Ahhh..... thank god for warm weather! But.... with warm tropical weather comes tropical storms and.... Hurricanes!!! Yep, these photos are just after we hit the worst of Hurricane Otis... off the west coast of Mexico near Cabo San Lucas.

The ships guests went very quiet on this morning... it was like a ghost ship. Funny... Paul and I were scheduled for live band rehearsals right at the moment we were hitting the eye of the storm. With no food in our bellies (a bad thing for seasickness), high heels and an unstable dance floor. Paul and I hit the floor and boy-oh-boy.... what fun! Talk about dizzy... the ship was going everywhere, the band was just sitting and playing and we managed to crank out one of our best!!! There would be no problems with our performance later that night... we were relieved!

So after our rehearsal we decided to see what a hurricane looked like from the open decks... ehhh... sorry to our parents, we know its not really wise, but hey... you weren't there and we're adults anyways!!!

We could hardly walk! it was so windy, but so much fun... we were almost the only ones on deck, two mad power walking women were getting their kicks too...!!!

So after our 1st hurricane we had our 1st port day in Mexico... and what a day it was... i'll hand you over to Paul now, he tells it better than I do... oh.... to him mum and dad... apologies in advance :-) ok here he is...


Ok, so imagine this… a steel cable encased in rubber tubing, about 5cm in diameter. Imagine this cable tied between two trees, 100 feet in the air, above the Mexican jungle canopy. The trees are 650 meters apart; imagine your hips being tied into a safety harness and you being locked onto this cable by rollers. Now imagine somebody saying… “ready…” and pushing you off your platform high in the air… swinging freely above the jungle canopy… now imagine, trees, branches, birds, spider webs, flying past you at 30 -40 kms per hour as your body is hurtled through the jungle on this little tiny cable… until you get to the end with a startling halt.

OH MY GOD!! Exhilarating…. I think not…. This adventure is more of the mind blowing type… its called a canopy adventure and it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done. The most unbelievable feeling, it was amazing, just being up there, flying through the jungle, not seeing the end of the cable. The only thing to slow or stop my speed was a single hand on the line encased in a leather glove which heated up as I pressed down on the cable. It was amazing.

This adventure originally started by a couple of guys who needed to document flora and fauna in the Mexican jungle. They started documenting the floor of the jungle, then they climbed the trees. Knowing that they could cover more distance by connecting trees together by traversing on zip lines, with up to 16 zip lines, these guys developed a great network of travel through the jungle. They were working, but at the same time they were having a whole heap of fun. Then one of them came up with the idea that others might enjoy this type of “tarzan-chest-thumping-tree-swinging-yodelling” adventure.

So this enterprising bunch of Mexicans (kind of an oxymoron) built some platforms on the trees with a steel device that kind of hugs the trees so they are not harmed (the trees, not the Mexicans, they don’t mind the odd hugJ . The trees aren’t drilled or damaged in anyway. The platforms can withstand 4 – 12 people at a time. The guys working here are kind of like really knowledgeable cowboys who make you feel at ease as they teach the safety measures and techniques required to have a great time.

You see, this was kind of like work for me… hah!!! I was escorting a tour for guests on the ship. 12 people completed the course, no wheelchairs, and no walking sticks on this tour J

When you are relying on someone to get you through this scary experience, where you are constantly in danger…this experience really exposes you for who you really are. Being so exposed means others in the group really empathize with you as a human being. The end result was pretty profound, a small bunch of people, all going through this amazing experience, challenging themselves to their limits. We were instant and close friends as a result of this trip.

And…. Then…. My day off!!!
With only 2 hours to find me some fun… in temperatures over the 100 mark…a few of us headed towards the beach in Mazatlan. There I was, like a wide eyed kid in a lolly shop… so many things to do... so little time… horse riding, parasailing, sunbaking, swimming…. But wait… there it is… in the distance… yup… a nice, big spanky new jet ski!! Lemme adem.. decision made.

The guy tells me very firmly, no jumping, no diving, no going fast… basically I was allowed to idle gently in shallow water…!!! To hell with that… I paid my money, got on the thing and let it rip! Sorry mum…. I nearly killed myself by taking a short trip over to some Mexican island… then I nearly killed myself again when I decided to combine surfing with jet skiing…. Hey!!! No-one told me you needed certain techniques to make this happen… here I was rolling in the surf with a jet ski on my back, then my front, then my head…. What a blast!!! If I wasn’t sucking in so much salt water, you would have heard my laughter from the shore… woo hoo!!!

After finding the key, I got my baby started and did it all over again!!! With only minor cuts and abrasions, I rode her gently to her owner, his arms flailing about wildly... in a kinda “…. Whadya-think-ya-were-doing-mate…!!!!” fashion.

Moral of my jet skiing story… It’s always better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Paul Zaidman