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We pulled into Acapulco dock at 8:00 am with a very busy "2 tour day" schedule. Soon after docking, we boarded our "tour Suburban", because large buses were unable to negotiate the hill climbs and narrow roads on the tour. It was such a nice change from a regular bus, a very small intimate group and we could easily talk to our bus driver. As it turned out, one of the ship's cruise director's, Frankie, went on the tour with us. It was his day off and he had never been on a tour of Acapulco. We drove through the heart of Acapulco, and stopped by the famous cliff divers area. We saw one diver dive after saying his traditional prayer at the small memorial built into the side of the cliff.

We then visited Las Flamingos Hotel, formerly owned by John Wayne and used by all the stars in the 1950s. One permanent resident in the 30s and 40s, was Johnny Weismuller, who at the time was filming the Tarzan movies. Then a drive around the other side of the bay to the lush area of hills called Las Brisas. We were able to stop and see one of the many million dollar homes that was for sale. It was perched on the hillside with a gorgeous view of Acapulco and the bay. There were no windows or doors on the view side, allowing the cool breezes inside-"Mexican air conditioning." A huge atrium of trees and plants was the center of the home. The pool edge dropped off the side of the cliff and gave the illusion that it was a continuation of the bay below.

At the top of Las Brisas was a beautiful, modern Chapel of Peace, where we toured the gardens, chapel, and private family mausoleum. We drove back down the hills enjoying the fantastic views and scenery.

Acapulco is a huge metropolitan city with lots of luxury hotels, a lot of beach and ocean activities, and tons of traffic. All the taxis were VW bugs painted white with blue fenders. They dominated the streets, at times all you could see was taxi bugs whose drivers drove with their horns!

As soon as we arrived back to the ship, we hurriedly went back to our room to change into our swim suits for the next tour. This time a 10 passenger van drove us about an hour outside of Acapulco to the mountains and on to the Rio Papagayo river with it's steep canyon walls. After a brief safety talk and life vest fitting, we boarded a 10 seater shotover jet boat for an exhilarating, high speed ride down the river. We absolutely loved this, with our expert boat captain swerving through the narrow twisting canyon, reed gardens and bat caves. He would also turn the wheel hard for a 360 degree turn soaking everyone. It was the most exciting 30 minutes!! Our ride back to the dock was relaxing and scenic.

Day 2 in Acapulco, we decided to sightsee on our own with no tours scheduled. We went for a leisurely 5 mile walk
along the beachfront and stopped in a Super Mercado (grocery store) just to see how they shopped.
The heat and humidity drained us this day, so back to the ship to relax by the pool and stay cool.

Today, about 1600 passengers who took the Mexican Riveria cruise only disembarked, and 1600 new people
arrived for the Panama Cruise only portion. There were about 400 of us who booked both cruises back to back.