.

We drove way out into the desert and saw a wide variety of cacti along the way.

We then stopped for a rest break out in the desert.

The rest of our group. In the background you can see the trail we took coming down into the desert. Steep and fun!

We were told about some of the different types of cacti that grow in the desert. The one on the left is a good source of water if you ever find yourself thirsty out here.

We were also told about this unusual tree that only grows out of rocks.

We then loaded up and drove out to the Pacific coast. We always wore a bandanna over our face to keep the dust and sand out.

We arrived at a beach on the Pacific ocean where we took our next rest break.

 We then drove along the beach out to that point and back. It was so much fun to drive up and down those sand hills along the way. Whee! Then it was back through the desert back to the bus. A fun day indeed.

Panama Canal Cruise - Day 13 - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

After another fun day at sea, we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Our tour was the Town, Country and Tequila tour (three guesses why we took this one).

Our first stop was at the Dona Engracia Tequila Distillery. Our guide told us about the plants used to make tequila. Here he shows us a baby Blue Agave plant.

The mature Blue Agave is the heart of tequila.

Once the Blue Agave gets skinned, it goes through a crushing machine that extracts the juice.

Then it gets distilled into tequila.

We received our first shot of tequila as we entered the tasting room. I don't know why our guide looked so unsure about us. ;-)

Here we tasted about seven different types of tequila - one or sometimes two shots of each. They were all very good - especially the chocolate tequila! When we left, we weren't as think as you drunk we were!

We were then taken into town for a little wandering (e.g. sobering up and shopping) time.

A piece of interesting sidewalk art.

The local church.

Susan loved the colorful flags flown at the town square.

Would it be a real town square without pigeons?

Our last stop was along the seashore walkway with a nice view of the city.

There was also a wide variety of art along the walkway.

Some bronze tourists saying goodbye to us.

That evening we had yet another complimentary dinner at a specialty restaurant on the Nieuw Amsterdam. This time we ate at The Pinnacle - the top of the line place to eat!

My appetizer was a Shrimp Cocktail.

Susan had the Crab Cakes (she started eating it before I could take the picture).

We both had the Filet Mignon for our main courses (no pictures). The finest we've ever eaten!! Then we both had a Grand Marinier Chocolate Volcano Cake for desert. More yum!