Dr. Nick's Cruise to Ensenada, Mexico

On March 12, 2009 we went on a three day Carnival Cruise from San Diego, California to Ensenada, Mexico (about 50 miles). This may seem strange but it was to celebrate Dr. Nick's Health Steward Group - http://www.healthsteward.com/ . Dr. Nick is our good friend who lives about 3 miles from us in Escondido. He is the world famous author of "My Big Fat Greek Diet" which documents his 9 month diet where he went from approximately 467 pounds to 199 pounds traveling to every state and every major league baseball park sucking down diet shakes. He calls it his "radical sabbatical" for personal health. We were joined by our good friend Misty Dawn Newton who is George's Masseuse - Health Advisor - Part Time Mother. We had a lovely Veranda Suite overlooking the blue Pacific. The trip was organized by the lovely and talented (she paid me to say that) Pauline Yphantides who is Dr. Nick's sister and assistant.

Our Arrival at the Good Ship Elation

Here Misty and Marguerite are arriving at our ship, the Carnival Elation. The dock is near downtown San Diego, about 30 miles from our home. With baggage check and security issues it still only took us about 10 minutes to board our ship. The ship was small compared to what Marguerite and I are used to and catered to a much younger and exuberant clientele.

Lunch Time

Of course after boarding the ship and putting the bags into our cabin we needed nourishment. The ship had three formal restaurants, two outside food bars, and 10 inside food bars with one devoted only to pizza. Here Marguerite is in line for her first of many meals on the ship. Although we ate ourselves silly, with all the stairs we had to climb we did not gain that much weight.

Pauline and Misty Meet

Misty and Pauline knew each other from a past massage Misty gave Pauline. Here Pauline and Misty are saying hello again during the Chargers Pool Deck party. I think Pauline got 5 hours sleep on the entire cruise and the last day Misty and Pauline stayed up all night. When we left the ship they looked like _________.

Life Boat Drill

Before we left the dock we had to go through the lifeboat drill. Since the furthest we were to be from land is 50 miles, this did not have too much significance. On our last day we were out where we could see no land and the ship was just drifting since we had no place to go. Of all the cruises I have been on, that was a first.

Dr. Nick Health Steward Meeting

Once on the way, Dr. Nick had a meeting for his flock. About 60 members of his group were on the cruise. The original trip was scheduled for February and was to go to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Baja California, but because of the fuel prices at the time the Cruise Line cancelled that cruise and decided to have shorter cruises. Dr. Nick had 150 sign up for that more interesting cruise which did not happen.

At the meeting all introduced themselves and Pauline gave the list of activities planned on this cruise. Between the ships activities and Pauline's activities there was not much down time. Marguerite enjoyed the shows the most and George enjoyed going home as usual. Misty enjoyed herself since this was her first cruise. Poor girl, during the first show the sea got to her and she lost her very good dinner and a lot of booze.

Dr. Nick's Tour of Ensenada

Dr. Nick, having spent major time in Mexico doing charitable doctor work, has taught himself Spanish and gave a walking tour of Ensenada to members of our group. Of course Misty and George joined the tour, with Marguerite staying on board and ensuring the ship did not leave without us.

Walking the Streets of Ensenada

From this photo you can see Dr. Nick giving the group a little background of the culture we are experiencing. He took us through a fish market that destroyed George's appetite for lunch. Some of the group stayed in town for a few drinks and guacamole.

Walking Back to the Ship

Misty and George walked back to the ship rather than having guacamole. It was a lovely little port with this nice photo opportunity with flowers, Misty, and our ship in the background.

Marguerite Getting a Misty Massage

After a hard morning of guarding the ship, Marguerite needed a Misty Massage. In exchange for doing a Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory for Misty (she is almost the exact opposite of George), Misty gave a massage to Marguerite. In fact Misty gave a massage to many in our group.

Dr. Nick and Debi at Formal Dinner

We had one nice formal dinner on the ship. Here at our table is Dr. Nick and his wife (Debi) ready for our 5 course meal. At our table was Dr. Nick, his wife, his father, his mother, Dr. and Mrs. Essex a physician friend, Misty, Marguerite and George (see snapshots below).

Formal Evening

Prior to the formal dinner we had a formal picture taken of Misty, George, and Marguerite. In this photo Misty looks 16 but she really is 32 with two children. Poor girl has problems buying booze because nobody thinks she is old enough even with ID. However, if I were single, I would be too old to date Misty's mother.

Farewell Evening

After a day on the ship just floating in the Pacific we had our final farewell dinner. All the waiters sang for us and in this photo Misty is helping our waiter sing his song. After the evening show Marguerite and George went to the cabin for a nice evenings rest and Misty and Pauline stayed up all night.

A great time was had by all with talk of doing this every year .... but not just to Ensenada I hope. Below are some snapshots of our trip.