Easter Sunday in Santa Barbara.

We were woken this morning at 6.30 by the sound of tenders being lowered into the water, we had arrived in Santa Barbara. Although the weather forecast said today would be cloudy with a chance of rain, we were greeted by a lovely blue sky and brilliant sunshine. There was a slight sea breeze but otherwise it was a perfect morning.

One of the benefits of cruising so much with Princess is that Sylvia and I now get priority tender boarding and so after breakfast we made our way to the lounge. Within minutes we were shown down to the next available tender and once the boat had finished loading we were on our way to shore.

A shuttle bus had been laid on to transport passengers to the town centre but as it was such a lovely morning we decided to walk along the promenade. The trees were in blossom and this combined with the orange roofed, white walled buildings gave some wonderful photo opportunities.

Many of the shops were closed and although Easter is not a public holiday in the USA it was reported on TV this morning that around 80% of the population would attend church today. There was certainly some evidence of that with many smart suited men and girls in pretty Easter dresses.

We walked back down State Street towards Stearn’s Wharf, an old wooden pier structure that houses restaurants and souvenir shops. We were amazed at the number of cars that motored down the pier to the car park at the end, it was certainly built well.

From the wharf you could view the sweeping arc of the bay with the beach in the foreground and the mountains beyond. Quite a stunning sight.

Returning to the ship we were able to catch a glimpse of the local wildlife, firstly with pelicans waiting for their dinner…...

……followed by some seals basking in the hot afternoon sunshine.

To celebrate Easter the ship had laid on a nice display of eggs in the Atrium and this evening the children were treated to an Easter egg hunt where they were all given a basket of chocolate eggs.

Tomorrow is the first of two days in one of my favourite cities, San Francisco.