Our seven day hiatus to the caribbean was a break from reality for the most part...
but on the other hand, my reality was that this momma was missing her baby!
Over all it was an awesome summer trip.
We love to travel together, explore new places, run across fun adventures, and after
talking about several different options and ideas for travel this summer we concluded on a cruise
and Jon made it happen.
Hitched a ride for the week on this little tug boat out of San Juan, Puerto Rico
and sailed through parts of the Caribbean.
Complete with a plane
delay due to storms in Atlanta, unboarding a plane due to hail damage, multiple hours of setting at the Kansas city aiport, transfer of airlines, reroute in geography to get from point a to b, and running through and up the stairs of the Tampa airport. Upon arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rico we were not only a little bummed
that our day of checking out 'ol san juan was shot due to the airlines, we were also jet lagged
and exhausted from our travel day getting off to a crispy start at 1:30a.m.
We both got a good laugh out of the cruise line snap shot they took when we boarded.. Considering the day we had just had, we thought what the heck, and bought it!
So the travel casualties ended up being we missed out on our day in San Juan and rather
than go to the top deck for the bon voyage party as the cruise ship left the dock, we watched in
on the ship channel from tv in bed! ha
The next morning we were well rested and up early.
This was the morning view from the breakfast table as we
approached our first island, St. Thomas.
I gotta tell ya, watching the sun come up over a U.S. Virgin Island while
drinking your morning coffee isn't too shabby of a way
to get a day started right.
We took the local bus to down town St. Thomas and walked through
the local vending tents as they were setting up for the day.
We took a fairy ride on the Island Girl here over to St. John. On our way over
the tour guide showed us Michael Jordan and Madonna's vacation homes off the mountain side of
St. Thomas... They're vacation home neighbors, how swell... I wonder what thats even like ???
The below is the scenic view of Trunk Bay on our way there to snorkel. We had read plenty of
reviews on the snorkeling not being that great but the water was wonderful... and thats exactly how it was.. The snorkeling was a few colorful fish and some purple plant life and coral reefs, but the sand and water was gorgeous!
We walked the beach, soaked up the sun and enjoyed being in what looked like paradise.
On our way back to the shuttle, we ecountered a local up in a tree cutting down coconuts with a machete. To get down he jumped and threw the machete down ahead of him. of which it landed about 8 feet in front of me when he did so... eeeeek! Jon asked him if the berries on one of the trees were edible and he said no, they're probably poisonous but he wasnt sure and then he ate one and shrugged his shoulders... living on the edge dude!
Jon bought a coconut off of him for $3 and we drank it on our ride back to the boat.
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Day two was a day at sea.. Lots of laying out, a few drinks that came with tiny umbrellas and some more soaking up the vitamin D caribbean style!
You gotta try the slide if you go !
Though 'hot' is a bit of a stretch for the water temp on board the ship, we did get some hot tub time
as always when on vacation. We lucked out and found one all to ourselves. Dark out, nothing but moonlight
and what feels like a cruise ship all to yourself... sigh
(until you get ready to get out....brrrrr)
This is Holetown on a rainy Barbados morning... I'm sure there is greatness
to the infamous island Rihanna's from, but our experience wasn't one to rave about..
We could have definitely used her umbrella!
We opted to take a $2 local bus back from Holetown and asked them to take us to the Mount
Gay Rum for the tour... so we kicked back in the ol bus, listening to the faint raggae playing, watching the locals get on at each stop, enjoying the fast pace small tunnel view into their every day transit... but after
what felt like forever we realized the streets were getting smaller and busier and further away from where we needed to go and the music was getting louder and louder! GET ME OFF THIS RIIIIDE!! ha
The bus circled around through streets and stop after stop until we were fairly close to being back to the port and we got off.. The guy from the bus was like, here you guys just come over here and get in this taxi here and they'll take you to the rum tour.. and he lead us behind some buses and taxi's to a random taxi in the back of the bregade of taxis.. we reluctantly got in the random taxi and were setting and waiting.. for what? i'm not sure, but I didn't like the eery feeling I was getting from the situation.. so I was like lets go. we bolted and started walking. the guy from the bus flagged us down and was like where are you going ? and we just kept walking and said we'd find a different ride.. he shrugged and walked off and so did we and that was the end of that.. We're still not sure if they passed our stop and forgot to tell us or what the deal was...?
Eventually we made it to Mount Gay and took the rum tour.. learned allll about the making of rum.
mmmmmmm.
not!
ha
The rum guide was precious. She was funny and cutesy and made what could have been
a snoozefest into a pretty funny 45 minutes.
She would pour out the shots and I would pour mine into Jon's glass (i dont do shots.)
He had his 3 my 3 and then she set the bottle out so I think I poured him 3 more.. lol
Fun fact: They have ONE guy that is the master blender.. He blends and taste tests alllll the rum to perfection before it goes out.. and he's had this job since the early 90's. Jon and I are guessing this man has worked up a pretty high tolerance and could drink you and your 10 friends under the table. :)
I'm more of a beer kind of girl.. The local beer is Banks. Its a lager, a little thick for my taste
not for me, but we enjoyed the break from running back to the port in the rain.
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For dinner each night, we were coupled up with Alberto and Maria. They are a couple from the L.A. area and were awesome dinner mates to have on the ship. It was fun to get to know about their lives in cali over the course of the week. They are awesome
We took in a few shows on the boat.. The Vrooom cast was
excellent, the magician wasn't too bad and the comedians had me knee slapping a few times.. Jon played poker a few nights at the casino and we watched a few movies. We went for the beach and the sand of the islands and a chance to hang out together just the two of us... I missed Kellen every minute of every day, but I enjoyed spending time with my husband and sugar coating my feet in the sand. St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Maarten were the last three stops and by far the best. this blog: to be continued....
ha
The south eastern bay areas are so exotic and worth seeing!!!
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