Manzanillo!

We arrived in Manzanillo, Mexico today at 4:40 PM local time. Coming in, you could see the mountains in the background.

The port is considered "secure," probably because of the Mexican Navy and Marina Security present.

The old part of town is set right into the hillside.

Our ship was met by their version of harbor pilots. Here is the boat that came out to meet us.

It was neat to watch the crew prepare our ship to dock.

In the background at the end of the pier is a giant blue marlin statue - wonder when Ocean City, Maryland will be getting their giant statue for their White Marlin Open!

You can see the marina security with automatic weapons.

When we are finally allowed to get off the ship, I will take some pictures of the town. We are here until Thursday, when our flight leaves to take us home. Lots of packing and cleaning to do still!

Here's a better picture of the statue. It is huge!

It is tradition for the science party to host a post-cruise party once the cruise has ended. This is because there is no alcohol allowed on US merchant ships. Our party was held at the Colonial, an eighty+ year old hotel in downtown Manzinello. It was absolutely beautiful!

It looks like it came out of a movie. This is looking up from our table downstairs.

Everything was stained glass and looked really cool.

Here is a picture of our party. The exchange rate is 1 dollar = 18 pesos so the libations flowed pretty freely!

Here is a picture from up above, early on in the evening. Most of the people flowed in shortly afterward and it was one heck of a party.

After a while, you can only drink so much! We decided to go and watch people around the square. It seems that even on a Tuesday night, it is always a celebration. The square was crowded and everyone was in a festive mood!

There were really cool statues like this one all over the square, and little kids rides like trains in between. Street vendors sold ice cream and assorted treats. It was really fun!

Here is one statue with a green turtle on the back. My wife, Molli, loves turtles so I took this picture!

All in all, Manzanillo is a really fun town with a lot of history and culture. I had to get back early to finish this blog post and to get to bed. Tomorrow we are going to do a little shopping (since our science stuff is all packed away) and then head off to see some ruins and a volcano. Sounds pretty awesome! Stay tuned for some more great pictures.