Jan 10: Santa Barbara & Rogue Sea Lion

Santa Barbara is beautiful... I could absolutely live here! We walked from the Pier and toured the town on our own. In many ways, the town reminded us of Edmonds, with its small town atmosphere. The historic architecture includes a mix of Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission style, Victorian gems from the 1800's & California bungalows. All of this works so well together to create the quaint town that makes up Santa Barbara. We joined our excursion later which included a bus tour to the Old Mission, founded in 1786 by Franciscan Friars. My favorite visit was to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, built in 1929 and a stunning example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.

We had to tender to and from our ship and when we returned, heard a hysterical story about a naughty sea lion who tried to board our ship!! The creature didn't even have a boarding pass! These animals are very smart! After several attempts to jump into the ship from where the tender left, he made it and was working his way up the entry-way of the ship! The staff quickly went to the kitchen and got a bunch of salmon and lured the sea lion back out to the ocean! I believe this little guy's done this before! LOL

Pat's observations:
I can't say enough about the servers and staff. ▪︎ Our room Steward will notice the smallest things, always replenishing our fridge with items he knows we enjoy. After just the first day on board, he noticed what we weren't eating or drinking and replaced exactly what he knew we would like.
▪︎ No matter the role, the staff will try to remember our names after just one introduction. I don't know how they do this!

Next stop, Honolulu...in 5 days! 🥰Read more