Huatulco, Mexico. Finger manipulation, and excursion: Huatulco by land & sea.

Sun setting on the horizon

Yesterday was a sea day and we passed by one of Holland America's other cruise ships - MS Zaandam.  No doubt the officers were communicating with each other on the navigation deck, saying 'howzit?'

Towards sunset officers on the bridge noticed some birds starting to settle on the forward mast and called Paul and he came fetched me, knowing that it would be nice to see them.  The birds were either boobies or gannets.  They had webbed feet and found it difficult to settle initially on the horizontal bars of the mast, but some of them somehow managed and there they stayed, hitching a lift, until sunrise.

As the sun sank closer to the horizon it became a beautiful red ball - it was an amazing sight.  As usual it reminds me how grateful that I should be able to see it, and how grateful I am to be alive on this beautiful earth.

Huatulco is set in a beautiful bay and I was glad to get off the ship on a tour today.  Once the tour group was down on the pier we walked to outside the harbour to meet up with our bus.  The bus part of the tour was to give us an overall view of Huatulco and La Crucesita with two viewpoint stops along the way for photographs.

In La Crucesita we had a bit of free time to wander around the town.  Some people went shopping, others went sightseeing; visiting the church and beautiful central plaza or recommended places as per our guide.  I needed to get out of the heat badly and ended up going into a shop and browsed for a bit, enjoying the cool temperatures from the air conditioner.

José taking us around the coastline and bays

Throughout the bus tour José, our guide, was very knowledgeable and pointed out areas of interest.  He gave a bit of a history about the town and its future.  He spotted some iguanas and got the bus driver to stop briefly for guests to see them on the banks of the hill next to the road.  He also pointed out the ‘tequila’ plant (blue Agave plant) and pistachio trees; and a few other plants.  José was a likeable chap with a good sense of humour.  (Guides can 'make or break' a tour!)

This blowhole gave a fantastic display for us

After the bus tour we got dropped off at an entrance at the harbour, the closest to the motorised catamaran that we boarded for the second part of our trip.  The catamaran's name?  "Tequila"!  Very apt indeed.  Is was it the motion of the ocean that rocked us or was it the complimentary drinks that flowed freely - tequila and margaritas.  There was also beer and water on board too for those that didn't fancy the other drinks.

During the boat trip around the harbour and various bays in the area the catamaran staff were lovely. José Cruz, the captain of "Tequila" allowed a guest or two to pilot the boat under his watchful eye.  Everyone on the catamaran seemed to enjoy themselves but one particular couple even more so.  They were a bit drunk by the time they got off the catamaran.  They ended up needing an electric mobility cart to fetch them and take them back to the ship!  (Oh happy daze!!!)

Before dinner time Paul and I walked down to the ship's infirmary so that the crew doctor could have a look at my right hand's middle finger (don't even think along other lines!!).

To give you a bit of background:  towards the end of last year when the Maasdam was in New Zealand I on a rocket boat tour in Akaroa.  After the a scenic high speed boat ride around the bay the boat's pilot did a couple of G-force turns - which were fantastic because of the adrenaline rush.  Unfortunately as we did the spins water spray made the forward bar I was holding onto wet; my hands started slipping.  During the last spin my fingers lost their grip and I wrenched the middle finger of my hand.  It was painful at the time but that was it.  It didn't seem to be broken so I put my finger in ice for a good few hours.  Over time, though, the finger has become more painful to use.  Eventually when I got back to England I had it x-ray'd I was fed up with the pain and swelling around the joint.  The x-ray was fine.  Anyway I ended up strapping the finger straight in case I had damaged any surrounding ligaments.

Fast track until today, back on board and about 5 to 6 weeks of strapping my finger to a split, I have still been in pain so hence going to see the crew doctor to have a look at it/get advice.  Dan decided to get Linda to x-ray it for me in case something didn't show up on the first x-ray, but there was nothing seen.  So, he decided to see how much I could bend my finger - under local anaesthetic.  Usually, for me, local anaesthetics have never been painful (I've had the same finger injected with a local anaesthetic when I needed stitches over the joint after cutting my skin open on a the lid of a tin of cat food by mistake) but bloody hell, the 3 injections he gave me near my knuckle hurt like blazes.  The whole middle finger swelled up and eventually the local anaesthetic started to work.  Dan then took my hand and gently started to bend the finger at the middle joint.  It was a bit stiff but he kept on going until I could feel the joint hurting.  I hope I didn't swear because the anaesthetic didn't help after a certain point in bending it.  There was a bit more stretching and bending my finger to get the tendons a bit more mobile.  The upshot is that I shouldn't splint the finger any more and to start exercising it, gently, even if it hurts.  I need to get it moving again so that I can start using my hand properly.  It might take a while to get full mobility back again but anything is a good start.


After visiting the infirmary Paul and I went and sat in one of the ship's Jacuzzi's and there in the warm water I started my 'rehab', clenching and releasing my fingers.

Time to head to bed - we will be arriving in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, tomorrow.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Birds settling on the bow's mast

 

A guest being allowed to take the wheel under José's
guidance

The motorised catamaran, "Tequila" that we sailed on.

Huatulco, Mexico. Excursion: Copalita River Float Trip

3:00 and I can’t sleep!  Am so very tired.  My brain won’t switch off – wish I could find that damn switch!

20:40
No sooner had I managed to fall asleep then Paul’s wake-up call rang through, waking me with a jolt.  It was time for him to get ready to go to the bridge.  I tried to go back to sleep for a bit but it wasn’t that easy even though I was bug-eyed and tired.

After breakfast I headed down onto the pier to meet up with a tour group that I was assigned to, Copalita River Float Trip.  Once we had all signed our lives away on the waivers of liability form we headed into town and met up with the transport vehicle which was to take us to the Copalita River.  The vehicle was a nice surprise for me – a big ATV!  3 high steps to climb up to reach the seats didn’t bother me in the slightest but our guide still gave me a bit of a leg up anyway.  Well, each guest was helped up so it wasn’t just short me!

After a drive of about 25 minutes we arrived at our starting point on the river.  We were given flotation jackets (no longer lifejackets) and helped into 2 rubber-duck type rafts.  We were soon armed with a paddle each and given instructions how to use them.  Formalities over, our young guides pushed us off the riverbank and climbed into the backs of the rafts.  The river current was enough to push the rafts along so we didn’t have to do too much strenuous paddling.  There were a few gentle rapids to negotiate and our guides would yell out instructions to us:  “paddle”, “stop paddling”, “reverse paddle”, etc.  Now and then different types of birds were pointed out to us.  There were also goats and horses along the riverbank, most likely belonging to the local farmers.

Half way through our leisurely float down the river our guides got us to manoeuvre the rafts to a riverbank for a bit of a break.  We climbed out of the rafts and had time for a refreshing swim in the river.  One of the guides invited us to walk a minute or so upstream to a small rapid from where we could float downstream back to the rafts.  Naturally having grown in different parts of Africa so I see myself as an 'African child' (please - this is nothing to do with race or colour) I whipped off my flip flops and scampered barefoot across the rocky riverbank without blinking an eyelid.  One of the young guides gulped – he thought I was ‘mad’, no doubt.  The guests got into the water at a safe point just at the start of the small rapid and after settling themselves on their backs in the water, in their flotation jackets, a guide would make sure all was well before letting go of the guest and jacket to float downstream.  Yes, I know rocks underwater can be a hazard and perhaps hurt feet if one is not careful.  However, I was prepared to take that risk without any shoes and felt far better without them, just keeping my feet outstretched in front of me as I floated down the river.  It was wonderful!

After a while it was time to go.  Some guests got back into the raft while the rest of us floated downstream for a bit of a distance, letting the river current carry us.  Our guides hooked their feet into the ropes along the side of the rubber rafts and swam, dragging the rafts with their toes.  The guests inside the rafts didn’t need to lift a finger to help.  The current helped.  We reached a mud flat in the river and those floating climbed back into the rafts and took up their paddles once again alongside their, by now, drier brethren.  There was a bit of teasing going on with the dripping guests trying their best to get the others wet again.

Our ATV eventually came into sight, waiting near the riverbank for us.  It was time to head back to the ship.  I had a quick dip in the river again, to cool off, before climbing into the vehicle.  I was soaked but neither the driver nor the guide minded – the seats were coated in PVC.  In fact most of us were in various stages of more or less dry, damp, wet or soaking.  Fortunately the ATV was open air – the day had become quite hot and the fresh air helped to cool us down and dry off.

Once back in Huatulco some guests opted to use the public showers to rinse off before changing and wandering around town or going back to the ship.  Wet flip flops and I were great company, making quite a racket as I headed back to the ship – squelch, squelch, squeak…

The fresh air and sunshine has done me the world of good – it is great to be alive.

Tomorrow the ship’s final port in Mexico is Puerto Chiapas after which the Maasdam will continue sailing southwards/southeast to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, to name a few countries.

You can see my photographs on facebook via this link:  Excursion: Copalita River Float Trip

Sailing to our next destination:  Puerto Chiapas