Queen Elizabeth docked early 5am.
We berthed in the bay as the dock was not large enough for cruise ships. The marina moored many luxury yachts/boats, fishing boats and speed boats were already moving about the harbour.

To transport passengers ashore Queen Elizabeth has her own “tender” vessels. These are smaller motorised crafts that are secured on the external sides of the ship and lowered when needed. I suppose they would be used as ‘life vessels’ in the event of abandon ship emergency, together with the ‘life rafts’ secured to the external sides.

One ‘tender’ vessel seats 96, boarding is in the centre with eight rows either side, aisle down the centre and you sit, facing each other, almost knees touching, four per bench. It is tight but as the vessel moves away from the ship, the sea breeze keeps you comfortable as front/rear windows are open. The captain of the vessel sits perched above us behind his controls with a clear view of this surroundings. Ship to shore took less than 10 minutes.
Today however, with the temperature 27° at 7am and boarding the tenders started at 7.30am there was no cool sea breeze.

We all gathered in the Queen’s Theatre to be allocated our tour numbers and then proceeded to Deck A, lowest deck passengers frequent by elevator(the ship’s medical and some crew cabins are located on Deck A, crew quarters also on Deck B and C, below water level with stair access only) I suspect the Captain and other officers have Staterooms nearer the bridge.

Mexican government designated San Lucas a Tourist Attraction in 1976 and only then did the little fishing village start developing, Twenty thousand hotel rooms now exist, investment took off and tourism is now a vital income source for the port-city of Cabos. Currency is Mexican Peso although US$ is widely accepted. Conversion US$1=17 peso, AUS$1.00=$10 peso.

We had to queue in the heat waiting for others in our group to join us from the second tender before we could leave for the short walk to our coach. I wished I had left our umbrellas in our carry-bag. We had sun block and hats and sunglasses, arms covered but still we were waiting in the open. It was hot for our guide also, not a pleasant experience and although I should have been more used to this humidity, Goulburn spoils us as a lovely temperate climate with very little/no humidity.

On the short walk to the coach we passed armed men, perhaps army or police, not sure. They were masked so as not to be identified. We weren’t sure if this was to reassure us and deter anyone wishing ”tourists” harm or this was a normal part of life in Mexico. It was Mexico and it can be unstable. Made me mindful of our safe, free lifestyle at home though and how without doubt we are living in the best country. All these travel destinations have not changed our minds of how blessed we are.
We also noticed that among the shops on the waterfront, the number of pharmacies was dis-proportionate to other retails outlets. We found out later that was because pharmacies sell steriods freely and without any restrictions so were in great demand. Nothing to do with ”normal” pharmacy dispensaries.

Once on board our modern coach it was a welcome relief from the heat and our driver had the air conditioning running. The trip to Todos Santos took about an hour.

Cabo is a very small township and scarcely had we left the car park, passed one set of lights than we were seeing not-so modern buildings/homes. This looked a poor or not so wealthy region although our wonderful guide “Betty” never used that term. Many structures look abandoned or perhaps were never finished for whatever reason.
One side of the modern highway we saw modern shopping centre and homes or apartment living behind up into the hills. The other old infrastructures, looked pre-1976. The countryside opened to green desert, cactus and vegetation, looked quite lovely. Our guide told us it was only lush with vegetation and green due to a heavy storm and lots of rain two weeks prior. On our left as we travelled north we had sightings of the Pacific Ocean from time to time when the vegetation thinned like in a patchwork. The other side (of the highway) the right, were mountains, part of a range, volcanic rock, which runs almost the entire length of Mexico.

It took about an hour to reach our destination, the village of Todos-Santos where we left the coach in front of the Cultural Centre, which for more than one hundred years was a school, first run by the Jesuits until 1976 when Government took control. Today schools have been built elsewhere so this is now their Cultural Centre. A wonderful insight of how rancheros (farmers) lived, very simply, small huts adjoining, one sleeping quarters, one living, and small adjoining hut was the kitchen (for safety reasons). Surrounding the hacienda always would be growing, lime trees, useful shade trees that not only provided shade by fruit/herbs. We walked through disused classrooms now housing artifacts.

From there we were led to the local parish church (Mission Church), beautiful in its simplicity, high ceiling, opened windows and thankfully a local came and joined us and thoughtfully turned on ceiling fans. Inside was a relief from the soaring heat and a lovely place for reflection. From the church we walked four blocks in 35° heat to, wait for this, Hotel California where we had lunch waiting.
Back in late 1800’s a Chinese family (Mr.Ling) came to the town and was so impressed he built a general store/bar and this was very successful, so much as that soon after he added first floor boarding rooms so the ‘intoxicated” could stay overnight, he named the shop/bar/boarding rooms, Hotel California simply because Mexico is on the Californian peninsula. Absolutely nothing to do with The Eagles and their hit Hotel California however that did not stop the record company with rights to the song from taking legal action against Mr Ling over the name Subsequently Mr Ling was forced to close the hotel due to the mounting legal fees and it was derelict for twenty years.

Our guide remembered as a child visiting her grandmother who lived in Todos, riding her bicycle around the dusty ruin of a building. Finally new owner (Canadian businessman) bought the property, restored it to its current state, and still owns it, and he kept the original name, We suppose after twenty years the record company didn’t challenge.


We had a wonderful plate of local Mexican food, a soft drink, wine or beer. Phil added a margarita, just to score how good a local made one tasted for my sister Toni who is a connoisseur of margaritas!! (Phil scored 6/10)
After lunch we returned to our coach for one hour trip back to port.

What a wonderful day, however we were all too hot to shop on the dock which was sad for the retailers who were standing outside their shops inviting us in. We longed to just return to our ship, take a cooling shower and rest before dinner!

We were so looking forward to three sea days before our next excursion, Puntarenas, Costa Rica