Still Alive

We've now been back for seven days, one hour.  For six days the air quality was (in my opinion) awful.  Finally, today, the skies have cleared and it's amazing what a difference that can make in a person's mood.  Well, that and a fun night out with the girls.  A night where I didn't drink enough to make myself sick and tried KTV for the first time.  It was awesome!  I don't know if I've mentioned KTV before, but it's like karaoke on speed.  There are KTV spots all over the place here but, unlike home, you don't go to a bar and sing in front of a bunch of people.  You get a small room (the size depends on the number of people in your party) and you only sing, dance, drink and eat with those people.  There is also a supermarket type shop where you can buy snacks and booze that you can have delivered to your room.  Last night was the first time I've ever rented a room by the hour and it was with four ladies.  How fun is that!!

I know I've been pretty slack with our vacation photos but I've been tired despite adjusting to the time change quickly.  Tired and lazy.  And cranky.  It's getting better though.

I believe the last post I did in depth was about St Thomas and our day at sea on the cruise.  Our next stop was Barbados where Tim's parents finally caught up us and the ship.  Tim and his dad were supposed to go on a segway tour that day but just as they were leaving it started raining really hard.  They ended up missing it but weren't too disappointed.  We had been to this island before so didn't feel like we missed too much.  Eventually the rain stopped so Tim and I took a taxi to Bridgetown to get some stuff at a pharmacy.  That was the extent of our visit to Barbardos and I only got one picture while there.

St Lucia was our next stop on the cruise.  After breakfast we took the boys to Camp Carnival and the grown ups went off the ship for some shopping.  I hadn't planned on buying anything until I asked to use the wireless internet at a shop.  I felt guilty for using it for free rather than paying at an internet cafe so we ended up buying two t-shirts for the boys at $15 each.  It would have been a lot cheaper to pay for the cafe.

Water taxi we took in the afternoon.

In the afternoon we all visited a place called Our Planet.  It's an educational center built in part by NASA to show people the effects of climate change on the planet and it's inhabitants.  Although slightly depressing, it was quite impressive and not something you would expect to find on a small island in the Caribbean.

Thursday night was our second formal night and it was a lot of fun.  The boys ate at Camp Carnival and we had a very nice meal in the dining room with our two favorite servers, Milka and Daiva.  They even managed to have someone make me some hot, flourless chocolate cake that I loved so much on previous cruises.

Friday's stop was the one I was looking forward to the most.  We visited St Kitts where I booked a scuba diving tour.  I had done this once before on our wedding cruise and really enjoyed it.  Austin picked me up at the dock and drove me to his dive shop where we had a lesson in the pool.  I remembered a lot from my previous lesson so it didn't take long for me to be fairly comfortable under water.  Within an hour I was out on the boat with about nine other divers (almost all of them certified) on our way to a ship wreck.  My first dive was awesome and we stayed down for a grand total of 63 minutes.  I saw an incredible number of small fish but also a barracuda, large puffer fish, sting ray and a sea turtle scratching his shell on a piece of metal.  It was fascinating and so much fun!

Our second dive was a short boat ride away on a coral reef.  It was by far the most colorful, spectacular sight I have ever seen underwater.  I wish my underwater camera had taken better pictures but I don't think any camera can do justice to the beauty of the reef anyway.  You'll just have to go see for yourself!

St Kitts Shopping Area

The last day of our cruise was spent in St Maarten.  Tim and I had visited this island once before and really enjoyed it.  This time we booked a speedboat tour for all six of us and Captain Bob did not disappoint.  The first spot he took us was a small island in the Atlantic that is a protected site because of the thousands of turtles that return there to breed every year.  We visited at the end of the season so there were no longer thousands of turtles but still plenty to be seen.  Tim, his dad and I got in the water and snorkeled around while his mom and the boys stayed on the boat, watching for turtles coming to the surface to breath.  We were able to see a few swimming around as well as a barracuda chilling out under the boat.

Our next stop was the beach where we were to have lunch.  Captain Bob put our order in with the restaurant while we played in the waves.  There were two other couples on the tour with us and we all had a fantastic lunch before heading out for a little more snorkeling.  This part of the island was incredibly beautiful, as you can see from the pictures.  It looks like a postcard.

On our way back to the ship Bob stopped at a little cove with crystal clear water in which we could see a school of fish hanging out.  He said we just had to get in the water to see them and as we snorkeled around, he and the kids began throwing crackers into the water.  The fish went absolutely nuts, jumping out of the water and splashing as we tried to swim around them.  It was bizarre and a little creepy as they flipped and flopped around us.  Not everyone thought it was great at first (including me!) as it was a little overwhelming at times.  I don't think he was trying to drown anyone but it was a good way to freak someone out.

Barb and Captain Bob

Eventually they ran out of crackers and we were able to just swim around in the beautiful water.  I think it had to be the clearest, saltiest green water I've ever had the pleasure of swimming in.  Although I haven't been to a lot of beaches around the world, I think the Caribbean must have some of the nicest.  Just to be sure, I plan to visit most of them.

On Sunday it was time to leave the ship, much to everyone's chagrin.  All of us had a great time on the cruise (thankfully!) and can't wait for the next one.  On the plus side, I was very excited to get to Florida and finally see my mom and dad!  I will pick up the next post with our week in Florida.  So long!

Sunrise in the Caribbean