Manzanillo...

Quote of the day: “Quite frankly, I can’t understand why Princess Cruises decided that we should call at Manzanillo. There are a number of far more interesting places to stop along the Mexican Riviera. Now I’ll probably get fired for saying that, but that’s my opinion.” Richard, the Ports lecturer.

On a sleepy Sunday, where better to be than a sleepy little Mexican town. Maybe that was the rationale behind coming here. Or maybe it was the fact that the local church had Mass tree times during our visit…

There was the usual assortment of tourist tack for sale, but the quality was considerably lower than most places we’ve visited. That didn’t seem to stop the shopaholics though, who seemed determined to give the local economy a boost.

The big claim to fame here is that this is the Sailfish Capital of the world. And just to make the point, they have erected a massive sculpture of a sailfish by Mexican sculptor Sebastian (he's so famous he just has one name…) on the edge of the harbour – think big carrot, plum, onion, turnip, gear, needle, tower, dolphin etc. that you see dotted around the world. Oh, and the entire waterfront area is decked out with speakers playing Mexican music for the gringos off the cruise ship… nice touch if you’re into that sort of thing.

Personally, I didn’t find the place terribly attractive, so after a quick wander around, I headed back to the ship, and got my ironing done while it was all fairly quiet in the laundry. That was followed by siesta, seeing we’re in siesta country. When I say that the most exciting thing to happen today was that the crew did a full safety drill, you’ll get the picture of how the day went!