A Blog for Something Really Important: The Panama Canal Cruise - Part 6

We depart Huatulco in the late afternoon and spend the next day at sea. Our next port of call is Puerto Vallarta at the southern most point of the Gulf of California. The three thousand mile trip from the Panama Canal to Los Angeles is a revelation in geography. Mexico takes up about two-thirds of the trip. The seas have been placid, our wake being the most disturbed water we’ve seen the entire trip so far.

The pods of dolphins have been a constant amusement, but we have yet to see any whales or blow-spouts. A dear friend of ours from New York told us to have our cameras ready while sailing into the Bay of Banderas at Puerto Vallarta. It is famous for the Humpback Whales that winter there.

Puerto Vallarta

I’m up early, as usual, and again I’m fascinated by yet another purple sunrise as we slowly cruise into the bay. The bright city lights of Puerto Vallarta are quite a change from the otherwise dark coast we’ve seen since leaving Panama, but the purple sunrises have been common ever since Cartagena. I looked up what causes that phenomena, and of course, there are conflicting answers but I take it to be some sort of pollution, even way down here in Central America. We’re not exactly in the coal belt, or within hundreds of miles of heavy industry or dense automobile traffic, but in Florida, we are affected by Saharan dust storms over five thousand miles away, so I know the cause of the phenomena may not be local. If the purple colors were only here, I would assume it is from Mexico City - with a population of over 22 million people only 450 miles away - but it has been prevalent for the last thousand miles or so. The purple color is specifically caused by high-altitude diffusion or reduction of the visible spectrum, ie shorter light wavelengths, such as violet or purple, commonly caused by forest fires and volcanic eruptions.

Just as I turn to head back to the cabin, a Frigatebird glides silently by and all is good with the world.

While we were sitting in the Bar and Grill having breakfast, we overheard two women who were excited about their upcoming shopping at Walmart for their upcoming voyage around the world. They plan on stocking up on toothpaste and all the other commodities that they believe will be in short supply on the other side of the planet. I thought they were talking about the docking in San Pedro – Los Angeles – but they are talking about Puerto Vallarta. “There’s a Sam’s Club right next door,” one says to the other. Sure enough, right across the busy, four lane boulevard from our mooring is the huge shopping complex that brings warmth and security to American tourists. With the huge Galerias Vallarta Shopping Mall complex adjacent to the Walmart and Sam's Club, Puerto Vallarta is the other end of the economic spectrum from sleepy Puntarenas.

Whale Watching tour boats

We check out the Walmart and spend an hour or so enjoying the modern mall. There is a Chili's, a Starbucks, and a Haagen Daz, among others, so there is no reason on earth to think you are in Mexico. Well, perhaps except for the beautiful red SUV, a Chiery Tiggo 7 Pro, a Chinese made car available pretty much world-wide, except in the United States.

We are somewhat startled, and amused at the same time, at a courteous, but obviously required reminder of pet etiquette mounted in the center of the mall. We are amused because the sign is not translated into Spanish. Apparently the Mexicans do not take their dogs shopping. If they do, they obviously don't need to be reminded of basic civil behavior.

As we leave, we see the Norwegian Bliss slowly approach the dock just across the street, beautifully painted with the beautiful sea-life artwork of Robert Wyland. Being from Florida, we are not only familiar with his galleries in Sarasota and Key West, but his colorful shirts, along with Jamaican artist Guy Harvey's line of apparel, that are now carried by practically every department store. I remember the ship was designed a few years back for the Alaska cruises, but like the humpback on her hull, she is seeking sunshine and warmer temperatures this January.

We stroll around for awhile, but decide we would rather have lunch on board, so we head back to the ship. While we are sitting in the lounge mid ships, enjoying a piano player who seems to know all our old favorites, we’re approached by a couple, somewhat younger than us, who ask if they may join us. They turn out to be a couple on the full world tour and won’t be back to Ft. Lauderdale until the end of April, three months away. We all have similar backgrounds and we enjoy each others company so we agree to meet for dinner. They ask if we would mind if we are joined by his brother and his wife who are also on the cruise. We all hit it off and we spend time together for the rest of our part of the cruise. We later kept abreast of their world cruise by social media and have become good friends.

The ship slips silently away from the mooring so effortlessly and silently one would not notice we are moving if you weren’t watching the surroundings. We pass whale watching spectator boats of all shapes and sizes as we head slowly into the pristine blue bay. We have our cameras ready, and it only takes a moment or so before we see whale spouts not too far off.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is anchored in the bay and as we pass by, I capture a video of a whale spout just a few feet in front of the iconic, world famous converted icebreaker. Occasional blow-spouts appear around the ship and I can’t help but think how appropriate it is to have her anchored among the families of whales that seek refuge from the cold Arctic winter. I have no doubt that many of the whales here are a direct result of Green Peace’s persistent and impactful actions for the environment. Probably a far more significant number than anyone realizes.

We try to get photographs and videos, but they are too far away to be distinguishable. We watch at least three different whales, or pair of whales, as we head out past the last anchored boat, and then, as if a command performance, we have two whales do a fin waving routine right beside the ship as we sail past. Apparently the females use this water slapping tactic to attract males during courting season, and since there were two whales together, oblivious to our huge ship, I imagine that assessment is correct.

As we pull further and further away from the mainland, the man-made, mostly automobile pollution enveloping the area becomes more and more apparent. Time to head for the open seas at least one more time before Los Angeles.