We woke up to absolutely perfect weather in Santa Barbara. The ship was anchored off shore and they were in the process of putting the tenders in the water to take us to shore.
Here’s a view of the ship looking towards the famous Santa Barbara pier.
There were 38 of us joining Dave and Louise (the Delius owners) heading ashore to do a little wine tasting. Looking back at the Crown Princess from our tender.
Here’s a couple of pictures taken as we disembarked and head to our tour bus.
Our first stop was Stolman’s which is located very close (if not in) Solvang.
The Stolman Family is from Long Beach. This is a beautiful family home that they have built in the center of their vineyards.
The views were spectacular. “Say Cheese” as we are posing our in the yard overlooking some of the vineyards.
This was our host Pete Stoleman. His father owns the vineyard but Pete runs it. He has spent many years preparing to run the family wine business both in Australia and Europe. I don’t think we’ve every met someone as passionate about what they do.
This was our favorite wine. It’s called Para Maria and is a wonderful red wine that will be perfect sitting out on our front patio when we get home.
We actually stop at another winery but I’ll be darned if I can remember the name. Sadly it was not our favorite and although they were very nice and welcoming we didn’t really find a wine that suited us.
Time to head back to the ship. Here’s our tender pilot taking us back to our home away from home.
The fog was just beginning to roll in as we pulled anchor and started heading further south.
Our food for the day and John’s rating are once again 1 – 10.
Breakfast – 4 – At the Horizon Buffet. It was good but nothing spectacular.
Lunch – 6 - At Stoleman’s winery. Very nice sandwiches and salads, along with some more wine.
Dinner – 8 – Our travel agent told us about a new speciality restaurant on board that was not being publicized yet. It’s inside the Wheelhouse bar and is called The Salty Dog. They have just started serving so we didn’t have to pay an upcharge for it. It was very interesting and very good. You automatically get an appetizer to share and then you each pick 3 mini entrée’s. John had a very fancy mini burger, a crab cake and grilled cheese sandwich with white tomato soup. Robin had the grilled cheese sandwich with white tomato soup, mac and cheese with lobster and short ribs. The deserts were wonderful. The service personal were very nice but you could definitely tell they were new to this whole concept and it will take a little bit to get the kinks worked out before they start promoting it.
We are now headed to Ensenada for the day. We aren’t planning any tours but may get off the ship if there is shopping or an outdoor café at the dock. We’ll see.
Until then………………………..
Hugs,
Robin and John
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