In January, Javan and I started the year off with an awesome Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was an incentive trip through Mountainland, one of Javan's plumbing suppliers. There were so many really great people in our group and we had a great time. So, thanks Mountainland for the trip!
Our first port of call was Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos. It is such a beautiful island.
We went scuba diving in Grand Turk. It was our first dive after certification so we were a little bit nervous. I told the dive master to watch me and make sure I was doing everything right. No, they could have cared less. They didn't check on us one time during the dive. They didn't have our weight adjusted properly and we had a hard time staying at the right level in the water, Javan especially. He didn't feel real great the next day and was a little bit worried he had the bends, but he pulled out of it. Grand Turk has the third-largest barrier reef in the world. We saw a giant crab, a shark, a sea horse, and lots of other cool fish and sea life.
After the dive we hung out on the beach for awhile, then did a little shopping and headed back to the ship. Our ship was the Eurodam on the Holland America line. It's pretty much a cruise line for senior citizens, and I think we might have been some of the youngest people on the ship. Oh well, we didn't care.
Our next port of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Whoa, it was a pretty windy day.
Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States we had cell phone service, and so Javan called the office to check in and take care of some business. It was also Javan's birthday on this day. And without me even telling them they sang a birthday song to Javan that night at dinner.
We walked around the city, and toured the El Morro Fortress that used to guard Old San Juan. It was a really cool old castle with a lot of really great history.
Me in a little watch tower thing.
A view of the coast from the watch tower. On the other end of the island there was another castle that we didn't go see, but you can see it off in the distance there.
We walked around and did some shopping and toured the city a bit. We ate at Wendy's. Mmmm. And we got scammed but some poor guy. I still don't know if it was a scam, but Javan is pretty sure I'm a sucker. A guy came up to us looking all nasty with scabs all over his face, but he looked American, and sounded American, he was dressed in nice dress slacks and a button up shirt. Anyway he told us that he and his dad were walking around and got into a bad neighborhood and got mugged and robbed. He said his dad got pretty banged up and was taken to the hospital. He was trying to get to the hospital to see his dad but needed some money for cab fare. So I felt really sad for him and gave him some money. He told us his name and email address but we obviously didn't write it down. I don't know if it was a scam or not. But if it wasn't hopefully my money helped the guy. And Javan was glad I had some hand sanitizer with me after he shook his hand. I don't know what the scabs were about, looked like a bad sunburn or leprosy or something.Next up was St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. There were these giant iguanas everywhere. They told us on the ship not to get too close to them or try and catch them. They said there was a special warning to the ladies, because they are attracted to bright colored finger/toe nail polish. Yikes! I stayed back.
We went to a place called Coral World Ocean Park. We always do things our kids would love to do, even though they weren't with us. I don't know why we do that, we should be doing things we can't do when we have them. Oh well. Anyway, we got to feed the sting rays.
It was pretty scary, but cool at the same time. Their mouths are on the bottom of their body so you really have to get clear in there to feed them. I thought I might get my hand sucked in.
They had a sea lion show. The trainer had an eye patch on. I wonder if training sea lions is dangerous. Apparently it could put an eye out.
After the ocean park we went to a nearby beach and swam and snorkeled for awhile. We had set our clothes and belongings on the rocks while we were in the water. When we got out and gathered up our stuff Javan noticed that the rubber grip things on his sunglasses had been chewed off, dang iguanas.
The ocean park was on the other side of the island from the port. We didn't have any trouble getting a taxi on the way there. In fact, our taxi driver was in quite a hurry. He hit a speed bump at about 40 mph. Javan and I were in the back seat of the 15 passenger van. We had no idea it was coming until we were both completely airborne, I'm serious, the WHOLE side of my body hit the ceiling of the van. Anyway, when it was time to come home we couldn't find a taxi to take us. Nobody wanted to go to the other side of the island. It was getting close to the boarding time on the ship so we were getting kind of nervous. Finally one guy let us get in, but stopped at the bus station and made us trade taxis. We saw Sandra Day O'Conner, a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice at the bus station.
This is a view of the bay from the top of the island. There were 3 other ships around the corner too.
A couple of the towel creations that our room stewards left for us. These were some high quality towel creatures, they even put out a book on how to make them. You know I bought one.
Our last port was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. It is a private island owned by Holland America. We just had a relaxing beach day. Since it was our last day we decided we didn't need sunscreen after our swim, bad idea. We had some pretty good sunburns for the flight home. That was comfortable.
We went snorkeling again. This is a cool crab we found.
Can you see that fish? It is the color of the sand. I don't even know how Javan spotted it. Sneaky little guy.
A giant crab, play toy. They had this whole water playground area. Our kids would have loved it.
And finally, our token "livin' in paradise" picture. What a great trip. And much need after having Javan live in Moab for over a year while working on the hospital.
It's funny that in every port I had some crazy story to tell, and it doesn't end there. Our flight out of Ft. Lauderdale was delayed for over 2 hours, due to mechanical problems with the plane. They ended up having to replace the whole auto pilot system in the plane. We're glad they did, waiting 2 hours is worth our lives. But since we were late leaving we missed our connecting flight in Denver. They didn't have another flight to Salt Lake until the next day so they re-routed us through Phoenix then on to Salt Lake. We were a bunch of tired and angry passengers. Everyone in our group was complaining about getting home so late, and mad about the extra time the extra flight was taking, until we reminded them that we still had to drive 5 hours after we arrived in Salt Lake. Then they didn't feel so bad.
All in all it was a great trip. I didn't even notice that all these things were happening until now, when I sat down to write about our trip. I love traveling and seeing the world and spending time with Javan.
