Mahogany Bay, Isla Rotan (Honduras) and Grand Cayman

Sorry about the delay in posting about the rest of our vacation.  The weather is nice and let's face it, I'd rather do things outside than sit at a computer.  Anyways, let me share with you about the last two days of our cruise.

 Of course it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.  We were not interested in any of the excursions at Mahogany Bay so we just stayed at the area they made for cruise ships, checking out the shops and relaxing at the beach.

 There were all sorts of fun photo opportunities along the walk to where we decided to park ourselves for the day.  We ended up at the furthest point on the beach area and with lounge chairs in the shade.  Many of the chairs and part closer to the ship you had to rent chairs and they were in rows without shade or views of the ocean for the most part.

 Luke enjoyed the water for many hours and ended up extremely burnt.  Since there were a lot of people stirring up the sand it was a little cloudy so I decided to just enjoy the shade and nice view.  The water was warm as well.

 About two hours before we had to be back on the ship we decided to had a quick bite to eat and a drink.  We shared some nachos, Manfriend had a local beer and I had a mango slush/margarita.

 More photo opportunities on the way back to the ship.

It was nice to have a relaxing beach day after our two long excursions the days prior.  We did not plan an excursion for Grand Cayman and lucked out that there were quite a few offerings at the pier and they were way less expensive than the cruise ones (but to be honest probably not the same quality).  We paid $40 and we both went for a 2 hour tour of the island.
Our first stop was the little town called Hell.  Yup, we went to Hell and came back to tell about it.

 We bought postcards from the little shop next door and mailed them.  2 post cards plus postage cost us a whooping $1.50.  I'd say that was well worth it.  The town got its name because of the rock formations that were behind the post office.  The sea had likely been higher and when it receded left behind the rocks that were black and hot.  Someone decided that would be what Hell must look like it so the name kind of stuck.  Just down the street is Hell Elementary.

 After our stop in Hell it was time for the Tortuga Rum Cake factory.  It was just the shop part we were able to see but the factory was connected.  I love me some rum but just not in my food.  I don't think I'd mind working at the factory though since this is the view from the back porch of the place

 We were also able to walk to the turtle farm and dolphin swimming experience from the Rum Cake place but didn't take any pictures there.  Our last stop of the day was at 7 Mile Beach.  It was gorgeous. It would have been nice to stay but Manfriend wasn't feeling it after being a little crispy from the day before.  If we stayed we would have to pay for a taxi back to the pier anyways.  I walked in the water and picked out a few small shells to bring home.  The water was warm and crystal clear.

 Back at the pier we wandered around shopping and tried a local joint for lunch.  Manfriend tried a turtle burger and said it kind of tasted like meatloaf.  I had plantain chips.  they were ok but I would have liked them tossed on the grill after so they would be a bit crunchy.

 So after our trip to Hell we ended our day in Paradise (the restaurant).  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

 We took a tender back to the ship to get ready for our last formal night at dinner.  Well, I tossed on a dress and Luke tossed on jeans and a shirt.

 He watched the movie Thor on the seaside theater screen and I went to the sit down dinner by myself.  Other guys at the table were jealous cause they wanted to watch the movie or go and finish watching the NFL draft.

Belize

Looking ahead at excursions and trying to decide what we wanted to do we decided that the cave tubing and zip lining looked like a ton of fun and was a great deal compared to many of the other excursions for Belize.  It did not disappoint.

 We started out the day waiting in theater of the cruise ship for them to call our number so that we could take a tender from the ship to the main land for our excursion.  Anyone that wanted to see Belize needed to take a tender.  After our informative bus trip of about 1 1/2 hours we arrived at the place.  We would go cave tubing first followed by zip lining.

 The people at Chukka were very safety conscious and I loved this about the trip.  We all had to wear life jackets and helmets with lights.  We would travel with a guide as a group of 8 linked together through the caves after our trek though the jungle for our adventure to really begin.  Fortunately it was still "dry" out so we did not encounter many, if any bugs.

 Hiking along the trail our guide pointed out different plants and such.  A cute little baby pineapple.  Our guide poked at a termite nest and picked up one for us to sniff.  It smelled like a wood workshop (um, duh is likely what you are thinking--they eat wood all day).

 We entered the river for cave tubing with only about 2-3 caves for our trip today.  If you want to see all 7 or 9 it is an all day event that is closer to 7 hours in the water.  Once we entered the cave we had to turn our head lamps on to see at all.  It was completely dark in the cave but amazing with all the stalactites.

 Photos in the cave didn't come out since it was that dark and I didn't want to be rude to the other tubers and use my flash.  The water was kind of chilly but nothing like jumping in the lake in July.  I considered it refreshing since only our butts were in the water until our guide shouted "butts up, butts up," meaning shallow and don't bump your bum on the rocks that are kind of sticking up here.

 Before we knew it our time was up and we were exiting the cave.  Since we hiked about 20 minutes to the start of the tubing we exited almost at the main facility for zip lining.

 After a short walk we retuned our tubes, life jackets and helmets before getting fitted into our zip line gear.  All the life jackets were put in a solution of some kind and then washed off for the next guest.  Helmets were collected and washed as well.

 Once we were fitted for zip lining they really tugged and pulled all the gear on you to make sure it was snug fitting and properly buckled.  The helmet was adjusted to fit as well.  Like I said, they took safety extremely serious and this made me feel so much better about soaring over the jungle on a cable.

 At each zip line they connected all our gadgetry and then checked all our buckles and harness connections before giving us the "OK" to zip across the line.  Here is Manfriend on his 2nd line of 5 for the day.

 It was exhilarating but I am not sure if I want to do this again.  Where the harness was on me and how it needed to be for it to be safe kind of pinched my lower ribs and left them a bit sore the next day.  We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we grabbed a local beer and some local tacos and snacked before getting on the bus back to the port.

 Drinks to go on the bus back.  I had the Panty Ripper which was delicious.  It was pineapple juice and Malibu Rum.  I am sure Manfriend had a traditional rum and Coke.  The Coca-Cola in Belize is made with real sugar and is a little sweeter than here in the States but delicious nonetheless.

 I thought this was a cute little roadside stand.  Much of the country is still being developed and such.  The country gained it's independence from Britain in 1981 so it is a young country (at least that is what our guides said).

 They also said there are only 7 traffic lights in the country and their government has a sense of humor.  Sense of humor--the speed bump sign.  There was also some road construction going on while we traveled through and I was impressed it was a road being done with shovels and passing buckets of gravel for mixing by hand crank barrel for the cement.  Crazy when we are used to the big machines doing most of that hard work.

 On the tender back to the ship we had the most gorgeous blue sky and blue waters.  You think they just make the water that color but it really is that beautiful in person with the white sandy beaches.  We had an amazing day and were completely exhausted after our 6 hour adventure away from the ship.

Happy Birthday Papa Bear!

Happy Birthday to my Papa Bear!  I know there are photos of you fishing out there but guess what... you love so many more people and activities.  Just think, that without you our family scat games while camping would be much less interesting.  I'm sure we would still use full size candy bars instead of money but we wouldn't have the Mr. Lucky rule of the winner having to dance on the table (or chair).

 You love sitting on the front porch and just enjoying the day.  It could be rocking your little grandson, reading a book or watching the hummingbirds.  Doesn't matter---you love to just be outside and go for bike rides or putter in the yard or wash the vehicles.

 You are always finding ways to make us smile and laugh.  Why hold the wand when you can stick it in your hat and wear it like a feather?  You pick up those orange traffic cones and use them as mega phones to cheer for me while I run.

There are many more reasons that you are amazing and deserve to have the best birthday ever.  Tell all the puns you want and have fun cheering on the Knighthawks at the lacrosse game for your birthday.  I hope you get to teach them the Mr. Lucky dance moves after the game.  Happy Birthday Papa Bear!  I love you (oh, and Cinder Ella does too and thanks you a lot for taking good care of her every time Luke and I travel).

Ruins of Tulum

Cinco de Mayo in Mexico... doesn't really exist except in a small part in Western Mexico.  To the rest of Mexico it is just another day incase you are wondering how awesome it was and were the margaritas that great?  To start the day we took a ferry from Cozumel over to the Mainland of Mexico.  The crew on the boat were entertaining...offering to sell us shots of Tequila (out of glass shotgun bottles).  When we finally arrived I could not get off the ferry fast enough.  I thought I might throw up on the ride over since it was extremely rough.

Once we were off the boat we were escorted to a bus for an hour and a half ride to the ruins of Tulum.  Our guide Angel was amazing.  He told us all sorts of facts and the history of the Mayan culture.  We even learned that to be a guide he needed to go to college and take classes in a variety of content areas to be well versed in the culture and history of Mexico.  Even after graduating he still needs to take so many classes to maintain his guide certification.

 Yes, it was absolutely gorgeous.  Yes, it was also over 100 outside and we were quite toasty.  Good thing I brought a bottle of Powerade with us.  I also know that Luke is always saying, "take a picture of that."  I gave him one of our cameras for the day and had one for myself.  His ideas of pictures are of things and I like to put people in the photo most of the time since I think it makes it more interesting (people I know anyways).

 The building behind us was the decoy light house.  They would light it up and people would crash their ships/boats into the reef so by the time they swam to the shore they were captured and too exhausted to put up a fight.  The Mayans actually had their real channel to the area further down the beach where they had broke through the reef for a secret entry.

 Of course Luke was a little disappointed we couldn't climb on or go into any of the ruins so he had to sit on this part that wasn't roped off and have me take a picture of him.  Such a silly man.

This particular tree is hallow except at the base where when you thwack it you hear a thud sound instead of a knock sound.  That is because it is filled with water at the bottom.  If you are ever stuck in the jungle this is the tree you want to find, kind of like a cactus in the desert. (Hello informative tour guide Angel!)

Crawling all over the place were these giant lizards.  When I say all over I mean all over.  They were everywhere and fortunately for us they were a bit intimidated by people or I'd have been freaking out.  We happened to catch these two fighting over a spot on the ruins.

Despite it being very hot we really enjoyed our trip to the ruins and learned a lot about the history and culture of the Mayans.  We had a little bit of time before our bus and ferry trip back to the cruise ship so we enjoyed some beverages and tried the fish tacos (I liked the ones in So. Cal. better).  I didn't have time to finish my drink so it was put in a classy to go cup for our bus trip.

 The excursion was 7 hours in length and we were told to bring water with us.  For the bus ride back we were provided a towel soaked in ice water to wipe off with before boarding the buss as well as a bottle of water, bag of snack chips and a cookie.

 Adios Mexico!  We are sad that we didn't get to spend any time in Cozumel but maybe someday we will make it back and get to do that.

Cruise the Caribbean part 2

Luke and I went on another Caribbean cruise and this time it was the Western part instead of the Eastern.  I planned to do a few posts for while I was away but just sort of ran out of time with subbing and then deciding the lawn needed to be mowed the day we left.  We left on Friday and spent the night at a hotel near the port with free shuttle service from the airport as well as to the port.

Here we were waiting for the shuttle to the port.  This time the boarding process went much smoother/faster than last time.  This was the only part of the trip that was "on time?"  The rest of our trip was running late for lack of a better phrase.  We ended up leaving the port at almost 7:30 pm when the original time was supposed to be 4pm.  The rest of the trip everything was behind by about an hour or two for all of our ports of call except departing our last port to ensure we made it back on time.  

 Last time we opted for a balcony but really didn't spend much time on the balcony or in our room so this time we decided on an interior cabin.  It was alright but I would prefer a window so at least you are somewhat aware of the time of day.  Bonus for us getting free drink coupons upon arrival since we were returning cruisers.

 It poured buckets upon buckets of rain while we were waiting to leave the port.  Many people were ticked off because their stuff was soaked since it was being loaded or left out in the rain while waiting to be loaded onto the ship.  Thank goodness I pack things in giant ziplock bags so we were good to go with just our suitcase wet and not our clothes.

 On our last cruise the Muster drill took place in the theater so we headed there and waited only to realize that we actually went to our places on the deck for the drill.  I thought that made a lot more sense than gathering in the auditorium.

 After the drill we just hung out on the deck of the ship in the covered area and waited for our departure and dinner.

 The next day was a sea day so we just hung out in the shade on the deck reading and relaxing.  Of course I played candy crush and Luke thought it was hilarious.

 We also watched The Help on T.V. in our cabin since it was one of the movies the ship had for us that day to watch.  After the movie we headed off to dinner and the comedy club for the evening.

Next up, our first stop Cozumel, Mexico but for us mainland Mexico for Cinco de Mayo and visiting the ruins of Tulum.