Food, Fun, and Phillipinos

Were Back!!! We had an absolute blast on our Holiday Cruise to the Caribbean. Everything was so wonderful. The weather was great minus the first day at sea and in the Dominican Republic. The desserts were fantastic, the Pina Coladas wonderful, and being with my husband for 10 days straight with not one fight or even a tiny argument... priceless.

Get ready for a smorgasboard of pix......

We will start here...

Of course the first thing we did was grab a LITTLE bite to eat. The buffet is 4 rooms long



Next, my husband thought that a great time to tell me he wanted a buzz haircut for our trip
was not a week before our trip, but while we were on it, so he got his first and last paid for haircut on our cruise.



Resulting in a happy man and wife...


Next, we have sea day... enter storm, and 20 foot swells in the ocean causing us to be terribly sick and walk like the other 1,998 people who had been drinking. But we did get dressed up and went to a show that night



Monday, we arrived in the D.R. to a storm. We didn't care though, we were happy to get on solid ground again for a minute. It didn't last for long... We drove on a tiny boat for an hour both ways in the middle of the ocean to an island to see pirate caves and mangrove trees. The mangrove trees are very rare because they only grow in half salt, half fresh water. I guess it was worth almost losing our lives over it to see them, because we dang near did. The boat we were on broke down in the storm, in the ocean with 10 foot waves. Thanks Samana, we won't be back...

Before our excursion...


Here is the tour guide explaining the best method of staying afloat in the ocean while waiting for help in case the boat capsized...


the mangrove jungle


Us in a pirate cave! No, that is not Kyle sweating. That is from waves, and rain drenching us. I was dripping wet as well though hard to see in the picture.

We awoke Tuesday morning in St. Thomas and to SUNSHINE!!! Here is a view from our balcony...


We shopped in the city before our excursion

Rode to our destination in an open air taxi

And arrived to our excursion! This was a great day. We went sailing on a catamaran around St. John, and St. James then snorkeled in Christmas Cove for a while. We saw Sting rays and a lot of tropical fish!!! Then we sailed into the sunset back to our cruise ship! It was romantic.



I could not resist putting this fantastic picture of kyle and I on here.


St. Thomas was amazing! We loved it! Wednesday, we arrived in Tortola, and took an excursion to the Virgin Gorda Baths. We snorkeled to them, then hiked around inside for a while, then snorkeled some more.

Here is Tortola behind me


This is Virgin Gorda. The baths are all the boulders, you hike in and out of them to get to crystal clear pools of water to splash around in.



Here is a picture of our cruise ship docked in Tortola


Thanksgiving day, we were at sea all day. This is what I was doing...

This is what Kyle was doing...


We enjoyed a great dinner together, and a beautiful sunset off our balcony.



Friday was the best! We went to Great Stirrup Cay, which is NCL's private island in the Bahamas. We sat on the beach all day, snorkeled in the most beautiful water I have ever seen, and talked with some new friends we made on the ship. There was a great BBQ on the island for us, and of course... more pina coladas!!! This was a great way to finish up the cruise, and one of the best days of our lives! It was a blast!


The end of a great day


Saturday, we got off the ship, got a rental car, and drove to the nearest mexican food establishment. After, we had to go see the Dolphin stadium of course...


We also thought, we probably won't be back to Florida for a while, so lets visit the everglades! This was probably Kyle's favorite part of the whole trip. It was so cool! We walked around on boardwalks through the swamp with Alligators!!! They are everywhere, and they don't even eat people walking by them! It was so neat to see them up close and in their own habitat!


This alligator was about 4 feet away from me

Can you see this other ones head in between us?


If not, here is his body shot

He was about 12 feet long.

Here is Kyle thanking me for a job well done!




Our trip was so wonderful. We are glad to be home though, getting ready for Christmas, and for our next vacation!!!!