Day 7 ~ A Whale of a Tail!

They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent. DH Lawrence, Whales Weep Not

Today we visited the first of 37 new ports on our "third time's the charm" itinerary. (Thank you to Cory who pointed out that my "No, Really" tab wasn't working. Think I 've got it fixed now.)

Cabo San Lucas is located at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, straddling the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. The city has built up over the years to become a playground for the rich and famous. Its watery surround has been a favorite haunt of cetaceans for much longer. Humpbacks, Blues, Minks and even Orcas find their way to these emerald and sapphire waters for feeding, breeding, and birthing. 

After lazing around the ship all morning, we took the Land's End & Whale Watching excursion in the afternoon. On the way to the arch, we passed Lover's Beach, which is snugged in a low draw between the rock formations. It's possible to walk across the narrow peninsula there to the other side where you'll find Divorce Beach, so named because the waves on the Pacific side are much choppier than the calm surf at Lover's Beach. 

The iconic Cabo arch!

When you take a wildlife viewing excursion, you're always warned that you may not see anything. This has happened to us before when we lived in Boston. The tour company was kind enough to give us vouchers to try again another day, and we did see some juvenile humpbacks the next time. But we only had a day in Cabo, so this was our one shot. (However, we had seen some spouts and a tail wave from our cabin balcony on the sail in, so in some ways, we felt we'd already been blessed with our sighting.)

Nothing could have prepared us for the amazing treat we experienced. We saw plenty of spouts, surfacing backs followed by tail waves, slapping the surface with their long pectoral fins, waggling their tails high above the water, and the most spectacular behavior of all--breaching! 

Photo by Kristy!

I don't know if it was the same whale breaching all the time, but I lost count of how many times we saw that magnificent creature hurl its bulk out of the water and return with a thunderous splash! Our guide wasn't able to give us a reason that whales breach. It's thought to perhaps attract a mate or warn other males away. Personally, I think they do it for the same reason children skip along instead of walking--because it's fun! Because there's a joy in movement that is life affirming and thrilling.

At 5:30, we attended a Meet and Mingle for our CruiseCritic group organized by Jim Medalie who headed up an active email loop and Facebook page. It was nice to put faces to names...well, half faces. We're still under a pretty tight mask mandate.

Back at the ship we prepared for another supper at the Chef's Table where the theme was Asian Panorama. We started with an amuse bouche of chilled king crab infused with coconut milk. The first course was lobster & chicken shu mai (pronounced shoe my), which are tasty little dumplings on a bed of butter lettuce. 

The granita (palate cleanser) was problematic for me. Tonight's offering was shaved ice flavored with lemongrass and chilis, topped with lychee foam. The chilis had a way of creeping up on you with a burning aftertaste. Palate cleansing I understand. It helps insure the taste of seafood doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of subsequent courses. But cleansing by fire seems a bit extreme to me. I couldn't finish mine.  

Our main course was Peking Duck, something I'd never had before. It was delicious, but then I like dark meat. The DH isn't wild about poultry at the best of circumstances. (Too many times cleaning out the hen house as an Iowa farm boy!) But he's especially not fond of duck because there's no white meat.

I made it up to him in the dessert course. We were presented with a trilogy--a chocolate banana spring roll, green tea cheesecake, and yuzu creme brulee. Since creme brulee is his favorite dessert, I slipped him mine as well.

The night ended with a smashing musical review in the Star Theater by the Viking entertainment staff. They sang old standards, and very good excerpts from Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Lovely way to wrap up a stunningly beautiful day!

And to wrap up this post, let me share a photo montage put together by my dear DH! 

Tomorrow we'll take a leisurely sail across the Sea of Cortez and arrive at Puerta Vallarta on the 18th! 

More soon...