Last Cruise Ship For This Year

Yesterday we went downtown to watch the festivities put on for the cruise ship. As far as I know this is the last one for this year. I thought that they said on the news last night that will be 11 coming in next year; but when I look on the site for the port it only shows 6 on the schedule so who knows. If you are interested in the link for the port it is here: Port of Guaymas

They had the usual merchants set up in the Plaza de Tres Presidentes and there seemed to be a good amount of people around. The Plaza 13 de Julio also had merchants set up selling their wares and a stage where dancers from the Casa de la Cultura were performing when we were there and also a lady singing. Not sure what else they had happening there at different times of the day; but everyone watching appeared to be enjoying the show.

The Malecon also had a stage set up where they had some entertainment by some of the native peoples. They also had some merchants there and again the Shrimp Festival. We didn't try any of the shrimp this time as I was too lazy to stand in the long lineup for tickets. The little train was giving rides to the kids (and some adults) and the Pirate Ship was also on hand giving rides around the bay.

There was a nice breeze blowing off of the bay and it wasn't too hot. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.


Cruise Ship Zaandam from the Holland America Line.














Private boat in the Marina.

Pirate ship El Rey del Mar.

People on the malecon.














Little train giving rides to children.

Dancers at the 13 de Julio Plaza.

A couple of videos of the dancers.

The Cruise Ship Arrives

Yesterday the cruise ship Zaandam arrived here in Guaymas for the day.  The passengers were greeted by the marching band playing a popular song here called The Barca de Guaymas.  The mayor presented the captain of the ship with some gifts of the area and the captain then gave the mayor a gift.
There were supposed to be more than 1500 passengers and 600 crew on the ship.
The passengers were able to take various tours which included  the Nacapule Canyon, San Carlos, the Pearl Farm, Bacochibampo Bay, the centro historical district, the old jail and others.
The Mayo, Yaqui and Seri Indians put on performances at the 13 de Julio Plaza, the merchants from the Mercado were set up in the Three Presidents Plaza and on the Malecon there was entertainment and also a shrimp festival.
Roy and I wandered around and had a look at everything that was happening.  I tried a really good shrimp dish and then we wandered over to the building that is now housing the museum.  The old museum building was flooded during Tropical Storm Jimena; but now some of the things are being displayed in a building on the Plaza de la Pistola.  We chatted with the historian at the museum, Alfonso Uribe, about some of the artifacts there from San German area just outside of Guaymas city limits.  He was very informative and knowledgeable and we really enjoyed it.  While we were there the fellow that is the city historian (I believe) also came in and I asked him if he had a picture of one person that is famous in Guaymas history.  They do; but he wasn't sure where to locate it at the moment.  At one point a fellow came into the Museum and wanted to take our pictures for Sonora Tourism; we explained that we were not cruisers, that we live here.  He still wanted to take our photos; but we declined, not wanting to scare off prospective tourists (smile).
After touring the museum we wandered over to a quiet little cafe where the only other customers were the pigeons that the lady was feeding some tortillas to.

  A nice quiet place to have a drink and relax.  After we sat for awhile I headed off to my Spanish class and Roy headed home.

Upcoming Cruise Ships

There was an article in La Voz del Puerto newspaper on November 19th stating that the most expensive cruise ship in the world, The World , will be coming to Guaymas on March 21, 2010. It will have a stay of 36 hrs. in the port.

More Photos Of The Cruise Ship Events

When the cruise ship arrived on Saturday the city put on lots of entertainment for the cruisers as well as the people of the city.

On one stage at the Plaza de Pescador there were dancers.

On another stage on the Malecon Turistico, there were mariachi bands and other bands/groups. This is also where the shrimp festival was being held. The motorcycle police also put on an exhibition of their stunt riding. We didn't see much of it; but later saw a video of them and they are excellent.

There were lots of venders on several sides of the Plaza de Tres Presidentes.

The Day of the Dead calacas were on display at the Palacio Municipal, as well there were displays of fossils and paintings.

In the 13 de Julio Park there were 2 stages set up, there was only entertainment happening on one of them when we were there though. The Yaqui, Seri and Mayo Indians were supposed to have food booths set up and entertainment also; but the only ones we saw were the Mayos. It looked like the other two did not show up; but maybe we just missed them.

There was supposed to be an art exhibition at the old jail; but we did not go over there to have a look.

We wandered around for about 3 hrs. with our friends S. and G., did some eating at the shrimp festival and later stopped for a drink at a restaurant where we could sit and relax in the shade. We had a good afternoon and hope that the cruisers did also.

The Second Cruise Ship Arrives

On Saturday the second cruise ship arrived in Guaymas. According to the newspaper El Vigia there were 1,258 passengers from 11 countries: Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, Holland, Philippines, Poland, Switzerland, England, USA and 4 from Mexico plus 559 crew members. The city put on many events again as they had done for the first arrival. The city also hosted the Shrimp Festival on this day, this is an annual event that usually takes place in San Carlos.
The plazas around centro all had things going on, from food to dancers to art exhibits. There were a lot of people wandering around taking in the sights and sounds.
The cruise ship.

The pirate ship was doing tours of the bay.

The land traffic was also hectic.

This little fellows grandpa saw me taking pictures of the bay and set him up on the seawall for me to take a picture of him. After I took it, he just took the little boy down, smiled, thanked me and walked away without waiting to see the photo.

The Cruise Ship Arrives

Yesterday was the day that the first cruise ship arrived in Guaymas, it was the Ryndam of the Holland America line.

We didn't try to go to the terminal where the ship docked but later on headed downtown to see what was happening. There must have been alot of people in from out of town or else everyone in town was trying to drive downtown as the traffic was heavy. The bus driver finally opened the bus doors about 2 blocks from the Plaza de Tres Presidents, shook his head and let everyone off.
There were people everywhere in centro. They had stages set up by the 13 de Julio park,

on the tourist malecón,

and at the Plaza de Pescador.

In the Plaza de Tres Presidentes there were booths set up by the vendors from the old mercado and possibly others, I am not sure. These booths were set up to sell crafts and things to the cruisers.

There were singers and dancers on all the stages and there were people everywhere.

The Governor of the State of Sonora was supposed to address the people at some point in the afternoon.

There were displays of typical dress of some of the states of Mexico and also some fossils and paintings set up in the Palacio Municipal.

There were school children everywhere, parading down the streets with banners and also just milling around in the crowds.

There were a lot of the older children from the schools, that can speak some english, wearing white shirts with the words "Can I help you" written on them. They were handing out small phamplets with the downtown area of Guaymas on a map. We were asked if we needed help and I explained that we were not cruisers but that we lived here and they gave us a brochure anyway. The brochure highlighted some of the old buildings in town and various sights to see.

We wandered around everything and when we got hot, we decided to go over to the 13 de Julio park and sit in a bench in the shade. We secured a spot on a bench and just people watched. A couple of cruisers came by and we began to chat, they were from California. Some younger students with notebooks were waylaying the cruisers, talking to them and getting email addresses from them, so we chatted with them for awhile, their english was quite good and I am sure it was good practise for them. We were having a nice chat when a couple of students with clipboards, from the local university came over to chat with us. Again I explained that we were not cruisers; but that the other couple was. The students wanted to ask the cruisers some questions; but they could not understand their english. The students then relayed their questions to me and then I relayed them to the cruisers. Once the cruisers were busy filling in the questionaires we got up and went on our way.

We wandered around for awhile longer before heading home. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and hopefully the cruisers got a good impression of our town.

Later on in the evening, I am assuming about the time the ship was leaving there was a fireworks display. We stood out on the patio and watched.

So the first ship has come and gone and hopefully the expectations for all were meet.
This video is from the Entre Todos news site here in Guaymas.

This one is also from the same site:


There are some really good photos of the cruise ship on the Viva San Carlos forum. Someone posting under the name JPBUK posted them in the thread entitled "Cruise Ship". This link might just take you to the forum itself, if so, then you need to go to: Community Bulletin Board and then to the thread "Cruise ship". Very good photos. Viva San Carlos .

Waiting For The Cruisers

The city is still busy getting ready for the cruise ships to arrive. There is lots of work still in progress and I am sure lots still to be finished. They have accomplished a lot and it looks good.
A week or so ago or maybe two, time goes so quickly here, I read in the newspaper that they had installed a "countdown clock" in la Plaza de Tres Presidentes. The next time we were downtown I took my camera and got a photo of it. It is in the plaza, busily counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the first cruise ship arrives here in October. I am sure there will be lots of excitement the morning that the first ship arrives. We are thinking that we may go down that morning just to see all the hoopla. Should be a sight!

The new marina for pleasure craft seems to be taking off, there are more boats moored there and I took a photo of this big girl that is docked there right now. Too big to get into the slips she is moored off of the end of the dock.

Preparing For The Cruisers

Preparing For The Cruisers

The other day one of the newspapers had another article about the preparations for the cruise ships, I forget which paper I read the article in; but the photo below came from Quinto Poder . This is some of what the article stated.

They propose investing 90 million pesos (about 9 million dollars) in the construction/rehabilitation of a terminal for the cruise ships.

They will begin the first phase in early November with an expenditure of 40 million pesos (about 4 million dollars) and expect that phase to be finished in December/07 or January/08. They will then begin the 2nd phase with a projected cost of 50 million pesos (about 5 million dollars).

They will be able to accommodate ships of 311 meters in length and 115,000 tons in weight with a capacity of 500-3,000 passengers.

The pier (200 meters long x 10 meters wide) is scheduled to receive 3 cruise ships from Holland America in the fall of 2008; with a goal of 50 ships a year.

Some of the attractions the tourists can expect to see in the area are the giant cactus forests, (El Sahuaral) and the Nacapule Canyon.

The article quotes Ibarra Castro, who I think is the director of Port Administration as saying that Guaymas has everything needed to become a "destination" port and that we soon will be able to compete with the best tourist ports of Mexico.

Hmmm...we will see, I suppose.