We went on vacation...and it was great...we LOVE vacation...especially when it includes somewhere exotic...warm...beautiful...and plenty of mid-day naps! We went on a cruise to the beautiful Western Caribbean and it was fantastic...although by the time we got home we were so ready to JUST BE HOME! Kinda sad how long you wait and plan for a much needed get-away but in the end you can't wait to get back home!
We flew to Tampa and spent the night at the Hilton, enjoyed some delicious chinese (and sushi for me) at Kona Grill, slept in and headed to the cruise port. We heard Tampa was awesome but we didn't get much time to see that for ourselves.
We used flyer miles to book my ticket and then we paid for Ray's ticket and it turned out that the miles ticket booked me in first class on the way there...I had always wanted to fly first class so I was pretty excited! We were going to switch seats on the second leg of the flight so Ray could experience first class as well but he is to much of a gentleman and let me have it the whole way! When we got off the first flight I asked Ray what they gave him for breakfast and he said "nothing, why, what did you get?". Turns out I got a full meal on each flight and poor Ray was left to fend for himself!
The first day was spent exploring the ship, our room, high winds and me becoming SUPER sea sick! The first night at dinner almost half our table bailed on dinner because the swaying of the boat was WAY to much to handle! I was the first to surrender dinner and it was a rough first night...and although I was sea sick the whole week it did get better! We were really excited to see our room had double doors...that looked at a life boat...but it was still nice to open them and have a nice breeze coming through the room!
Raymond's happiest thing on the cruise was the SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM...he loves ice cream! ALOT! Pretty much every time we passed the ice cream station he would get at least one cone! He tried to teach me chess and turns out I suck at it and could care less so he wasn't super excited about playing with me!
We spent time miniature golfing, enjoying little surprises in our room each night, and beautiful sunsets!
First Stop: Cozumel, Mexico
We hired a taxi to take us all around to everything we wanted to see and everything he wanted to show us...very pretty town...loved the donkey in someones front yard, looks like a sad little puppy who wants out...we hit up the Hard Rock for our usual souvenir glass...
We stopped by some ruins...which were a pile of rocks...with lots of iguanas crawling ALL over them!
We headed to the other shore and Raymond nearly got naked, I got to hold a giant iguana, relaxed on the beach and once again saw beautiful views.
It was just beautiful and the water was so clear! We went to some cool cliffs we got to climb all over.
This was our super nice driver...notice the total on our bill...most expensive carne asade I have ever eaten!! Raymond got to take a ride on the wild side and kiss a senorita as well...
Second Stop: Belize
It was gorgeous! We rented a taxi...aka horse drawn carriage...our tour guide, Michael, was awesome...he told us all about how life is in Belize, how it was growing up, we got a tour of the town...the rich (or so called rich spots) and the poor spots...turns out we could retire in Belize and live like kings on $40,000 a year...everyone had dogs in their yards to prevent the unemployed/lazy (per Michael) from stealing...we saw lots of kids schools and everyone was so friendly waving and yelling hello to us...
After our carriage ride we took a boat out to a private island...which was tiny...and had no more than 50 people on it the whole time we were there...we went snorkeling...saw lots of fun fish and conch shells...laid on the beach...had some delicious grilled chicken and some fanta straight from the bottle which was delicious...it was a beautiful little island and was so fun to get away...
Third Stop: Mahogany Bay Roatan
(just off the coast of Honduras)
It was beautiful...that is the trend...everywhere we visited was beautiful...Roatan however was the most HUMID...the second we got off the boat we were so flushed and sweaty!! Being incredibly humid also aided in it being the MOST beautiful...it was so lush and green and flowers growing everywhere!
First stop we made was ZIPLINING!! I was so excited!! This was what I wanted to do in Hawaii but we weren't able to so we did not hesitate to do it here...it was AWESOME! Best part was we rode in the back of a truck up a mountain...then we took a hike through the jungle...like actual jungle!! It was incredible! We saw a cool tree whose trunk made a heart in it...it was so awesome!
There was a series of 13 different lines with the longest being 900 feet...we were 40-80 feet up throughout the whole thing and I thought it was hilarious that there were no safety exits so pretty much you had to ride down the zipline no matter what! At one point we heard a super loud "buzzing" we looked towards the next platform which was 100 or so feet away and we saw a giant swarm of bees!! It was huge!! Probably 20 feet wide and it went from the ground 40 feet below to way over our heads!! We asked our 2 guides what we were supposed to do and they said "umm...close your mouth and eyes!" And we did just that, you could feel them smashing against us as we went down the zipline but we survived!
After our ziplining fun we took a van ride around the whole island...it was gorgeous...we stopped at the most gorgeous resort that had dream like beds right on the beach...the kind of place that I sure want to visit and spend a week at!!
The day we were in Roatan it also happened to be Raymond's birthday so we celebrated the day away! I got Raymond a giant slice of double chocolate fudge cake and when we were at dinner our wait staff sang happy birthday to him as well...I think he had a pretty great birthday but I can't be sure!
Fourth Stop: Grand Cayman
This quite possibly was Raymond's favorite stop...not because it was the most beautiful...although it was lovely with crystal clear water...not because the weather was perfect...not because there was another Hard Rock meaning we got another souvenir glass (we really like the hurricane glasses they have)...Raymond loved our visit to Stingray City!! It was so fun! We took a boat ride out into the ocean about 20 minutes and landed on an awesome sandbar that had lots of stingrays just waiting for us...fishermen used to drop their fish waste on the sandbar and all the stingrays would come eat it...so now when they hear the boat motors they gather thinking there is food near! It was pretty awesome! I need to get the pictures from our water camera developed still but I am hoping we got some better pictures with it. We got to hold them, pet them, I was forced to kiss one, and we feed them. They just suction the food out of your hand which is rather weird feeling!
It was crazy because you would just stand in the water and they would swim all around you, touching you and brushing against your leg, I got pretty squirmy because it was just crazy! Raymond got pretty good at catching them and being their friend! We went snorkeling for a bit once we were down with the stingrays, saw lots of gorgeous reefs and fish. The guides with us got a couple conchs while there and on our way back to shore they dug out the muscle (animal thing that lives in them) and we all got to give it a taste...Raymond however did not...which is not surprising and then they use the shells for souvenirs! On our way back we went through these brushes and there were iguanas climbing all throughout them...in the picture below there is at least three!!
We had lots of fun on the ship...went to comedy shows...singing and dancing shows...we had fancy dinners...lots of room service...and lots of naps...and we had fun dancing the night away...even though we can't dance!
We loved our trip...but as I said we were ready to come home! Below is our favorite spots to relax...I couldn't stand swinging in the hammock but I sure loved the giant papa-john...so happy we were able to spend so much time together and even when we got home I wasn't sick of him!! I sure do love Raymond, he really is an incredible man and I thank my lucky stars every day for him...he really did make our trip amazing!
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