The Cruise

In May, my family and Jamie and I went on a cruise for a much needed vacation. We flew to Ft Lauderdale and spent the night there then left the next day to head to Key West. Before departing we had to do the ever-favorite lifeboat drills. Here we are in our stylish life jackets. That first day was spent walking around the boat, figuring out where the important things were (dining room, pool, our rooms....) and relaxing. We left that evening and were on our way to Key West, famous for where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote his novels.

Our time in Key West was short--only about 5 hours--but it was a great town to walk around in and see the sites. Lots of shopping and eating....we even found a Starbucks to get our caffeine fix! And I was able to enjoy a delicious slice of key lime pie with Jamie before we got back on the ship. The shops and architecture there are very unique and have a lot of character. I'd like to go back someday when we have more time to see more of the city.

Wednesday was our 2nd port of call where we spent the day in Cozumel, Mexico. We had decided to do some snorkeling while in Cozumel so booked a tour ahead of time. We took a 45 minutes boat out to the Palancar Reef which was supposed to be a great place to snorkel. We got a quick snorkeling lesson and they gave us our gear and we were off. We all had our underwater cameras so got some good pictures of the reef and some fish, but after awhile we started feeling these tiny little bites/stings all over our bodies. At first I thought it was just me but realized later that everyone felt that way. We had snorkeled as a family in Hawaii before but I didn't remember it being as uncomfortable as it was this time. Aside from the little biters (which we found out later were tiny little jellyfish), my mask was on my head too tight giving me a massive headache and my sister was having an anxiety attack from the fish getting too close to her. We were all glad when our snorkeling adventure was over.

We spent our evenings enjoying wonderful food of which we always had a choice of appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts. Our waitstaff was fabulous--they were always at our beckon call and incredibly helpful and friendly. We spent a considerable amount of time in the casino, losing money mostly. Colin did participate in a Texas Hold Em tournament one day and he ended up in 2nd place at his table of 7.