Puerto Vallarta

By the time we set our clocks ahead one hour last night, it was nearly midnight, and boy was it tough to get the boys up this morning at 7:15am for our Dolphin Encounter shore excursion! We finally got everybody up, dressed, fed, and off the boat by 9am.

Puerto Vallarta seems much nicer than the other two ports of call. We had a short bus ride to Vallarta Adventures Dolphin Encounter and were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice facility. After waiting only a few minutes, our trainer came by to take us out to the docks. Kent & his family and Pi & his family joined Brandon, Justin and me. Michele, her dad, and my parents were observers and watched from the dock.

We climbed down a ladder into the 16’ deep pool and stood on a platform about 4 feet below the surface. We broke up into two groups and started by petting the dolphin while the trainer gave us a little dolphin education. Afterwards, we took turns kissing kissing and shaking hands with the dolphin. After we finished our encounter portion, the trainers had the dolphins do some jumps and high-speed swimming. Once we got out of the water, we showered off and then got a quick photo-up with a Sea Lion. They served a nice Mexican lunch and we had some time to relax before boarding the bus for the return trip to the ship.

Back on board, we had our customary afternoon siesta and then headed up to the deck to swim. I read my book a bit while the boys played in the pool. Before long, it was time to get cleaned up for dinner. Tonight’s theme was pirate night and everyone was dressed up with bandanas, eyepatches, and the like. In addition, we celebrated Brandon’s birthday (next month). After dinner, Kent challenged me to a Karaoke showdown which I naturally accepted. It was Disney Karaoke, so we had to pick from a narrow list of songs and we both ended up singing Smashmouth (All-Star & I’m a Believer).

At 9:45, we headed up on deck for the Pirates IN the Caribbean Party (never mind, that we’re not actually in the Caribbean right now) which is always a lot of fun for the kids. There’s lots of dancing and Disney Characters and the grand finale is a fireworks show.
After three days of shore excursions, Michele and I are looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing more during our two days at sea on the return trip to Los Angeles. We’ve got nothing much planned tomorrow and that’s just fine with us!