scubacruiserx2

We forgot to mention how much we enjoyed our guide Eric in San Francisco . We hope to be using him again in the early part of next year .

Most of what we knew about Santa Catalina came from the 1966 Doris Day movie The Glass Bottom Boat . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bottom_Boat We decided to book a guide to drive our golf cart around the the island and he said to meet at 10:45 so we had plenty of time for breakfast . Since it was a tender port we got a nice view as they lowered the boats . We noticed for the first time that they were now cutting the meat in half on the eggs Benedict and began giving less sauce And even though we went later they still packed us in pretty full We noticed some restrooms on the pier and made the stop before setting out We had heard that this was the breakfast hot spot But this one looked more inviting

Dinner was at the Tamarind

Eating on the day at sea to Catalina Island proved to be a carb loading experience Sandwiched between breakfast and lunch was a movie about Surfing . I grew up surfing for many years beginning in High School and was hoping for a history of that Era ( The Endless Summer ) and the fun and freedom that I remember from then . Unfortunately there was a lot pagan religious viewpoints and some propaganda that was unrelated to the main subject - so we left early . We did have a nice lunch at the Retreat .

Thanks Nancy for supplying the icing on the cake so to speak . 😎

We wanted to have dinner at Pier 39 so we were off Garlic Dungeness Crab

A couple more unknown shots The San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

Jimi Hendrix house Haight Painted Ladies Unknown A Love In Back on the ship . The bird and Alcatraz

Being the good cruisers that we are we were ready to eat . Eric suggested a couple of places so we went to the Joinery in Sausalito . https://www.joineryca.com/ It was a great choice and our Magical History Tour continued just a couple of miles away where Otis Redding wrote ( Sittin on ) The Dock on the Bay . I was a Senior in High School when it came out . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(Sittin'_On)_The_Dock_of_the_Bay

We have lived on a couple of acres with lots of woods so thick that you couldn't see the house from the road for more than 25 years . The trees gave us fresh air , shade , privacy and act as a wind break for hurricanes . Some of our pine trees are more than 100' tall . We had several new neighbors move in who almost totally clear cut their ( and some of our ) trees . How we miss the trees and the peace and quite !

Using Dendrochronology this tree was dated to 909 AD and the tree fell in 1930 - over 1000 years old

Muir Woods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muir_Woods_National_Monument A few of our favorite photos We took about an hours walk here Birds of a feather grow together

We embarked on a whirlwind tour and I can't remember all of the names of where we stopped so maybe Nancy or someone else can help us out . We think that we drove thru Chinatown next . And pulled up next to a cable car We don't know the name of this one but we heard that it was a common area for smash and grab . When we stopped by this area there was a fire truck there and a police officer said that they we shooting a film or video near there . Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge toward the Muir Woods

Yowee , that must feel like going up in the California Space Shuttle ! 🚀

Lombard Street Coit Tower At the Pier

We were up early in San Francisco and watched the lighthouse on Alcatraz sailing in We met our guide Eric early who reminds me of my nephew also named Eric and headed up to an overlook of the Nieuw Statendam at Coit Tower We then went for the ride winding down Lombard Street and I would encourage you dear reader to use the CC feature on the video

The day before San Francisco we went up top for the view and lunch at the Retreat . While at the Retreat we sighted a pod of White Sided Dolphin

Hello CruisingGrandmaW, Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for the insight on diving in Polynesia. We have not been there. It is something we have read about and look at the great videos and photos of another world that seemed so far away. The World is getting smaller these days. Now on the "bucket list".

I'm not normally a fan either as I'm a Key Lime Pie guy . But the BA was huge and I gladly shared with Pat . BTW as this point we were really excited about our first visit to San Francisco and we were rapidly eating our way there .

Dinner on the first Sea Day was at the Pinnacle One bread that the Pinnacle used to feature before Covid was a cheese bread We did find a red wine we liked - Crios Malbec.

We did have a nice lunch at the Retreat brought from the Lido by Ian and James the attendants This is the Thai Curry which was much different from the Thai Curry at the Tamarind . The Tamarind's is much better .

With the new cruise we got a new room and a new Retreat room since the other one that we first had was rented to someone else . When we went to our new cabana - it was occupied . We spoke to the workers who mentioned to their boss who said that our new one was already rented . We went to the concierge who checked with Seattle . Even though we had booked and paid for it in advance they had resold it to someone else ! While we had the same attendants we now had a side Retreat that didn't get the forward breeze . Additionally, we got a "new" revised itinerary. Surprise! Once again Nicaragua (10/16, now Sea Day) was cancelled along with Puerto Chiapas. Manzanillo 8am-5pm on 10/12 (originally a sea day) was the replacement for Puerto Chiapas (10/14) now a Sea Day. The date for Huatulco was changed by a day later 10/13 to 10/14 and time was changed from 10am-6pm to 8am-3:30pm. Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala time change was 8am-6pm, new time 10am-8pm. Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica had a time change from 8am-6pm to 8am-8pm. Some changes were welcomed, but we had to scramble to let guides know and check availability on HAL's high-speed internet. Fortunately all were able to accommodate the changes.

Sunday night was Chicken Parm night at Canaletto

The Crown Princess went by first And then the noisy Noordam backed out We were the last under the Lyons Bridge Followed by a sunset The new room for almost 3 weeks

Getting back on board at 1500 was much better as we had our key cards and in transit cards . Our new room was much nicer . And with a Dive In quickie up top the parade of ships was about to begin