All Vacations Must Come to an End

When we got off the ship, we had a long day ahead of us before our flight, which meant we got to explore the Miami area. First stop was church, but then, lunch at a Cuban restaurant where no one spoke English. Daddy-o was the translator for our group.

Then, we went to the Everglades for a fan boat tour.

It was a lot of fun skimming along the top of the water.

And we found alligators.

We visited another wildlife sanctuary where we got to hold a caiman.

And see beautiful birds like this Purple Gallinule Strut.

I love tortoises, especially tortoises chewing.

They had some very different looking ducks by the local pond. We're used to mostly seeing mallards. Apparently, these Muscovy ducks are invasive from Central America and considered pests, but they look pretty fun.

And then, it was time to go home. We had a long flight, and honestly, it was pretty miserable for me. I don't know if it was related to coming back onto land after a week at sea, or if I was coming down with something, but I ended up fainting three times on the flight home. Luckily, I was in the window seat, so when I felt it coming, I would lean against the window and let it come, but it was not a fun way to fly home. Daddy-o was on the aisle and we had someone between us, and with all the fear over Covid just beginning, I was terrified to let anyone know I wasn't feeling great. I don't believe it was anything like that, but with no testing available, I guess I can't be 100% sure. What a way to end a vacation.

 

Final Stop: Cozumel

Our final port was at Cozumel and we decided to do a tour of the ruins and then snorkel for a little while. Most of the group did a catamaran snorkel tour but after my experience last time we did one of those, I wasn't too excited about feeling seasick all day, so we opted for something more land based.

It was beautiful and fun to hear the stories of the area. And so fun to find the iguanas everywhere.

We saw a lot of these guys.

Then, we went to see the lighthouse.

I will never get tired of this turquoise water.

It's been such a great week.

The water was pretty clear--good for snorkeling.

We didn't have any types of underwater camera, but got to see a lot of pretty fish just off the shore.

The snorkeling was part of a park that included some paths through the garden and animals.

Our tour guy was awesome. We appreciated everything he took us to see.

It's been fun, Cozumel.

Jamaica

In Jamaica, we did a historical tour at the Good Hope plantation house.

It's a beautiful house from the 1750s with many of the original structures still intact.

The grounds were pretty.

They do weddings and other events here.

I love this style of architecture.

Daddy-o with his Panama hat seemed right at home.

Old books make me happy.

Beautiful bedroom.

This house had the first hot water bath in the Caribbean (Falmouth had running water before New York City).

There were orchids all over the place.

More of the gardens.

They served us a traditional lunch out by one of the gardens. It was really good.

Such a pretty view.

We also got to sample the oranges that grow on the land now. They don't look very pretty but they are tasty.

I'm really glad that Daddy-o shares my obsession with touring houses, especially old houses. 

We had a little while after the house tour to wander around the shops and restaurants near the port and found Daddy-o a pirate scene. Lots of pirate history in this part of the world.

Haiti

This is the life 🤣

Our first island stop was Haiti--it's kind of a weird visit because they don't actually let you explore the island at all, so we didn't get a taste of what it's like to actually live there, but we did get to hang out at a gorgeous beach which is the one area they let the tourists into. Cruising is kind of weird all around--you see all these amazing places, but in a very touristy way and it always leaves me feeling guilty.

But it is nice to relax. They had hammocks everywhere, and lounge chairs,

and games like checkers and spikeball. We just hung out for several hours, playing, reading, swimming (the water was perfect!) and at lunch time, there was a huge buffet available for us on the beach.

This was the one day that whole group was together for the excursion. And this guy is the professor who brought us all together. He runs the Cougar Capital group in BYU's MBA program which Daddy-o was a part of when he was there. This was a reunion trip for everyone who's been part of the program in the 12 years that it's existed, so it was a few people we knew from our years there, and a bunch of new friends. Fun exrra connection: Gary Williams wife, Debbie, was my mom's roommate for a couple years in college and she knew both of them when they were dating and first married. It was great getting to meet her and spend some time with them.

The nature part of Haiti is beautiful.

Great day in a beautiful place. 

Oasis of the Seas

Walking back to the dock to reboard the ship and seeing it parked next to a "normal" cruise ship made it clear just how massive this boat is!

One of the fun parts of cruising is the dining room and the fancy dinners. We had a couple nights that we got dressed up, and every night the food was fun.

Not something I'd want to do all the time, but it's fun to dress for dinner once in a while.

And I love having someone else cook for me and bring me pretty food.

Sample menu--there were always too many choices.

We mostly ate at the buffet for breakfast, but did go for a dining room meal one day and it was delicious.

Lobster dinner--I'm not a fan of lobster, but Daddy-o likes it. I'll stick with my shrimp and crab.

Besides food, there was a ton of other stuff to do during the evenings and at-sea days. We played miniature golf,

and Daddy-o had a lot of fun playing soccer and dodgeball in some of the on-ship tournaments. 

It was nice being with a group so he had lots of people to play with. And they racked up a lot of medals during the week!

I opted to read by the pool most days. I don't get as much reading time as I'd like, and it was so nice to have hours of relaxation.

We also had a couple nights of playing Nerts--

the biggest round of Nerts we've ever played, which was challenging, but so fun.

Another thing Daddy-o had a lot of fun with was the nightly karaoke. I only stayed up late enough to watch him one night (catching up on sleep was another huge priority for me, and we had to get up pretty early most mornings, so late nights were out), but he sang with other guys from the program several times and they had so much fun.

They were a hit!

 

The last day at sea, we tried out the rest of the things we hadn't done yet--rock climbing,

the Flowrider (well, some of "we" tried it--I wasn't wanting to fall on my face in front of the crowds of people who were always watching this one.)

zipling.

And just hanging out in the park.

And it wouldn't be a cruise without mentioning the ice cream. I think this might be Daddy-o's absolute favorite thing about cruising, haha. He takes full advantage of the 24-hour-a-day availability. 

And one more fun thing--Mario has been cruising on Royal Carribean for all but 15 days a year since 2000. Kind of fun to see him on our ship. He had his own little office area blocked off--guess there are perks with living on a cruise ship.