Cruise Blues

Cruise Blues

It sure is tough to come back from an absolutely perfect vacation to a vast frozen wasteland with severe cold weather. It was BRUTALLY cold this week and I often went to work in temps below zero. There is just something really wrong with that! Today church was cancelled due to solid ice on the roads.

 

Friday Night

I love it when our kids get to perform at the same event. Makes it easier on us parents. There was a LM girls basketball game on Friday night. Tyler performed with the pep band and I was super impressed. They sounded great and he looked like he was having the time of his life!

 

Then Alayna’s choir group, Grace Notes, sang the National Anthem for the game. (Kids in color shirts are from her school, kids in white from another). She was so excited and did a great job.

She especially loved when she found who the mascot was and went to give him a giant hug (Tylers friend Logan).

My Girls

Grand Cayman Islands!- Best Day Ever!!!

BUCKET LIST: Take a Catamaran to Sting Ray City; swim, take pictures, and kiss stingrays; snorkel in some of the bluest water with the most amazing fish- CHECK!

As we 1st pulled into Grand Cayman, they told us that the Georgetown Port had been closed due to high swells and choppy waves.  So, instead we pulled into a port on the other side of the island.  Many of the excursions were cancelled.  Thank goodness we booked with locals so ours was still on! 

We took the tender in.  We even saw a pirate ship on the way.

Look at the color of this water!  Its to DIE for!

Then we took a bus to the west bay.  From there we took a catamaran to West Bay.

When we arrived at Sting Ray City and I was so dang excited!!!!  They come to this sand bar for food and have gotten used to people.  Here are the pictures from the boat before we got into the water.

When we got in, the waves were pretty crazy.  Usually the water is about waist deep, but due to the high swells, the water kept going up to our necks and sometimes over our heads.  The sting rays were everywhere!  They slide right by you, rub up against you.  Its just nuts!

I was one of the people who got to feed them!!!  You hold a squid like an ice cream cone and they come up and suck it right out of your hand like a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner.  It was incredible!  Then, they let us hold them.  They are velvety on top and like rubbery on the bottom.  If you and your spouse kissed a ray at the same time, you will be together forever.  So, naturally, we did it!

I was the last one getting into the boat because I was loving it so much so the guys let me hold them more and feed them the rest of the squid.  Im telling you, it was absolute heaven!

Then they took us out to 2 different beautiful spots for snorkeling.  It was pretty deep water (compared to the sand bar), but man, was it spectacular!  The water was crystal clear and there were fish everywhere by the corals.  The water was perfect, the view was perfect.  What an absolutely amazing day!!!

Right when we got back to the tender, this storm front came by and started to pour!!  If it had come a few hours earlier, this whole experience would have been cancelled!!!

We went to an amazing illusionist show after dinner.  It was so entertaining and baffling! 

Bonding with the Sting Rays! (Cayman Islands)

Mahogany Bay (Roatan)- Best Day Ever!!!- Part 2

After zip lining, our guide took us to this gorgeous beach resort with white sand and the clearest water I have ever seen.  We spent the afternoon here swimming and relaxing.

There were monkeys in the tree by us at lunch and there were cats that would catch lizards and eat them.

Here is the tree house that overlooks the ocean that you can rent for $50 a night.  So dang cool.

Mahogany Bay (Roatan)- Best Day Ever!!!- Part 1

BUCKET LIST: Exhilarating Zip line through an incredibly beautiful rainforest in Mahogany Bay, play with a monkey, swim in the white sands beach of a beach resort- CHECK!

This morning we pulled into Mahogany Bay!  This beautiful island is part of Honduras and used to be the hideout for a pirate!  It is stunningly beautiful!

We took a tour bus through the island, which is mostly rainforest.  Here is the overlook on the southern part of the island.  We met a brother and sister who were from Utah! He went to Utah State. They took this pictures for us.

Then our bus driver took us ON THE BEACH in the BUS!  I'm not kidding.  It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen.  He went through some of the water too!  Just crazy! 

Then we went to go zip lining.  Now, I have never done anything like this so you can imagine how scared I was, especially since I am deathly afraid of heights along with not being in control.   But I decided this is my chance to be daring, to live a little, and to check stuff off my bucket list.  So, they gave us a helmet and strapped on the gear.  They said this is the absolute BEST zip line in all of central America).

We met an amazing couple who are mormons and are farmers that live in La Salle, Utah.  We had so much fun getting to know them.  Anyway, the 1st line was pretty straight and it scared me a bit, but I did great.  Then, as they were unhooking me, one of the guides ( a boy like 17 years old) asked me if it was my 1st time and I said “Yes!  don’t kill me, I have kids”.  He said “Its my 1st time too”.  He laughed hard at my stunned look and then said, “Ok, I go with you”.  I told him that I was just fine, but before I knew it he hooked on to me and we were flying FULL SPEED through the rain forest.  It was the most exhilarating experience of my life and I wasn’t scared because I knew this kid could stop us in time.  You should have seen me!  I was flying.  I went by myself the rest of the time and barely braked at all.  The longest section was a 1/4 mile long! 

(That’s me!!!)

(That’s me coming in on the 1/4 mile one)

Then we got to hold on monkey!  It was so cool!!

Bon Voyage- Part 2

After we got settled, we headed to the very front of the ship to watch it leave port. And yes we had the prime spot to watch from! It took about 2

(Heading out!!)

It took 2 hours to get our of the Bay! But it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We saw dolphins, went under this super cool bridge, and saw one of the most incredible sunsets I have ever seen. Enjoying it all with my best friend and favorite person in the world!

Once we hit open water we headed to dinner. I would like to say here that basically this cruise is an all you can eat 24/7. And no, I am not exaggerating. Dinner was quite the experience. This fancy hostess seated us by pulling out my chair for me and unfolding my napkin into my lap. I don’t think I have ever had someone do that to me before. Then they gave us a menu which had no prices because its all free! You could have anything and literally everything on the menu!! The food was amazing and we had 3 waiters just for our small section. They addressed us by name the whole time! Crazy! As soon as we finished the last bite on the plate it was whisked away and a new plate was out in front of us. It was like a choreographed display of pure awesomeness! Here is a picture of the dining room before dinner started.

I ordered this dessert that was to die for! It was a hot chocolate melted lava cake with ice cream! Oh my heavens it was amazing!

One funny thing is when we told one of the waitresses we wanted milk for dinner she looked like she didn’t undersatnd us. “You want milk"?” uh, yes please. then we looked around and realized we were the only ones ordering milk. Everyone else had alcoholic drinks and coffee. I guess we are weird.

After dinner we continued to tour around the ship, hang out on our balcony to enjoy the fresh air and breeze and when it was too black to see anymore, we came in watched some fun TV bob had taped on my computer. Also, our room had been cleaned, our bed turned down, an adorable towel animal and mints left on our pillows. We have our own room attendant too. Even the guy cleaning outside our room knew our names!!

I thought I might get sea sick but I really haven't had any problems so far. The ship is pretty steady. It does have a slow sway so sometimes you feel like you have vertigo.

We are absolutely LOVING it so far!

Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage

We boarded the Carnival Cruise line about 12:30. We had to go through several levels of security but the lines moved surprisingly fast! It was an AMAZING site when we first walked in.  It has this ginormous room with glass elevators.  I must say for the 1st hour we were overloaded with information!  We toured the ship, which is WAY bigger than I ever would have imagined. How in heavens name do they fit all of this on a ship???

(At Tampa Bay port)

At 1:30 we were able to check into our room which again, was AMAZING!!  It was much bigger than I was expecting.  And the view from our balcony is to DIE for!

(the view as you walk in)

(solid ocean view- too beautiful to describe!)

At 3:15 we had a mandatory safety check.  They played the emergency (ear-piercing) siren and we all had to go out on deck for a safety briefing in case of an abandon ship.