The week of September 30th through October 7th 2012 found us aboard the Carnival Legend cruise ship, relaxing with a good book, eating good food, getting reacquainted with old friends (Dana & Nikki Day from Casper), and spending some much needed time together.
We spent the first day at sea and discovered that the TV in our stateroom featured a channel which charted our navigational course, including the direction which we were heading, the speed we were travelling at, and the wind direction and force. Needless to say, my map-loving husband soon became addicted to this channel (and ok, I did too a little...) and we tracked our course the rest of the trip.
Tuesday brought the island of Cozumel, where we rented scooters with the Day's and took a self-tour of a little piece of paradise.
Although we witnessed first hand how dangerous these little scooters could be as we watched another couple go down pretty hard on the side of the road and come away with some nasty road rash, we had a ball on these and thought it was a great way to see the island. Besides, I was sitting behind a pro driver and had nothing to fear! One of the coolest things about this day was just being able to scoot around at our leisure and stop when we wanted to enjoy the views. We did this often...
Oh, and did I mention that the two hunks we were touring with decided to take a dip in a secluded spot in the ocean?
It didn't do a whole lot of good to try to keep their clothes dry because about 10 minutes after getting back on our scooters, we got caught in a torrential downpour!!
After grabbing a couple of yummy tacos from a local shop, we quickly made time to hit one last tourist site which were the grounds of some ancient ruins. I know this part of the trip was for me and I was so appreciative that the gang was willing to take time for this. I love seeing history in this way and trying to imagine life in another time...
Wednesday found us in beautiful Belize. I'm not going to lie, I had been both looking forward to this day and dreading it all at the same time. Ever since we got certified to scuba dive, I have thought that Belize would be an incredible place to visit. But, unfortunately, I have an acute fear of the water which plays a real number on me every time. Our first dive in Belize was a little rough for me. I struggled with my mask and kept trying to clear the water out of it but had forgot the fact that it just takes a normal breath from your nose while holding the top of the mask to accomplish this. Instead, I was blowing my nose for all I was worth and only proceeded to fill the whole thing with snot which pretty much ruined my visibility. Luckily, we took a break after this dive for lunch (prepared by Paul, our captain, consisting of a typical Belizian meal of chicken, rice, beans and fried plantain) and our dive master, Eli, reminded me of some of the things I had forgotten. The second dive was awesome! The fish and the coral reef were amazing! I was most proud of the fact that I overcame some of my fear and got back into the water and it was so worth it. One really memorable part of this dive was hunting lionfish. Apparently, these are a very invasive species of fish in Belize that are killing all the other fish, so the divers are given permission to hunt them. John (owner of the dive shop and teacher to Kris from the Netherlands who was finishing her certification that day) ended up with nearly a dozen of them at the end of his spear.
I'll look back at my time in Belize as the day my faith was restored in diving. I can do it!! And I actually even love it when I remember to relax and enjoy it and take in the sights of another beautiful part of this earth we live on.
Thursday brought Mahogany Bay on the island of Roatan, Honduras. This little island actually surprised me a lot. It was beautiful and although it is inhabited by people who don't have a lot financially, you can tell they take extreme pride in what they do have.
We had purchased a shore excursion this day and headed out on a bus to the other side of the island where we jumped on a zip-line. Tons of fun!!
And then ended up at Gumbalimba Park where we had the opportunity to explore some wildlife...
We then had a memorable ride back to the ship when the bus didn't deal well with the wet slippery roads and we slid this way and that trying to make it up a hill. I'll never forget the amount of smoke from the tires as the driver spun them like crazy trying to gain some momentum. We then opted for another road back... :)
Then, of course, we couldn't leave Honduras without officially saying we'd been there with a stamp into our passport. This service was done by none other than the Roatan Rotary Club - (we thought of you Cass!!)
Our final day of island hopping led us to Grand Cayman. We got off the ship just in time to find a rather large gentleman by the name of Cash Money who happened to take a little of ours. We paid to get on his bus and take a tour of the island which included a trip to Hell (very literally, there is a little town on the island called Hell, complete with it's own post office) and has a bed of limestone that has been formed into some pretty cool formations.
We also stopped to see some dolphins and then finished our day on Seven Mile Beach where we enjoyed some great snorkeling.
On this day, I had the stark realization how lucky I have been in my life to have seen so many beautiful places in the world. Once again, a renewed appreciation for the man who has made this possible!!
Our last day was spent at sea again but not without excitement. Earlier in the week, Rick had auditioned during a Karaoke Night to play a part in the ship's grand finale show. I was not surprised at all when he landed the role of Sir Elton John. I think this was a ton of fun for him, and for the rest of us too as he was able to shake his hips to some "Crocodile Rock" and show off his incredible voice.
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I love you guys!
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