Earlier in the summer Jeff golfed in a tournament & won 2 free airline tickets so we decided to put them to good use & go on another cruise. Since the boys start school at the end of August we felt like the best time to go would be before that so they would be able to go visit their grandparents & spend time with cousins also. Thankfully they have loving Grandparents who were willing to do that for us, so Ethan & Kamden headed to stay with Grandpa & Grandma Stoker while Owen spent the week with Grandma & Grandpa Van Leuven.
We left Saturday, August 4th & flew to Ft Lauderdale, FL where we stayed the night before boarding the ship on Sunday.
Our cab driver that took us from our hotel to the port told us about how he used to be a cop in New York, he was from Boston & had a thick accent so we couldn't understand him half the time, but he said he'd gotten jumped by some guys & then he delved right into a story about how his friend's older brother came to live with him because he was a gangster & had no money & was sick, then this cop-turned-taxi-driver said that he would write down the stories the guy would tell him & said that he would change the names. So after the guy died, he made it into a book titled "Final Confessions, the Unsolved Crimes of Phil Cresta" Then he went on to explain that it had almost become a movie, with Leonardo DiCapprio signed on & also Jack Nicholson (who wanted too much money) but then the woman at the production company who was pushing for the movie left the company so then he left Boston because he was only staying there for the movie.
Got it?
The above picture was taken inside the terminal at the port. I though it was pretty funny that the scuba diver was having a wardrobe malfunction.
Jeff thought he was funny taking pictures of me while we waited to board the ship...
Leaving Ft Lauderdale
Our first stop was in Key West, Florida on Monday. Tropical Storm Ernesto was making it's way through the Caribbean & trying to make things difficult for us. When we got on the boat they had switched the itinerary around to try & miss the storm & our stop in Grand Cayman was tentative depending on the path of the storm. This didn't really effect us if the stops were switched around but the lady in line in front of us getting on the boat wasn't happy about it. She was complaining loudly about it & that she was going to be upset because for some reason they were scheduled to fly out of Grand Cayman. It made no sense to me as to why you would pay for a cruise & then only go to 2 stops & pay to fly out of one of the islands, but to each their own I suppose. It ended up working out in her favor though, because good ol' Ernesto made his way toward Mexico & made it possible for us to do the original itinerary & make all of the scheduled stops.
When we got to Key West Jeff & I just walked around & did some shopping/sight seeing...about 2 hours into our journey the rain started & it was INSANE. Moments after it started we were both drenched, but thankfully I had my beach towel in the backpack so I used it as a poncho. The streets were flooded with water spilling up over the sidewalks & everyone huddling under any type of awning they could find. But it relieved us of some of the humidity for a few moments, which I would rather be out in the rain any day than have to deal with the humidity.
Tuesday we were at sea as we made our way toward Grand Cayman. It stormed most of Monday night & into Tuesday, the lightning out across the ocean Monday night was amazing...but scary. We had a room at the back of the ship that had a corner balcony that wrapped around the boat & lots of windows so we had a great view of the storm while we watched some Olympics, played Solitaire, & hoped we didn't get struck by lightning since we were about the only thing out on the water. People were getting sick everywhere & barf bags were placed throughout the ship, just in case. One lady sat in a chair right outside the gift shops & puked into her bag while everyone tried not to stare.
Tuesday & Thursday nights were the elegant nights in the dining room. We had dinner with a couple from New York that had just gotten married on a cruise the week before in the Bahamas. They got off that boat & then got on the one we were one for their honeymoon. Some nights the waiters danced on tabletops for us & other nights the Maitre D attempted to sing & dance stiffly...it was more humorous than entertaining though.
In Grand Cayman we walked around before our shore excursion started & found a pirate for my sister, Kristen.
And a gentlemanly fisherman for myself.
That's our ship off in the distance...& Stoker's arm holding the camera in the reflection of his glasses...
Our shore excursion included swimming with giant stingrays on a sandbar out in the ocean & snorkeling near a large coral reef. We took a short ride to the canal where we got on the boat & went out to sea. Along the canal there were dozens of giant lizards hanging out in backyards or sunning along the boardwalk.
Jeff has always said he wants to go somewhere that has crystal clear, beautiful blue water. Well, we finally found it. The water at Grand Cayman was amazing, although the snorkeling in Cozumel, Mexico was much better than what we did here.
Our first part of the trip was with the stingrays, which were ginormous & a little scary. The guide explained what happened with the Crocodile Hunter & how stingrays have a negative connotation now. They bury themselves in the sand to avoid predators (usually sharks) who then try to drive them into the ground to kill them. This causes their bodies to arch & their tail comes up with their stinger which is venomous & will hurt, but won't likely kill you. Unless, like in Steve Erwin's case, you think it might be a good idea to try to ride on the stingray, which is why it's tail came up & sent the barb into his heart. Anywhere else & he likely would've been fine, but a direct hit in the heart isn't going to end well.
We had an underwater camera but the pictures won't be back for a few days, so that will have to come in a later post. We went snorkeling next, which I was freaking out about until the guide told us that the coral reef prevents anything (like sharks) from getting on the side that we were on. I chose to believe him, so I hope he was telling the truth, but I didn't see much of anything while snorkeling around so he must know what he was talking about.
We did manage to get cut up a bit from the coral reef because there were some good sized waves tossing us around but we did see some fish, just not the colorful tropical ones we'd been hoping for.
On Thursday our final stop was in Jamaica!
However, we almost didn't make it because when trying to leave Grand Cayman, there was some sort of malfunction with the anchor on the ship & we didn't leave Grand Cayman until late in the night, way behind schedule. The cruise director & captain kept coming on the loudspeaker trying to explain but not giving much information so people were antsy thinking we might miss Jamaica all together, but we made it around 10:00 the next day.
We did some shopping for a few souvenirs, trying to dodge all of the people who wanted to drive us around or show us all of the stuff they were selling. I kept trying to walk by & ignore them, but Jeff is so nice that he would stop & talk to every single one of them, explaining that we'd already paid for transportation that would leave in an hour. I finally had to grab his arm & pull him away. They were diminishing my shopping time.
We decided to do a river tubing excursion here since most of the other options included going to Dunns River Falls & I didn't want to do that since the reviews on it weren't that great. We loaded into a van, probably 20 of us (thankfully it had air conditioning) & drove several miles when the driver, George, stopped suddenly right in the middle of the lane he was in. He looked around at his feet, then jumped out saying something about his speedometer cable. I watched him lay down & look under the hood, his legs sticking out dangerously close to the traffic that was speeding past us, honking.
A nice man stopped to see if he could help & climbed in, lifting the part of the floor that concealed the engine. He found the line that goes to the gas pedal was snapped in half so George called for another van & we waited...and waited...
Finally they showed up & we piled in again & drove up through the countryside on the way to our destination. I really enjoyed the drive & being able to see houses, schools, churches, & stores. Although it was a bit depressing to see how people live, it just made me realize even more how blessed I am, even for things that seem so small.
We made a stop at the gift shop where we could change if needed & we waited some more since they were short on tubes. We drove another 3 miles where we waited again for life jackets & then again for tubes. There were probably 100 people in our group, including 4 river guides who kept yelling things that no one could understand. However, we did learn that in Jamaica a goat is called "dinner" & jerk means "hot & spicy".
Here is Stoker lookin' jerky...
We finally got our tubes & floated under the bridge where we...yep, you guessed it...waited some more. They were still short on tubes & had to wait for a truck to bring more up from the bottom. So we sat around for about 40 minutes & watched this random guy swing on a rope from the bridge while sporting his red Hanes underwear...
This little boy swam around us, poking his head up out of the water before he disappeared again. He played on the swing & tried to make the most of his day at the river, even though it was overcrowded with tourists.
Still waiting...
Ready to go on our 3 mile river float, with 3 rapids!
The water here was also clear & blue, we could see the bottom the entire trip & it was chilly on my backside. They have no need for water filters in Jamaica, we were told that all of their water comes from springs & is drinkable. We didn't take their word for it, though. Instead Jeff munched on some guava that one of the guides picked. I tried it but it wasn't ripe & tasted gross & bitter.
Stoker still ate it, though.
On the last rapid Jeff flipped out of his tube & I nearly did the same but the water rushed in the back of my tube at the right moment & balanced me out. I had my breath held & everything, but thankfully I didn't go in. When we reached the end we climbed out & were back at the gift shop where we could change & buy souvenirs. We tried some yummy jerk chicken that was definitely "hot & spicy".
Friday was a day at sea as we made our way past Cuba & back toward Florida. We packed up our room & relaxed as much as we could, sleeping in until 11:30! On Saturday we were up at 6, getting ready to leave the boat, but we had to wait again since it took them longer to get cleared from customs than expected.
We went straight to the airport & flew to Orlando, then to Denver, then finally home!
It was a great trip, though a long time to be away from the boys. We are so thankful & appreciative of everyone who helped out with them while we were gone.
Now if the boat would stop rocking, life would be perfect :)
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