Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Day 7

Today I slept in for the first time on our whole cruise; meaning I got up at 8:30. Abe has enjoyed sleeping in almost every day to at least 8:30 or later! But, soon enough we found ourselves off the boat and on the beach. We would have gladly sat on the beach all day in Labadee, Haiti. But, I won a free zip-line excursion and we bought one for Abe! After some relaxing I went and swam in the ocean for a little bit and then I went over to look at the Haitian market. I didn't bring any money with me because I didn't want to buy anything. I just wanted to look. Those guys were so pushy that even when I said I had no money they would hand me some item and then say they trusted me to bring back their money. No thank you! All items were returned and I got out of there as fast as I could.

For lunch they had a bbq type setting on the beach. I stacked a plate high with a burger and ribs and went off to find Abe. He was extremely happy when I showed up with man food! After a quick bite we went to get ready for the zip-line. This included signing away your life and getting weighed. I knew what I thought I would weigh, and I was spot on. Abe weighed 10 pounds more than he thought he would and told me he thinks the scale at home is off. I laughed! Have I mentioned how good the food is . . .

Soon enough we were being prepped and fitted for our harness and taken to a short practice zip-line. It was fun to go down at the same time as Abe! Then we all loaded up into the back of a truck with rows of seats and went up a sketchy road to the top of the big zip-line.

Walking single file up the plank we came out onto a platform where we were assigned numbers. We then had to go down the line that had our corresponding number.

 Abe and I observed, eventually we were in the next group of 5, and we walked out and clipped in. The head guy was chatting back and forth with the landing area down below. They said no one over 200lbs could go down anymore. The wind was too strong and pushing the big guys too fast. Devastatingly, Abe had to unclip and observe from the top as I went down without him. Even with his money refunded it was still sad.
I don't usually get scared of heights or have any issue doing something like this, where I am strapped in. But I did have the memory of Anne breaking her back on a zip-line flash into my mind right before I went. It was a weird emotion to have that sweep over me, but I was still excited and thrilled as I stepped out over the platform, 500 feet high, and sailed across the open ocean. It was beautiful!

I turned in my gear and went to wait for Abe. He didn't show up for another 20 minutes. I hung out with a lady that was in her 30's and a walking miracle. She'd had several strokes two years previous and wasn't supposed to survive. Yet she was walking around, talking, and able to live her life. Her husband also couldn't come down the zip-line so we chatted until they eventually made their way back to us.

After getting a drink of water we made our way to another part of the beach. We relaxed, swam, and relaxed some more. Finally hunger drove us back to out ship.

from deck 10

bracelet from St Kitts, red seed necklace for San Juan

pulling away just as it started to rain

After dinner we went to the early show. We knew that we should sit on the side where it wasn't as loud, and it was much more enjoyable. 

As part of tradition we finished our night off with some shuffle board and a walk around deck 4/5. I still can't get enough of the fresh humid air. I love it!