Day 16
Time definitely flies when you are having fun. Suddenly the last day of our cruise had arrived. We were awake pretty early and decided to get on with the packing so that we did not have to worry about this later. We also decided to do a load of laundry. We had done some laundry earlier in the trip, but as our washing machine had broken just before the trip and we needed to order a new one once we got home, it made sense to come home with as little laundry as possible. We had no trouble finding an empty machine. We set this going and then headed up to deck 4 for Walk A Mile.
We enjoyed our last Walk A Mile of the cruise. Our walking buddy that morning was Ashley, who was very excited as she was going to book her flight to Italy when we got into port. We had a nice time walking with her. Once we had said our goodbyes, we headed back to the laundry. Our washing machine had a couple of minutes left so that was perfect timing. There was no dryer available. We decided to check out the laundry rooms on the other decks. We found an empty dryer on deck 7. We set this going and then headed for breakfast.
We had hardly eaten at Parrot Cay this trip apart from our scheduled dinners. So we decided to have breakfast there that morning. We both had coffee and juice and I also had some chocolate milk. Graham had some fruit and yoghurt and I headed straight for the hot food. I had some sausages, breakfast potatoes and a ham and cheese omelet. Graham went back for some hot food and had bacon, scrambled egg, sausages and some toast. Once we had finished our breakfast, we headed back to the laundry to get our stuff from the dryer. I expected that at least some of it needed another spin in the dryer, but everything was dry. We took it back to the cabin and it was then that I noticed that various swim stuff was still hanging up in the bathroom. As this had a mixture of saltwater and chlorine on it, I figured that it would probably be a good idea to get this washed, too. I sent Graham ahead to his usual spot on deck 4 and went in search of an empty washing machine. I ended up having to go to deck 7 again, but there were a couple of empty washing machines available there. I got the laundry going and then joined Graham with my book.
After a little while I had to head back to the laundry to put my swim stuff in the dryer. This was perfectly timed again. I managed to find a dryer straightaway and then I could head straight to Studio Sea for the final installment of the Art of Entertaining series. I have attended the odd one on previous cruises. This one promised to be entertaining. It was a competition between Captain Fabian and our cruise director Jimmy. I was not disappointed. I could not believe how busy Studio Sea was. Every single seat was taken and there were a lot of people standing. Somewhere they got extra chairs from and in the end everybody had a seat. There was a lot of banter going on. Captain Fabian had chosen a dish with a name that I cannot remember, but which was described as a kind of meatloaf. The drawback with that was that it needed to be baked in the oven for 45 minutes. So Captain Fabian prepared this, but the one that the panel would taste had been prepared earlier in the galley. Jimmy accused Captain Fabian of having the chefs cook his dish for him. He had anticipated and had a video on his phone showing that he did the cooking. Another source of irritation to Jimmy was that all the ingredients for Captain Fabian had been chopped and prepared, but he had to chop his own. The real entertainment value though was to watch Jimmy cook. He had chosen Chilli con Carne as his dish. I put in an insane amount of hot chili powder and a whole bottle of hot sauce. I am seriously surprised that the panel trying the dishes did not catch fire when trying this. In the end Jimmy's dish won. I had so much fun during those 45 minutes.
By the time this was over, my laundry was dry as well. I collected this from the laundry room and finished the packing. Then I made myself comfortable with my book again on deck 4. It was not quite as cold as it normally is on the stretch between Cabo San Lucas and Southern California normally is, but I still started to get a little chilly lying on my lounger. So at one point I decided to go back to the cabin to get my blanket. I was in two minds when I bought this on our Alaska cruise last year how practical this would be, but I definitely had my money's worth out of this.
There was one last photo opportunity that I wanted to do. This was another group photo, this time with the characters in their nautical outfits. Those group photos were all rather special. I took my book when I headed inside and the line seemed to move rather quickly, but this may have been because I was distracted. When I had my photos, I joined Graham again and wrapped myself in my blanket on a lounger.
At some stage we decided to get something to eat. We headed up to Beach Blanket Buffet. The buffet on the last sea day is always the seafood buffet. This is not exactly a favourite of mine, as I don't eat fish or seafood. There used to be a good selection of other dishes, but they seem to get less from one cruise to the next. Still, there was some Macaroni Cheese and Beef Stir Fry and that did quite nicely for me. Graham had various seafood and some Salmon En Croute. Even though we were quite late, it was very busy. All the tables inside were taken. It was quite windy and sitting at the back in the open did not really appeal. Graham found us a table on the outside off to one side, which is covered. This worked really well. I did not really realize how perfect this spot was until about a quarter of an hour after we sat down and Graham spotted something close to the ship. There were a bunch of sea turtles. I was so fascinated by them that I nearly forgot about the food. I did eventually finish my food and even got some ice cream before we headed back down to deck 4.
Once we got back to our spot, we saw some more sea turtles, but the really interesting wildlife turned up shortly afterwards. Suddenly there was an announcement from the bridge that some whales had been sighted. We were on the main migration route, but we were really too late in the year to find whales that far south. So this was a real stroke of luck. Graham said that there was a grey whale out there. With my dodgy eyesight, I could not see it as it was quite far out, but I was genuinely happy for him. A little while later, there was another announcement for a whale sighting. This was on the opposite of the ship. However, shortly afterwards, we saw a humpback whale mum and her calf very close to the ship. Graham reckons that they swam underneath the ship. They stayed close to the ship for quite some while. They were close enough that I could see them with the naked eye. This was absolutely amazing and a fitting finale for an amazing cruise.
After a while, we lost our wildlife escort and I settled back down on my lounger again with my book. During the second half of the afternoon, we took our stuff back to the cabin. We had a few things to take care of. As one of our Platinum perks, we get two free prints, which we had to choose. I also needed to make sure that all the photos had gone onto the kiosk and therefore would go on the CD. I had been a bit lazy about this the last few days. I did find 4 that had not made it and asked for those to be added. Then we took a wander around the ship to take some photos. Considering that we had been on the ship for two whole weeks at that point, we had not taken any photos. We were about to put this right. At that point we thought that this would be our last cruise on the Wonder before she gets her big makeover, but fortunately there is a good possibility that we will be back in December 2015.
There was something else that I had not managed to do in two weeks and this is to have a Melon Mojito. Over the years this has become my favourite cocktail on the ships. Unfortunately the availability of this is fairly limited. This is really only available at Signals, but they have always been happy at the Cove Cafe and at the Outlook Cafe to get this for me. So we headed to the Outlook Cafe. Graham had a Cafe Toledo without chocolate and I had my Melon Mojito. Unfortunately the bartender got a little distracted and added some chocolate syrup to Graham's drink and had to redo it. He offered me the first drink free of charge, but I declined. After I had taken our drinks and sat down, he brought the first drink over anyway. It was actually rather nice, but I still prefer my Melon Mojito.
Now I know better. Our sea lion encounter was with Puerto Adventures as well and I agree that they were really excellent!
