On Tuesday we were scheduled to go on the Pirates of the Bay tour aboard the Marigalante. It was suppose to be this wonderful day for the family and…………it was! I was extremely
impressed with the way the whole operation was run. We got to the marina at 8:00 a.m. (too early for vacation, in my
opinion), turned in our tickets and were assigned our own "personal pirate" who's name was Mario. We were
taken to the ship and led to our seats where Mario said to wait until he came to get us. Soon, we were climbing down
into the belly of the ship to have breakfast. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/breakfast.jpg It was like a buffet. You went through a line very quickly and picked what you wanted and
the sat down at a table. There were eggs, ham, potatoes, cold cereal, yogurt, fruit, toast, coffee and juice and it was
all very good! While people were eating on one side the other side was being cleaned, people were going, people were
coming but it was all just really run well so that everything moved along. No crowding, no waiting. After breakfast we returned to our seats and were waited on hand and foot by our personal pirate.
He wanted to bring us drinks right then, but I just wasn't up for it at 9:00 a.m.! We opted for some
bottles of water and Dramamine. As we set sail, it was a little chilly. All us girls were wrapped up in our beach
towels. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/boys.jpg I believe it took a
couple hours to cruise out to Majahuitas beach. During that time all the pirates put on a show which was very
entertaining! They danced, they fought. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_1980.jpg We all enjoyed
it. When we got to Majahuitas everyone boarded the little boats and they brought you in and dumped you on the
beach. While there you could ride on the banana boat, play volleyball, kayak, swim, or snorkel - all included in the
price of your ticket. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_1989.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_1991.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_1982.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/ashbeach.jpg
They also held a treasure hunt. All the while, if you had a cup it didn't get empty. There were pirates walking the beach with big bottles of beer that were happy to keep you filled up plus there was pop for the
kids. Our personal pirate took a liking to Ashlenn and kept hitting on her. She
came back to me once and said "MOM, he wants to know if I want to meet him somewhere later tonight. He'll take
me for a walk on the beach! What do I say?!" I said "tell him your
mother doesn't let you date yet". http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/ashpirate.jpg I think we were there a couple hours then they got everyone back on and served
lunch. There was a choice between chicken, fish or beef and again the food was very good. While we sailed back there was more of a show and then some audience participation type games.
We ended up getting back to the marina after 4:00. I would highly recommend this tour. It was $72 for those over 12 and $36 for children. I was thinking it was pretty steep but
after taking the tour feel it was a very fair value for what you got. When you can do something with your family and
the 6 year old to the 63 year old and everyone in between enjoys it - it's worth it!
We got back to Villa del Palmar and jumped into the pool for awhile then got cleaned up and headed out to dinner which was at La Chata. I had never eaten there before but it's been recommended on the board by a few and I thought it would be fun for the kids to eat sitting on the balcony overlooking the Malecon. This was probably our least favorite dinner of the trip. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. None of us had anything that was Mexican and maybe that was the problem. I had some shrimp that were suppose to be in a spicy sauce but it tasted more like tomato sauce. Brysen had what was supposed to be a t-bone steak and it was sad. So, on a whole the dinners were just so so but the margaritas were pretty good and so was the salsa, which was the hottest I have ever eaten. The views were awesome http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_2003.jpg and it actually got a little chilly. I had to put on a sweater! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/uslachata.jpg Since we were across from the sand sculptures, Kyli asked if she could have a dinner boxed up to take to "the man" that needed food there. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/SPrestegard/100_2001.jpg So, she again went down and gave this guy some dinner. We hung out on the Malecon for awhile then went back to the hotel and to bed after a very long, fun day.
