Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Day 4

Today has been fabulous! I was so excited for our excursion today that I could hardly wait to get off the ship. We enjoyed eating our breakfast and watching the Island of St Maarten as we sailed to port. It is so beautiful! Soon enough we were docked and we made our way down to deck 1 and we began our next adventure. We knew that Crew would love to see how big the ships are so we made sure to snap a lot of pictures.
We meandered through the shops, enjoyed a little bit of rain, saw a rainbow, and walked about 15 minutes to the Chesterfield Marina. As we were walking we saw people using ATV's on the roads and I had the thought that I would love living in a place like St Maarten.

After a little bit of asking we found Captain Mike relaxing in the restaurant, on the docks, with some friends. We arrived a little early and we were able to sit on the docks and enjoy the beautiful scenery while snuggling up and sharing our thoughts.

Soon enough everyone else arrived and we were ready to head out into open waters. We first explored the marina's on the dutch side. We learned that the owner of a major company wanted to be able to park his beautiful yacht here. But, it was too big for the bridge. He paid for St Thomas to build a new bridge and it was only a foot or two wider. I guess he only has a few inches on each side to be able to navigate it through, and it looks like (big chunks of concrete missing and scraped up wood) not all captains have very good aim through the passage. It only opens three times a day and if you want it opened at another time you have to pay $1000.

The french side was much more quaint and more local looking with houses and restaurants right on the waters edge.

As we were learning the history of the Island we were told that these ships can anchor here for free and they will come and stay here for a few months before moving onto their next adventure.

This is about the time that our excursion was kicked up a notch. We went on a 15 ride through open sea on a slightly stormy and windy day. It was thrilling to plow up and over the waves and as the ship would come down we would get sprayed. Even though the waves were large, the speed boat was very smooth. We were all soaking wet after crossing to our first snorkeling location.
Abe and I struggled for a little bit as we adjusted to snorkeling. Abe has a fear of drowning and I just had to get the mechanics of breathing down. The water was gorgeous! It was hard to believe something was 30 feet down when the water was so clear. Abe and I couldn't agree on how large the turtle was that we saw because the depth perception was very hard to determine.

After some snorkeling we made our way up to the beach. Abe went up a little on the beach and came back to tell me what he found. We both went back and watched a bunch of huge hermit crabs walking around. There were so many I was afraid I might accidentally step on one.

The sand had beautiful color and seemed to be made up of broken sea shells.

After one of the younger boys in our group was able to get on top of his sea sickness a little we loaded up for our next destination. Lunch! It is a separate small island on the french side. There is only a restaurant on the island and the last boat, to take people off the island, leaves at 5:00 pm when the whole island shuts down.

We were all a little cold and wet at this point. All of us were very excited to try and dry our things off a little and eat some warm food. This was bar far the coldest part of the day.

We had genuine, french made, ratatouille! It was delicious. As were the ribs and chicken. But the shining star was the pina colada. Oh my! It was heavenly!! There was a dash of cinnamon on top that surprised, and complimented everything!

After lunch we walked around the island a little bit. It was somewhat painful since we had left our shoes on captain Mike's boat, but it was beautiful!

We then went to our next destination. We were snorkeling right next to a nature preserve that is part of Anguilla. We were told that we could not go on the island whatsoever or we would be paying a very, very hefty fine.

The snorkeling here was much easier. We saw a lot of fish and sea urchins. Captain Mike laughingly told us that we could try and pick up the sea urchins but it would be quite painful. After seeing their seriously long stingers (?) I understood why.

I accidentally snapped this picture. But, it portrays the water fabulously and gives a good reference (for me) to where we were at.

Abe and I may have had some fun goofing around in the water as we were swimming back to our boat. I felt like a little kid discovering something new with our underwater camera. 

We got back on our boat just as it started to rain. I looked behind us and we began trying to out run the storm.

Donald Trumps new, 70 million dollar, home.

Our last swim was along the coast of some of the most expensive places to stay. I didn't full understand why because the beach was very steep and small, the waves crashed very hard, and the pull of the tide made it somewhat difficult to swim. 

After a quick trip past some expensive hotels, a nudist beach, and some local men fishing, we were able to watch a few airplanes land. The huge planes are so close it was crazy. When the largest airplane came in Captain mike took us as close to the beach as he could, so we could see the spectacular landing. We sped off and went very, very fast. Even though we were fast I doubt we were going the 90 mph he said his boat could go. Either way it was exhilarating! I loved this excursion and felt it was worth ever stinkin' penny!

We scored some free wifi and chatted with Crew and my Mom for a little bit on facetime. Crew was hilarious and only wanted to talk about his birthday. As soon as he had said what he wanted he was done talking with us. He couldn't get rid of us fast enough. My Mom then suggested we try and call again another day when Sawyer was awake since he seemed to miss us a little. Crew definitely didn't miss us and is having a wonderful time and Grandma and Grandpa's.

Tonight, as always, dinner was very tasty. I love being fed so well and then heading out to more fun. We did our nightly walk around the ship, added in some late night shuffle board, relaxed, and tried our best to stay up for the Love and Marriage show at 10 pm. It was hilarious! I was laughing more than I wasn't laughing. They had a newlywed couple (10 days), a couple married 58 years, and two other couple in between. It was great fun and I am glad we stayed up to see it. But, I will also say this family show was enough "adult" for me and I am glad we didn't attend any of the "adult" activities.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Day 3

Sleeping went much better tonight, but the rocking still woke me up early. Another workout and a sit down breakfast. I love having all of my meals taken care of and I never have to think about anything!
It was another day of reading on the top deck, shuffle board, and Abe did surfing on the flow rider. It did exceptionally well!
Dinner was yet again amazing! It is fabulous not having to cook or clean up! We made sure to get to dinner on time so we could eat quickly and head to the ventriloquist show. This guy was hilarious!! Much of his show revolved around his tennis ball puppet. I had tears rolling down my cheeks and my cheeks hurt by the end of the show. We both loved it!
Another night walk around deck 4 and 5 followed by another early bed time. We want to make sure we have enough energy for St Maarten!

Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Day 2

Due to the rocking motion I had a hard time not waking up during the night. At 6:00 am I finally decided to get up. I went out on the top deck and watch the sunrise and then went and worked out. It felt good to get up and move after sitting for two days of travel. Abe on the other hand wanted to sleep in.

After Abe woke up we grabbed some breakfast and prepped ourselves for some relaxation. 

We did go to a port shopping seminar for an hour and I won a zip line excursion for when we arrive in Haiti. It was worth the boring-ness just to win the excursion.

The water is so amazing and blue!

Then we tried out the flow rider. It was a lot more fun than expected. And it was much easier than expected.

 We then dried off in the sun, read a little, and then went to check out more stuff.

We loved playing shuffle board today. 

I absolutely love going out on the bow of the ship. It was little windy but still a breath taking sight!

Tonight was formal night. It was fun to dress up and go to dinner. We did get moved to a table for two. I was hoping to interact with other people because it's fun to hear other peoples' stories. But Abe and I enjoyed reviewing our day with each other. Our new servers Anthony and Filip are amazing as well. 

Again we are exhausted and went to bed early. I feel like the old people know how to party better than I do, but I am on vacation and it doesn't matter what I do.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Preparation and Day 1

On Thursday we drove to Idaho to drop off our boys with Grandma and Grandpa. The next day we played with our boys, had a small Valentine's day celebration, and picked up our new camper. It was an exciting day and a necessary transition.

Before we left Jake and April's family showed up. Crew and Dallin picked up right where they left off the time before. We ate dinner, checked the weather again, said our farewells, and we were on our way at 6:30 pm. Unfortunately we had to drive to Salt Lake to catch our flight. It was way too expensive to fly out of my parents home town. 

It was exciting to meet up with Abe's cousin and his wife, Scott and Heather, so we could see their beautiful home that is almost done being built. We said more goodbyes and we went to check-in at the airport. We got there early to deal with any unexpected hiccups and we zoomed through everything. No lines and not very many people in the airport. 

Abe and I watched a couple of "Bones" and tried to pass the time until our 12:45 am flight. We got a little bit of sleep on the plane, but it wasn't fabulous. I felt like I kept on getting woken up by the stewardess asking if I needed anything. Yes, sleep! We then waited at the Atlanta airport for our connecting flight. The flight was delayed one hour and then 5 minutes later we were told it was back on schedule, which meant we had to board the plane immediately. When we finally took off it was almost an hour later anyway. 

Landing in Florida was glorious. The humidity, the warm air, the smell of the ocean, and most importantly we had made it!

A quick taxi ride later we pulled up to the docks. It was my first experience seeing a cruise ship up close, and I was not disappointed. Again the lines were short and it was a very quick check-in through customs and getting our ship cards. We called our family one last time, Abe checked in with his hay business, and we shut off our phones to begin our 8 night cruise.

We were in desperate need of sleep, but it was 11:00 am and the rooms are not ready until 1:00 pm. The next thing on our list of needs was food. We grabbed some food and watched the world from the windows and started to relax. After eating we had to kill some more time. We wandered around on the decks and enjoyed the scenery. Finally 1 o'clock came and we beelined for our room, on deck 10, for a nap. It was glorious. It was pitch black, cool, and highly needed.

We set an alarm to make sure we wouldn't miss our departure and it is a good thing we did. After freshening up we headed back up onto the decks to observe with everyone else. Abe and I both were extremely startled when the ship blew it's horn! It is very low and rumbled through my entire body!

Soon it was time for dinner, and I was very excited to meet new people, and Abe was very excited for the food. His excitement was well rewarded. For our main course Abe had prime rib and I had a pork chop that had an orange sauce glaze. Divine! The other two couples were very kind but we knew that our table wouldn't be the same the next night because one of the couples had been separated from their family's table. 

Sadly I couldn't gather enough energy to do anything the first night. After a quick walk around deck 4 and 5, we decided we needed to go to sleep. I am pretty sure it was about 8:30 pm and we zonked out! 

Sawyer and His "Dee-Dee"

Today I dropped Crew off at ABC school and then headed home to accomplish some household chores. Sawyer immediately got to work with a game of "Help, save me!" It required kicking all the back cushions off the love seat and then putting himself or his toys in a state of distress. Usually that mean "falling" off the couch or hiding in a crack. Once I heard him say "help me Dee-dee" I had to go snap a few pictures. Unfortunately the pretend play stopped once he saw my camera and he wanted to snuggle with his blanket (Dee-Dee) for a picture. Before I had even taken off my lens cap he put his head on his blanket and said "cheese." So it turned into a silly photo-shoot of him snuggling one of his favorite blankets. (He has three that are the same texture but different colors that I rotate while the other is in the wash.) All pictures were set up and posed by Sawyer. He even told me where to stand/sit! This kid knows what he wants!! After a few snaps he would want to see the picture and then change it up. I love this little boy!