October 24, 2006 Acapulco

At our first port of call it was time to join the parallel world and put our feet on the ground.

Or was it?

On the ship waiting for our tour to be called I realized it was going to be all gay men and as we lined up on solid ground to board the busses with Mexican staff guiding us, the straight world was again there to serve us.

I had signed up for a turtle sea rescue tour where a Mexican national was gathering turtle eggs and saving them from getting picked off by predators. He incubated them in a protected area on the beach and as tourists we could release them to the sea as their hatching time came due.

When we got to the beach there was another group seated and waiting for the introductory lecture. It was a breeder group and they had their progeny. I felt we were now going to lose our protection and sanctuary.

The man in charge, Victor asked us to name our turtles before we set them on their journey. Resembling a ritual or a religious ceremony we lined up on the beach, at sunset no less, as Victor handed each of us a little turtle. On signal he told us to let them go.

“Go Dominic” I said to mine.

The symbolism had been welling up in me for some time.


Acapulco – Later that Evening

I don’t like to use the word fabulous because it’s so stereotypical but it is a good word still worth using on special occasions. Let me paint the setting and you decide if it’s appropriate.

The main dining room of the ship was an elegant two-level affair consisting of dining balconies overlooking a central level. At one end of this area was a 15 by 10 faux impressionist oil painting. At the other end was a double grand staircase surrounding a water-fall that also served as a backdrop to a platform with a grand piano. The support columns of the room, as well as some of the walls were decorated in luxurious fabric very au courant for designers.

The only thing missing were dining beds, which would have suited this crowd well, but I’m trying to describe fabulous here. Actually that would have been even MORE fabulous.

I got seated at an upper level table over-looking the central core of the room joining a group of men. As I took in the surroundings I noticed the group of large windows along this upper level and it looked like a stage back-drop. Little twinkling lights, mostly white, dotted the entire surface of the windows. But this wasn’t a stage set, they were real lights, those of the homes and buildings that overlooked Acapulco Bay.

It was fabulous!


October 25, 2006 Ixtapa, Mexico

I haven't had time to flesh out the details of the next two days so I will summarize.

At our second port of call, Ixtapa, I joined a group for a three hour catamaran sail into the ocean and around the large bay. The straight crew, one ex-pat captain of the ship and three Mexican crew members, two men and a woman, were there to attend to us.

The ship's music system played the theme from Gilligan's Island.

Sailing far out into the ocean we anchored and jumped in. The water was wonderful. It was too deep to see anything but the deep blueness of the water was inviting. And it was warm.

Returning to the ship that afternoon the classic disco t-dance was soon to begin.
I headed back to my cabin, took a little nap, and cleaned up.

I made my way to the upper deck as the t-dance was in full swing. Costumes, hair, colors, tie-dye, John Travoltas and rthymic vocals and incessant beats blared from everywhere. Is it age that makes it seem like it was more special then? I came out in this scene, in San Francisco no less, at the height of the gay seventies.

I shed a tear as I watched, not knowing if it was for Dominic or for the the lost disco era.

October 26, 2006 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Getting back to the inverted world of the ship I tried to catalogue some images. There were too many so I will summarize.

What the crew and the world see of the gay boys:

Lots of kissing (lips, cheeks, hands), hugging, holding, embracing
Lots of friendships, large groups, new friends, instant bonding
A large kinship, a community, a village
Lots of parties, costumes, special activities

What the crew gets from the gay boys:

Lots of kissing and affection and love directed to them
Lots of interaction between crew and passengers, bonding, camaraderie
Women on the ship, crew members and some straights along for the ride, being appreciated probably like nowhere else


October 27, 2006 Sometime Before Dawn

It happened all so fast, I didn’t see it coming but I can remember the details even though I don’t know if I want to. My biggest recall is a fear of becoming involved in a three way between myself, Paul, and a big girl named Allison. I have never been with a woman before and have never planned on being with one. Ever. For some homosexuals it is their biggest fear.

Allison is very sweet, a good singer, smokes, works for the cruise ship, and likes to take Xanax. Kind of an unusual drug of choice but who am I to talk because I had half a Vicodin earlier and took another half a Xanax when Paul gave it to Allison and myself.

Allison took two. Neither one of us knew how many milligrams they were and Paul, who’s Xanax they were, didn’t know either. At least I had the sensibility to ask even though I took them without knowing how strong they were.

But it isn’t the usual party drug on these cruises.

Paul? Oh yeah, he’s how the whole thing started. I had finally caught up with a friend from home after being on the ship for six days so he bought me a drink, we chatted for awhile, and went to the dance floor. After awhile we separated and I went to sit down at the bar. I don’t know if Paul was already there or he came up shortly afterward but from that point everything hyped up.

Paul liked me, his actions, and his hands, said so, but I wasn’t sure. It's my nature to not jump in without knowing someone. The night was young.

We were joined at the bar by Allison. The three of us moved to a chaise lounge, hands were all over the place. Allison wanted her tits felt up and examined. She kissed us. We were three-way kissing. She encouraged Paul and me, alone with her side-line participation, to get into it. She also asked if anyone had Xanax. Paul said he does.

But the alarms had not gone off in my head although I could see now that I needed to find where the nearest exit was just in case I had to use it.

So we went to Paul’s room wherein Allison takes two and I take a half. Fortunately Paul shares a room and his roommate was sleeping so we stayed outside.

That’s when my alarm went off.

They both knew I had a solitary room and I couldn’t think of any excuses as to why we couldn’t go there so I found myself going up four floors and across the ship to cabin 8166 with Allison and Paul. Just outside my door I was thrown a life raft.

Four doors down came the beat of a dance music mix joined with a warm tropical wind that blew through a normally quiet and cold air-conditioned hallway. It was a major distraction.

“A party, let’s check it out,” I said grabbing the raft tightly.

Allison, Paul, and I walked into a room of four beautiful naked guys.

It’s the fantasy of every cruise, no matter if it’s gay or straight, for young people or old, to have some sex and romance. Suddenly I had all of that and more at hand. Put another way, be careful what you wish for, you might get it.



October 27, 2006 Northbound off the Baja Coast

George, a teaching doctor with two grown kids is from a small town in central Kansas. Paula has a sixteen year old and they are apparently both on second marriages. I say apparently because one can’t ask everything at once, especially when there are more burning questions at hand. Paula kept saying George always feels guilty and George says Paula puts up with him.

Guilty about what, I wondered.

“Just guilty about everything,” she responded. As I tried to dig they kept going back and forth about guilt and tolerance the way two people who have known each other for a long time bicker with the end result being none.

The last dinner of the cruise I sat with them and a young pharmaceutical rep from Kentucky who shall purposely remain nameless.

“How did you end up on this cruise?” I asked in-between the bickering.

“I’ll never go on a straight cruise again,” George stated.

“Never. You boys are so much fun, the parties, the outfits, the entertainment,” added Paula.

“And there are no children or wheel chairs to run you over,” George enthused along with Paula.

I still hadn’t gotten an answer as to why they were here.

“Did you know that per capita there are more gay people in Joplin, Missouri, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, than everywhere else in the country except San Francisco? 99 percent of our friends are gay,” related George.

“99 percent?” I asked incredulously.

“”Well, 90 percent,” said George.

Everything this man said made me suspicious, especially as I kept glancing at the rather large diamond stud in this 60 something year old Midwestern doctor. At one point in the conversation he used the word “fag.” Only a fag would use the word fag. They sure looked like a marriage of convenience.

Except for the bickering part. That made them seem like a real couple.

Eventually I began to lose my suspicions and believe them wholeheartedly. They booked the trip when two gay friends who were scheduled to take it cancelled and offered it instead to George and Paula.

“Hurry up and finish your dinner George. We’ve got to catch the comedienne’s show,” Paula said.

At least she didn’t say The Lesbian’s show.