…are probably no worse than American lawyers but right now I am not happy with them.

We had wanted to go snorkeling in Cabo St. Lucas, but the tour operator told us that there was an age limit of 75.   Born two years too early (or three, not sure if a 75-year-old can legally snorkel with a Mexican tour operator or not.)

So, we decided to take a catamaran to look at the arch, see the town from the water and perhaps some wildlife.  When we got off the tender I was handed a clipboard with a fine print waiver.  Everyone else passively signed without reading.  I insisted on reading the whole thing.  I underlined the parts I did not agree with, including that my estate would not sue the tour operator if any harm came to me (like I died) through the tour operator’s negligence.  Ultimately, I signed, under protest.  I don’t want to be the jerk that holds up the whole group.

The tour is over, and I am still alive and unharmed.  It was an excellent tour.  On the dock vendors were hawking whale watching, while our guide on our catamaran told us that the whales were all on their way to the Chukchi Sea so we probably wouldn’t see any.  He was wrong.  When we got out into the Pacific from the Gulf of California (he said that they used to call it the Sea of Cortez, but they are re-evaluating Cortez’s role in Mexican history and now preferred the Gulf of California) the boat driver spotted a spout.  We came up to a mother humpback and her “this year’s” calf.  They were lagging behind the general migration.  The whales behave differently here than in Alaska.  There is no feeding behavior, just swimming, the baby coming up for air more frequently than the mother. 

Mexico is not under the jurisdiction of NOAA.  The tour operator came a lot closer to the whales that the required100 yard distance in the US.  I mean right up to the whales.  I felt uneasy but did get a good look at them.

We also got a good look at other wildlife, some sea lions and a lot of pelicans.  

The crew served Mexican Coke, made from cane sugar and not high fructose corn syrup.  It has about 5 fewer calories per 12 oz than American coke so I could feel virtuous drinking it.

At the natural arch there was a line of boats and a cacophony of music blaring from their speakers.  The boats circled waiting to get in for that good picture.  The music ranged from Mexican Techno to Carlos Santana, to Cielito Lindo and a Mexican song about a cockroach.  Suzi sighed, looking at the parade of boats and listening to the clash of music and asked “Is this Sitka’s future?”

There were three ships in.  Two will be calling in Alaska in a month. Ketchikan’s Mayor called these two “The Colossaldam” and the “Big Boned Princess.”  The Colossaldam, our ship, is the biggest class of ship in the Holland America Fleet, (about 2,650) although not big by neo Panamax standards.  The Big Boned Princess is bigger.

We had first attempted to drive to Cabo in1973 in a jeep.  The highway opened that year as a rural highway.  There was an unseasonable amount of rain and we didn’t get very far.  Cabo was remote back then.  In the late 70s there was a ferryboat company that ran from Long Beach to Cabo and a couple of other ports.  They didn’t have many cars but took passengers on a low budget cruise.  We stopped in Cabo then.  While the arch and some of the beaches at the cape were the same (albeit with more traffic)…

the rest of the town was completely different, with high rises along the beach and villas along the bluffs.  Much of the natural charm is lost to development.

The place we landed is tacky tourist, which is what I grew up with.  Kind of a Mexican Jersey shore.  Except here it was tacos and burritos rather than pizza and there were big signs advertising Prozac and Viagra without a prescription.  I think that would benefit the Jersey Shore.  Of course, the prominent bar at the tender landing was Señor Frog’s which is kind of like a Margaritaville without Jimmy Buffett.