First and foremost to all who celebrate the day, I say, “Happy Thanksgiving” on this 25th of November 2021.

Sometimes I take things too literally. So sue me. A couple of weeks ago, in the “A Day of My Week” challenge, I shared images from our 51st Anniversary as we departed on the Norwegian Bliss cruise ship.

Well, this week, guest host Lindy Low LeCoq asks us to Follow our Bliss here. From the challenge invitation, “It is truly an honor to be your guest host this week joining Amy, Ann-Christine, Patti, and Tina in providing opportunities for visual expression. We hope you’ll join us in sharing how you follow YOUR bliss.“

I’m sorry, but this challenge is too much of an invitation to follow the Norwegian Bliss as it sailed from Los Angeles to three ports on the western coast of Mexico, the “Mexican Riviera.” Though I may have taken this challenge too literally, I have to say that cruising has become one of our favorite ways to travel. We get to visit foreign places and our hotel room travels with us. In the opening photo, we are passing the Coast Guard Station as we head out to sea at the Port of Long Beach where the Bliss was docked when we boarded.

One of the best places to be while at sea is the Observation Lounge on deck 15. The panoramic views off the bow of the ship are mesmerizing. After two relaxing days at sea, we arrived at our first stop, Puerto Vallarta.

We’ve actually been to every city on this cruise either by cruise ship or by air. It was 2013, on a Panama Canal cruise, when we first stopped at Puerto Vallarta. At that time, we went snorkeling and visited the town of Yelapa, a village that is only reachable by small boat, as there are no roads to the town. But I digress…

On this trip, we toured the city and found ourselves downtown at the Malecón, English translation, breakwater, pier, or jetty. The walking tour along the beach brought us to a group of individuals in native Mexican costume performing for the tourists. Truly they were following their own bliss.

Our next stop was at Mazatlán. I captured this image of the Bliss with as we waited for our excursion to start. My wife and I have been in Mazatlán many times starting in 2007 when our son and his then bride-to-be decided they wanted to get married there. On that and subsequent trips, we saw many of the tourist sites, so we opted for a relaxing excursion. A catered shrimp lunch was featured, along with spectacular views of the city.

The dual spires of the Cathedral Basilica de la Inmaculada Conceptión are unmistakeable. Completed in 1899, the cathedral is in the historical center of town, and is still the church with the largest congregation in the area.

From our vantage point, high on the largest hill in the city, we could see clearly the size of the Norwegian Bliss. Its 20 decks tower over the area near the docks.

Our last stop on the journey was at Cabo San Lucas. There we visited a glass factory. This was also our second visit to the factory, and we found it so interesting a couple of years earlier, we decided to stop again. In the photo above, the artist is smoothing the handle that he had just attached to the pitcher he’d just created before our eyes.

Cabo San Lucas is a shallow water port so cruise ships have to anchor in the harbor and tenders shuttle guests to and from the pier. Upon our return to the ship, we would set sail for one day at sea and an early morning arrival in Los Angeles for disembarking.

In January 2022, we will again be following our bliss (lower case since it’s not the same ship) as we board the Norwegian Epic at San Juan Puerto Rico for two back-to-back cruises in the Caribbean.

Thanks again to our challenge guest host for allowing me the opportunity to share some more cruise photos. As usual, I’ve posted all of these images in 2K HD on my Flickr site. You can pixel peep at any image by just clicking on the photo. You can also view the entire album by clicking here.

John Steiner