The first stop on the cruise was Acapulco. We arrived in the early afternoon and this was a tender port, which means that there was no dock for the boat so we had to board smaller boats to go ashore. Since we shceduled to be in this port for 13 hours we were able to do 2 shore excursions during our time here.
The first shore excursion was a shotover jetboat adventure. We travelled by bus for about an hour south of the port to a mangrove area near the ocean. The mangroves literally grow out of the water and form small canals as well as larger open areas that our boat would navigate.
The boats were incredibly fun. Each boat held 6-8 people and the drivers were amazing. They would take us through canals in the mangroves that were scarecly wider than the boat at 20-30 miles an hour providing an extremely exciting experience. In the wider open areas they would "duel" with other jetboats where we would drive at speed towards the other jetboat and turn aside at the last second and cause a huge wave of water to splash 'em.
The jetboat trip lasted about 45 minutes and at one point during the trip we were able to stop in the mangroves and climb through them. After the trip we hung out at the boat house for a time and cooled off with some beer and other drinks before going back to the ship and getting ready for our second excursion of the day.
Our next trip was a dinner (local food which was largely unremarkable) followed by a trip to see the Acapulco cliff divers at night who were totally the opposite. The cliff divers perfom in a narrow inlet from the sea and jump from heights of up to 95 feet and the water into which they dive is fairly shallow (less than 20 ft deep) such that they often have to time their dives to incoming surges from the sea. After each dive they would climb back up the cliff face for their next dive with no ropes which was also quite amazing. The youngest diver was in his teens while the oldest was in his 30s. All of the divers were men.
The diving show lasted for about 45 minutes, after which we had time to shop for souvenirs before returning to the ship after our very long day.
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Pictures of Jet Boat
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