Day 19 - Georgetown, Cayman Islands

 

We were in Grand Cayman today. We had breakfast and then had to take a tender to shore. We boarded a bus and headed to our catamaran. We headed to the sand bar where we encountered stingrays. They were so cool and we both got to hold one. The are so soft and came in several different sizes. After being there for 40 minutes, we got back on board and headed to the reef. After a 5-minute ride, we were at the reef and let me tell you it was great. The water was so clear and the reef so shallow. We were in the water for about 40 minutes and of course time went by way to quick. We saw so many different kinds of coral and fish. This was a great dive and we could spend several more hours there. It was a prefect way to end our adventures. We sailed away at 2:30 and our next stop will be Tampa. We have our last day at sea tomorrow.

Day 18 - at sea

We had a day at sea today. We took showers and then had breakfast. We did a couple load of laundry and then I went to a digital workshop on Moviemaker. They showed us how to make a movie using your pictures and songs. It was very cool and we will have to look into it when we get home. I did get about half of our items packed and will do the rest on Saturday.

Day 17 - Aruba

 

 

We were up and ready for our excursion by 8am. We were in Aruba today and could not wait to go snorkeling as we had heard about their colorful reefs. We boarded the catamaran and headed out to sea. We soon saw a lot of boats in the area we were going. We dropped anchor and entered the water. We saw no colorful reefs, but did see a few fish we had never seen before. We only swan for 30 minutes and then headed to the shipwreck site. It was more out to sea and we could see at least 6 boats in the area. We jumped in the water and found it really rough to swim in, let alone snorkel. The ship was at least 60 feet down and you could not see a lot. I got back on board and it was not worth the fight. So out of a 4-hour adventure, we only got to really see anything for 30 minutes. This was the most disappointing trip we have ever had. The crew was not all that great either and acted like they did not want to be there. We found when we got back to the boat; my feet had really got sunburn. But a little lotion and they were good as new.

Day 16 - Willemstead, Antilles

 

 

We docked around 7:30am. We were up and had breakfast, before headed out on our excursion. We were doing the Curacao Beach Express. We took a bus ride to the Blue Bay private resort. It was a really nice sandy little beach with a rock wall on 2 sides. We really did not think it would be much, but boy were we so wrong. We headed out to the right side of the beach and boy did the fish appear. We saw some different kinds in such a small area. Ones we have never seen before. That is when my camera decided to take a crap. We think it might of got some water in it, but the display would not work any more. Beth took it to the beach to see if she could get it to work and I stayed in the bay. It was about that time we saw the best thing every, an small octopus. Never in a million years would we have ever thought. So the rest of our time was spent watching it and we have it on video also. We headed back to the ship about 4 hours later to have some lunch and take showers. We then headed downtown to do some shopping and to see the pedestrian bridge. It is a long floating bridge that is set on pontoons and swings open to let boats in or out. It was so cool. We came back to the ship and again took a little nap. This was by far the best day of the cruise.

Day 15 - at sea

We slept until 8:30am this morning as we had a day at sea. We had breakfast and then Beth went to a meeting on the remaining ports and I came back to the room and worked on the pictures from the last few day. Around 11am, I then went to a cooking demonstration and found a very good Chicken Trinidad receipt and am looking for a few people to try it with me.  Beth went to the casino. At 1pm we both went to the desert-cooking demo and they made a Banana Foster and a Pound cake with a rum caramel sauce. Again, I am looking for some people to help me try these. We then and had a light lunch. Beth went to a seminal on how to be safer with pick pocketry.  I went through all the pictures and selected those we wanted to add to the blog. We had a special dinner at Canaletto. It is an Italian restaurant and their food is so good. I had spaghetti with meatball and Beth had Chicken cacciatore. We then went to the crew show and were blown away by the performance.

Day 14 - St. Lucia

 

We were up around 8:30am this morning. We had already docked in St. Lucia, but our excursion did not start until 12:30pm. We had some breakfast and just rested in the cabin. We boarded the catamaran and headed out to sea. We toured a cove where the movie Dr. Doolittle was filmed. We then settled in a little cove and had an hour to swim or snorkel. There were so many fish in the area and some we had never seen before. Our hour was over way too some and was board the catamaran again for Soufriere. We took a tour of a Morne Coubaril estate. The grow coco, coconuts, and sugar cane on the plantation. We were tendered back to the ship and we set sail for the next port of call. We had some dinner and then went to the show with the only legal pick pocketer. It was funny, but had a serious message about how easy it is.

Day 13 - St. Johns

Well it appears the blog for this day was lost and I sure can not remember the things that happened, So just enjoy the pictures.

Day 12 - St Thomas

 

 

We were up around 7am this morning. We got dressed and had breakfast. We were in St. Thomas today and were doing the Shipwreck and Snorkel excursion. There were about 30 people on the excursion and before we left you could see a rain shower coming in. It only lasted about 5 minutes but is pretty common in this part of the country. We boarded the catamaran and took a 40-minute ride to the area. We got our final instructions and entered the water. The guide took us on a tour of the area and pointed out several type of fish and we even saw a turtle. We then moved to the shipwreck area and saw several fish there. The hour and a half was up took quick and we boarded the boat. We then went to a cove and saw several green turtles. It was so cool. We then headed back to the dock and hit another quick shower. We had some lunch and then took a shower. It was time for a quick nap and then on to dinner. It was a great day.

Day 11 - San Juan

 

 

We woke this morning to the captain saying we were going to dock 2 hours early due to another medical emergency. We got up and took showers and headed to breakfast, but we were pulling into San Juan, so we took some pictures. We then had breakfast and went ashore. The excursion we had planned was cancelled and we could not find another we liked, so we made it a shopping day. We walked for almost 3 hours and then stopped at Casa Corte Chocobar. I had a ham and cheese sandwich on sweet bread with a dusting of powered sugar. Beth had 2 different type of desserts. It was so good and we would eat there again. We finally finished up and came back to the ship around 3pm. We both took a nap and cooled down. It was a very hot and sunny day, but better than being in snow. We then went to Senor flog for dinner. It was ok, but really catered to the young drinking crowd. We came back to the ship and did a couple loads of laundry. We have ports the next 4 days and wanted to get laundry done before than.

Day 10 - At sea

I think we are getting used to sleeping as we slept most of the night. We had some breakfast and then went to a couple meeting in the show room. We went to the library to read and Beth lasted about 15 minutes, before she was off to the casino again. We had some lunch and I went back to the library to read and Beth went to the cabin to nap. I came back around 2pm and tried to take a nap and was only able to doze a little. Beth went to the bingo party, but did not win anything. We went to   Digital workshop on using Windows 8. It was a get meeting for me, as I understand Windows better. It will very helpful for me when I get home. We went to dinner and then took in a show. We have to set our clock up an hour as we will be in a different time zone tomorrow.

Day 9 - at sea

We were up around 8am and had breakfast in the dinning room. We were at sea all day and there did not seem to be a lot planed that we wanted to do. I read a little and Beth went to the casino. We did find that a day at sea is good for napping. I watched a couple of videos and Beth napped for a couple hours. We had formal night and ate in the dinning room. Not a very exciting day, but a great napping day.

Day 8- Key west again

 

 

We slept until 8am this morning. We had showers and breakfast. We got into port about an hour early, so we did a little shopping before our excursion. We were doing the Key West Pub crawl. I know it is hard to believe I would be doing this, but it sounded like fun and Beth was all for it. We went to five of the 300 bars that are on the island. We got to sample a lot of Rum Punch or other drinks available. Then we went to the southern most Phillies bar called the Rum Barrel. We then headed back to the ship around 4pm. We took a little rest before dinner. We set sail around 5pm and will have the next 2 days at sea.

Day 7- Back in Tampa

We were  up around 6:30am this morning. We had breakfast and then we had to leave the ship. Policy is everyone much get off and then wait for the all clear and then we can gat back on the ship. I then spent the rest of the time updating the blog, catching up on emails, and made a few calls. we will be leaving around 3pm today and heading for Key West. I will update the blog when we get back into port and we will add a face book album with all the pictures form each port.

Day 6 - At Sea

Happy Birthday to Beth. Today was a day at sea as we traveled back to Tampa. We did laundry and then went to a couple of meeting on how we have to do embarkation in the morning. I spent some time in the library reading and getting thing ready to post to the blog tomorrow. We had a special birthday dinner for Beth in one of the restaurants and it was really good. We then went t the movies and saw Gravity. We do not have to see it again as it was not a great movie. I hope we get new movies the next 2 weeks and not the ones we saw last week.

Day 5 - Costa Maya, Mexico

 

 

We were up around 6:30am this morning. We had breakfast and headed to the bus for our excursion. We were doing the Costa Maya beach snorkel. There only 3 of us doing this tour, but several other people just used the beach. We got instructions and away we went. We had to swim about 100 yard to get to the site and it was well worth it. We spent about an hour looking at all the different fish and animals. It was so cool and we saw many different things we have never seen before. It was so cool and our time was up. So we headed back to the beach and turned in our fins and vests. We did the comments and we were free to do more things. So off we went back to the snorkel area on our own. After another hour in the water, we headed back to shore for free dinks and some chips and salsa. We came back to the ship and they were having a Mexican food party on the lower deck. We then got into the pool and hot tub and sat in the sun for a while. We can now say we have a tan. What a great day.

Day 4 - Santo Tomas De Castilla

 

We were up at 5:30am this morning. We had breakfast and then headed out for our excursion of the San Felipe Fortress & Rio Duice. It was an hour and a half bus ride and our guide was very informative and gave us several samples of things. It was probably the best guide we had ever had on an excursion. At the fort we saw a cashew tree, mango, trees, pineapple plants, coconut trees, and several other trees. We came back to the ship and did a little shopping. This was not the port to have a lot of shops and it was the cargo ship dock. The weather was kind of cloudy and the temp was 75 degrees. We had lunch and just rested in our cabin the rest of the day.