Crusing the Caribbean
Okay, so I'm still having issues with my Blogger connection. Seems they don't remember my user name or password, regardless of how many combinations I've attempted. So for now, I'm putting my thoughts down on Facebook notes.
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going with Anna Kate and her family on a cruise around the Caribbean. For me, this was a landmark trip, not only for the fact that I got to be with my sweetheart for a whole week (although that was a huge part of it). But in all of my twenty-three years, I had not set foot outside the United States. Never been to a foreign country. I passed up the foreign study option at Furman for a Shakespeare course. Hmm. Considering the results, maybe I should have reconsidered my decision. But I digress...
I had a fantastic time. The ship (Carnival Glory) was exquisite, the locales were fun, the people (stewards, waiters, the maitre'd, and random passers-by alike) were friendly, the excursions were a blast, and we didn't lose anybody. Mostly we just all had fun. That was pretty much the only rule of the trip, repeatedly enforced by Anna's father. To have fun.
Our stops took us to four different locales: Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya, and the city of Nassau in the Bahamas. The excursions featured us cave-tubing in water that moved at a snail's pace (forcing us to paddle for most of the way), parasailing (Anna's favorite, hands down), snorkeling, biking through a fishing village, kayaking, visiting the Atlantis hotel, Anna Nicole Smith's gravesite and home...wow. With a laundry list like that, it feels like we had to have cruised longer than a week. But hey, time flies when you're having fun. Or something.
What were my favorite memories of the cruise? For the sake of brevity, I'll list them in staccato format:
1. Learning to play Solitaire, Blackjack, Egyptian Rat Killer, and Butthole on the RV ride to Port Canaveral. I've never been much of a card player. Anna will tell you the last card game I played was Old Maid, and that was back in childhood.
2. "Surfing" at Ron John's. See the photos.
3. The first time we set sail. Being the newbie ship-goer, that gave me a small thrill to watch the United States disappear from sight.
4. Sitting in the hot tub with Anna and her vain attempts to dunk me. Haha.
5. Casey confusing the heck out of our cabin steward Natan over the whole unlocking our cabin fridge business.
6. Formal dinners at the Golden Restaurant and the rockiing entertainment provided by our waiters. I'll never forget their rendition of "Hey Hey Baby."
7. Anna and Scott doing kareoke at the Ebony Cabaret. I got the whole thing on tape, but I will not show it out of respect for her wishes =) It's excellent, though!
8. Anna will kill me if I don't put this in here, so ... PARASAILING!! (seriously, though, I loved it. I'd rank it my second favorite activity, right behind...
9. Snorkeling at Cozumel. We actually went snorkeling twice (in Costa Maya the second time), but the first sticks out to me because I found out I didn't totally suck at it. And also because I did an insane video for Hendrix's mom. Words do not describe what possessed me to do that. I'll only say it involved my mask.
10. Cave-tubing. This is memorable because I'm pretty much the poster boy for how NOT to cave-tube. I started out too far ahead of the others, only to fall behind because I wasn't paddling right. And I steered right into a huge log and got knocked off. Sigh.
11. Sitting on the balcony at night with Anna and talking. Great conversations we had. :)
12. Learning that kayaking is harder than it looks, but it's a great workout if you stick with it. Also, we met a cute little puppy named Santiago that Anna absolutely fell in love with.
13. The shows at Amber Palace.
14. "Wee" Jimmy, our cruise director. He has a way of growing on you once you've listened to him long enough.
15. Being denied the chance to actually see Anna Nicole's grave by security. We were tempted to dash over and snap a quick picture anyway, but we didn't.
16. Blowing a tire on our way home. God was looking out for us, though, b/c as it turned out, we were only a mile up the road from a repair shop. We spent an hour and a half to two hours standing around waiting for them to fix the fire all the while playing some hilarious games.
What a marvelous trip. My thanks go out to Anna and her family for having me along. THANK YOU, SWEETHEART! I'll never forget this experience and the fun times we shared. I love you, hon. =)
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going with Anna Kate and her family on a cruise around the Caribbean. For me, this was a landmark trip, not only for the fact that I got to be with my sweetheart for a whole week (although that was a huge part of it). But in all of my twenty-three years, I had not set foot outside the United States. Never been to a foreign country. I passed up the foreign study option at Furman for a Shakespeare course. Hmm. Considering the results, maybe I should have reconsidered my decision. But I digress...
I had a fantastic time. The ship (Carnival Glory) was exquisite, the locales were fun, the people (stewards, waiters, the maitre'd, and random passers-by alike) were friendly, the excursions were a blast, and we didn't lose anybody. Mostly we just all had fun. That was pretty much the only rule of the trip, repeatedly enforced by Anna's father. To have fun.
Our stops took us to four different locales: Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya, and the city of Nassau in the Bahamas. The excursions featured us cave-tubing in water that moved at a snail's pace (forcing us to paddle for most of the way), parasailing (Anna's favorite, hands down), snorkeling, biking through a fishing village, kayaking, visiting the Atlantis hotel, Anna Nicole Smith's gravesite and home...wow. With a laundry list like that, it feels like we had to have cruised longer than a week. But hey, time flies when you're having fun. Or something.
What were my favorite memories of the cruise? For the sake of brevity, I'll list them in staccato format:
1. Learning to play Solitaire, Blackjack, Egyptian Rat Killer, and Butthole on the RV ride to Port Canaveral. I've never been much of a card player. Anna will tell you the last card game I played was Old Maid, and that was back in childhood.
2. "Surfing" at Ron John's. See the photos.
3. The first time we set sail. Being the newbie ship-goer, that gave me a small thrill to watch the United States disappear from sight.
4. Sitting in the hot tub with Anna and her vain attempts to dunk me. Haha.
5. Casey confusing the heck out of our cabin steward Natan over the whole unlocking our cabin fridge business.
6. Formal dinners at the Golden Restaurant and the rockiing entertainment provided by our waiters. I'll never forget their rendition of "Hey Hey Baby."
7. Anna and Scott doing kareoke at the Ebony Cabaret. I got the whole thing on tape, but I will not show it out of respect for her wishes =) It's excellent, though!
8. Anna will kill me if I don't put this in here, so ... PARASAILING!! (seriously, though, I loved it. I'd rank it my second favorite activity, right behind...
9. Snorkeling at Cozumel. We actually went snorkeling twice (in Costa Maya the second time), but the first sticks out to me because I found out I didn't totally suck at it. And also because I did an insane video for Hendrix's mom. Words do not describe what possessed me to do that. I'll only say it involved my mask.
10. Cave-tubing. This is memorable because I'm pretty much the poster boy for how NOT to cave-tube. I started out too far ahead of the others, only to fall behind because I wasn't paddling right. And I steered right into a huge log and got knocked off. Sigh.
11. Sitting on the balcony at night with Anna and talking. Great conversations we had. :)
12. Learning that kayaking is harder than it looks, but it's a great workout if you stick with it. Also, we met a cute little puppy named Santiago that Anna absolutely fell in love with.
13. The shows at Amber Palace.
14. "Wee" Jimmy, our cruise director. He has a way of growing on you once you've listened to him long enough.
15. Being denied the chance to actually see Anna Nicole's grave by security. We were tempted to dash over and snap a quick picture anyway, but we didn't.
16. Blowing a tire on our way home. God was looking out for us, though, b/c as it turned out, we were only a mile up the road from a repair shop. We spent an hour and a half to two hours standing around waiting for them to fix the fire all the while playing some hilarious games.
What a marvelous trip. My thanks go out to Anna and her family for having me along. THANK YOU, SWEETHEART! I'll never forget this experience and the fun times we shared. I love you, hon. =)
posted by david @ 8:53 AM
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