The Helpful Pointer

Being our next door neighbor, Mexico can sometimes
be forgotten about when it comes to choosing a
cruising vacation. After all, why go to Mexico when
the tropical paradise of the Caribbean is right on
our doorstep? If these are your very thoughts,
then why not take some time out to uncover the
delights that await you on a Mexico cruise. What
you discover will surprise and fascinate you…I
guarantee it!

The majority of cruise lines operate Mexico cruise
round-trips from the ports of Los Angeles and
San Diego. The main points of interest
(cruise-wise) in Mexico are to be found down the
western coastline. Mexican cruise destinations
on the Gulf of Mexico side are catered for by
Caribbean-oriented cruise vacations departing
from Galveston, New Orleans and some ports in
Florida.

From the Californian ports a wide choice of Mexico
cruises are available through several different
cruise lines. These vary from a short 3-night
cruise that takes in one Mexican port of call
- Ensenada - before heading back, to 14-night
cruises down to Acapulco and back.

Ensenada is in Baja California. It is less than
100kms from San Diego and is the third largest
city on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. The city
is a tourist hotspot, attracting many people
from all over the world to its shops,
restaurants, beaches and wineries. One ‘must-see’
attraction here is the La Bufadora natural
blowhole, which spouts ocean water a full 35ft
into the air!

Further down the coast on the Mexican mainland
is Mazatlan. Miles of beautiful golden sands
lined with palm trees await at this port of
call, aptly named as the Pearl of the Pacific.
Fine restaurants, nightlife and shopping can be
enjoyed in Mazatlan, as well as a whole host of
watersports and land-based sports activities.

Puerto Vallarta is another popular port of call
on a Mexico cruise, where more excellent beaches
and fine restaurants await. From this port,
shore excursions up into the spectacular
mountains behind the city can be taken. The city
of Guadalajara and its fine Mexican heritage
can easily be reached from Puerto Vallarta.

The furthest point that most cruise lines will
sail to on a round-trip is the dream destination
of Acapulco. Known as the ‘Hollywood’ of Mexico,
Acapulco has everything from water parks and
balloon rides over the city, to rock diving and
a complete raft of watersports activities. There
are excellent restaurants, great shopping
opportunities and a buzzing nightlife to enjoy
too. Be warned though, once you’ve visited
Acapulco you may become addicted to the place!

With all this to enjoy, and much more besides,
Mexico really is a top cruise destination that
should be on everyone’s travel itinerary. Just
kick off those work shoes and enjoy the good
life!

Looking for Cruise information ?

Go to http://www.azcruises.com to find out all you need
to know about taking your dream Mexico Cruise vacation.

‘Is that from the boat, Grampa? What is it?’ my daughter asked the other day.



‘It’s a whizzy whatchamacallit,’ replied my father-in-law, spinning a chunky bit of metal around in his hand. ‘From the mast. It’s broken.’



We have a lot of whatchamacallits on our boat, whizzy or otherwise. Take the cockpit for example. Fourteen different ropes, with fourteen different names, snake their way from various parts of the boat into the cockpit, and that’s only on the right - sorry, the starboard - side.



The whole thing is repeated on the port side, giving us twenty-eight bits of string, of clashing colours and patterns, to decorate the middle of the boat. There seems to be a rope for every conceivable purpose, so whether it be kicker or cunningham, runner or halyard, you can be sure that we have a sheet for it.



It all gets a bit messy at times, especially when I pull the wrong one!



And the sails! I can at least tell a spinnaker from a mainsail, but what is the difference between a genoa, a number one jib, a working jib and a storm jib? And what about a staysail and a trysail? I have to say that I have no idea.



But sails are the least of my worries. Sailing conversations, on board, in the pub or over the dinner table, sometimes seem as if they are in a foreign language. Discussions of jackstays, goosenecks and sliplines all sound a little fascist to me, and as for warp protection… well, is it any wonder that I get confused?



In the interests of sanity, I opened a sailing book the other day, just to see if I could work out what it all means. It was heavy going, but I struggled on until I reached the bit about jiffy reefing and leech cringles.



So, I’ve made a decision: if you want me to pull a rope on board a boat, keep it simple. Don’t tell me to pull the spinnaker halyard sheet, just ask me to heave on the green rope. And as for all the other essential sailing items, well, from now on, they’re all watchamacallits to me.



Which brings me back to the whizzy one - the broken whatchamacallit from the mast.



You’ll be glad to hear that this turned out to be a vang bracket, of a type that they don’t make any more.



But I’d better not tell you whatcha my father-in-law said about that!
For all the Reluctant Sailor articles go to The Reluctant Sailor.

Helen MacKenzie is a freelance writer. She contributes to the web site at http://www.sea-dreamer.com The Sea Dreamer web site has articles, guides and news on sailing and cruising on the West Coast of Scotland.

Do you crave for DVD superiority; though miss your old video recorder’s (VCRs) capability to tape your much-loved television series? If so, you can have the best of both with a Digital Versatile Disc (more regularly refereed to as a DVD) recorder, owing to its clever recording options as well as its DVD quality audio & image.

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Digital Versatile Disc Recorders have never been so inexpensive to buy. In truth, costs are plummeting so hastily that getting rid of that old Video Cassette Recorder (more universally known as a VCR and changing to Digital Versatile Disc or Hard Disk Drive recording makes clearer sense. However, it is a consumer industry affected by technology & innovation which thus means DVD recorder features are changing day after day.

If you’re bewildered by the differentiation between DVD-R, DVD-RAM & DVD+RW, we also present you with a fundamental breakdown of the formats available to buy - which makes are using them and what the most up-to-date improvements are.

Pioneer makes a range of Digital Versatile Disc recorders, several of which have HDD capability; allowing you to tape countless hours of TV prior to transferring them on to Digital Versatile Disc when needed. Pioneer also manufactures a series of brilliant Digital Versatile Disc players and Digital Versatile Disc home cinema systems including HDMI compatible makes. Enjoy crazy low prices on DVD recorders at Digital Direct!

Pioneer is a renowned TV and hi-fi company which caters for the home, car, multimedia and DJ equipment markets. Pioneer was setup as Fukuin Shokai Denki in Tokyo in nineteen thirty eight. The company in the beginning began life producing speakers & switched its name to Pioneer in nineteen sixty one. Since then it has initiated a selection of firsts onto the market, which includes the world’s first Global Positioning System navigation gadget in nineteen ninety and the first ever Digital Versatile Disc recorder in nineteen ninety nine.