We woke up reasonably late this morning, took care of a bit of business involving the in-room safe, and headed out to the breakfast buffet. 

Suitably sated we repaired to the room to change into more appropriate clothing and went for a walk on the beach.  The tide was coming in and the waves were small but amazing (and LOUD).

Following the walk it was back to the room to shower and change for the day.

At 11:00 we were at the front desk checking out.  Then it was on to the hospitality room where the UnCruise people were waiting to check us in.  We dropped our luggage, secured our name badges and wrist bands giving us access (again) to all the resort amenities (food and drink) and headed out to kill time until our 3:30 departure time.

First stop was the pool bar for a snack.  We made the mistake of ordering  Arnold Palmers. They had no idea what those were so we described them to the poor waiter who scurried off in search of iced tea.  Some time later he returned with an ice bucket holding a plastic bag – presumably the tea – which he proceeded to let cool for a bit before the bar tender completed the mixture.  It tasted right and we learned our lesson.  Stick with the strong stuff.

We then retired to a shaded area where we read and napped until lunch time.  (Did i mention that this is a rough life?). 

The lunch buffet was excellent and colorful.  

Following lunch we returned to the deck where we spent the next hour or so chatting with another passenger who found us. (Remember the name tags?)

Eventually it was time to board the busses for the 3 1/2 hour drive to La Paz.

Along the way we checked out scenery – mountains, arroyos, Cardon cactus (the larger cousin of the Seguarro), birds, rocks, and such.

Arriving at the ship we were met by the “Hotel Manager”, welcomed by the Captain and First Mate and shown to our stateroom. As we were boarding we also ran into Jenny Wolf.  More on her later but for now She went to Boise High and the College of Idaho.

We spent a few minutes stowing gear in our room and then wandered down the hall to the lounge for the happy hour and a more extensive greeting by the Captain, Hotel Manager, Expedition Leader and First Mate (safety officer, medical officer, bottle washer). 

They described how the week would go (“Remember the itinerary you were sent?  That’s the starting point.  It will make great paper airplanes.  At UnCruise we follow the 3 W’s rule.  We will modify the itinerary for Weather, Wildlife, or Whim.”). Should be an interesting week.

Then it was off to dinner, and an excellent dinner it was.  Following dinner the Expedition Leader discussed tomorrow and sent us on our way.  We took ourselves on a tour of the boat.  Getting around is a little tricky.  No staircase goes all the way from top to bottom. But it’s a reasonably small boat and we’ll learn quickly.

Retiring to our cabin we readied for bed and updating the blog and such.

As I’m writing this the Diesel engines have been fired up and we’re scheduled to leave port at 11:00.  Our goal is to be at our first stop by 7:05 tomorrow morning – in time to catch the sunrise over an island that the Captain tells us is a must see event.

So the adventure begins.  

Regarding the room safe – I messed up the combination which sealed it shut on our PASSPORTS and all our money! The house phone was also not working so we tromped down to the front desk and they were able to send up a security guy to our room who plugged in a little computer that cleared it up! Good to know!

We met our first co-cruisers at the hotel and started getting to know them before boarding the luxury bus (with bathroom and snacks) with one of our tour guides. The surprisingly wide variety of people ranged from late 20s to late 80s and from New Zealand to New York. About half the people were from the eastern US! (Usually Easterners vacation in the Caribbean rather than Hawaii because of all the time changes, so I was surprised by this.)