We had a great time in the Caribbean with the family. The first picture is John and I sailing (looks like blowing) away from Ft. Lauderdale. We were on the Westerdam with Holland America. This is our second time on this ship - a few years ago we went to Alaska on this same ship and loved it.
We had the steward open up the balcony door between Brian and Marnae's and our room, and then we all spent a lot of time hanging out between the two rooms. This is when we headed out to open sea.
Cathryn modeling a stylish life jacket. On HAL they have you all go out on deck for a full roll call fire drill the first afternoon.
Our first Port of Call was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. Or was that Full Moon Cay... hmm...We swam and snorkeled and enjoyed the sun. Some fish seemed very attacted to us, especially once Scott discovered that they liked a variety of food. Scott, John M. & Cathryn.
Scott went dumpster diving to find all sorts of fun delectables for the fish to eat - it was pretty much a feeding frenzy after that!
Second Port of Call was Grand Turk - We weren't overly impressed. Hurrican Ike had ruined the reefs so there really wasn't good snorkeling but we did some kayaking in the ocean and John M. actually saw a sea turtle. You can see by the picture that it was cloudy in the morning - but it totally cleared up as we were headed back to the ship!!
That night there was a really cool moon over the ocean with the reflection on the water. This was taken from our balcony.
Third Port of Call was Grand Cayman or the famous Tortoga (Pirates of the Caribbean). Here is Brian and Marnae as we head out to the coral reef to snorkel and swim with the sting rays.
Steven hanging out the window of Captain Martin's Boat
And here are the StingRays - Kat was sooo happy that they were eager to greet us as our boat pulled up to their sandbar!!
Our last Port of Call was Costa Maya, Mexico, where we had employeed a private 10 passenger van and tour guide to take us to some ruins - it was quite impressive but our guide was a little difficult to understand and a bit long winded - I think I saw Cathryn nodding off as he was talking!
But he made up for it as we left the ruins and headed off down this dirt road and through the jungle for many miles. We then came to these little huts - very clean - run by a couple from Germany. They had fixed us fajitas and fresh orange juice for lunch. After eating way too much - we changed our clothes and went kayaking and canoeing in the Lagoon Azul. We were the only ones there. It was beautiful and a great way to end our last excursion in the Caribbean!
Our days at sea were spent at the pool, playing games reading, lounging around, laughing at the guys funny stories and antics, going to ship's entertainment.... but I think our guys had better jokes..
and of course......EATING.. - is that 3 or 4 desserts Jaime? - that has to be a record!
examing how they make these towel animals..
and doing Step with with Marnae!! She was trying to help us stay in shape from all that eating!
It was soo much fun - I look at these pictures and dream of going again!! We all took the books of upcoming cruises they gave us before leaving the ship - and at the airport home we were looking through them planning where to go next...
