Western Carribean Cruise - Days 4-7 {LONG POST}

Once upon a time in a land far, far away......oh. wait. This time was just about 2 months ago and well - the lands were far, far, away.....I realized this morning that I never finished posting about the cruise hubs and I went on for our 10th anniversary. You can check out days 1-3, here, if you want or if you've forgotten and care to remember the rest. SO, without further ado....the rest of the story!

Day 4 found us in Ochos Rios, Jamaica. We didn't

book any of our excursions through the cruise line. In Jamaica we used

Peat Taylor's Tours. Most people choose to go to Dunes River Falls while in Jamaica.

I'm sure it is beautiful but holding hands and walking up a waterfall didn't sound that

wonderful to me. SO, instead hubs and I chose to do The Blue Hole and go Tubing down the

White River.

It was wonderful. We were the ONLY ones in our group. SO, basically

we got a private tour for The Blue Hole.

Hubs jumped in a swam when we got there...

I took pics.

But, seriously - isn't this beautiful!!!???!!!
We hiked up to this waterfall and hubs jumped off.

It was truthfully one of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

After we were finished at The Blue Hole, our driver, Mario

took us on to meet up with other groups to

go Tubing down the White River.

I am not even going to lie to y'all.

My anxiety was way up over tubing. I was terrified

that there were going to be snakes floating around in

this river. {I know it doesn't make sense but sometimes

anxiety over rules 'sense'}. Mario assured me that

there were no snakes in the river, I felt a bit better.

The water was COLD but once we got started tubing down the

White River was so much fun!!!

After we were finished tubing, we had some extra time.

SO, Mario offered to drive us around the island to see

a bit more of it.

He drove us to a high point so I

could get this picture.

Mario dropped us off in the shopping district.

We shopped around a while and got the kids some

cute t-shirts. Then we ate lunch.

Authentic jerk shrimp - YUMMY!!
I think that our day in Jamaica was my favorite.

Aside from being offered drugs whatever they were selling at every turn, it was great.

The tour was great, the food was good,
the island was beautiful!!

On Day 5, we arrived in Georgetown, Grand Cayman.

We did a bit of shopping in Grand Cayman.

After being in Haiti and Jamaica which were both islands that had mountains,

I was shocked at how flat Grand Cayman was. But pretty none the less!

We got back on the ship and ate a late lunch at

this restaurant which was on the ship.

There was a $5 (per person) cover charge

but then it was all you can eat.

Really not a good deal for us because we

don't have much room for all you can eat

but the burger was good and the onion rings

were pretty good too....

The show put on by the servers could have been better.

They all looked embarrassed to be doing it....

On day 6, we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico.

We did some shopping for a bit.....

Then we ate lunch at this place.

The guacamole was pretty great.

The quesadillas were too!

Then we went on another excursion. In Cozumel, we used

Wild Tours Excursions. They were also fantastic to work with.

We had one other couple on the tour with us who were not from our

cruise.

This was K's favorite day, I think.

We went on a "jungle trek" on these buggies.

This is how we started.....

We bounced around for a while, and then stopped here.

The people in Cozumel get their water from sink holes.

We walked down to one. It didn't smell so great (very sulfer "y")

but it was pretty.

I couldn't get a good picture of it but there were bats

hanging all around in this cave/sinkhole.

Hubs went for a swim. I did not.

We also visited a few other places that the Mayans built in Cozumel.

The Mayans believed that to prove to the gods that

they were ready to be parents, a young woman would need to

leave the mainland of Mexico and come to Cozumel

to build a home and live and survive there alone

for a month.

Then her husband would join her for another month of so.

If a hurricane came during the time they were on the island,

they would hide in caves. I know-- that initially sounds

like they are sure to die. But the Mayans were smart people.

Theses caves were kind of hollow under the floor and the water would

eventually drain through so that they didn't drown.

Pretty impressive.

Here is how we looked in the end.....

I don't think I've ever been so muddy.

My legs were stained for a couple of days.....

We then headed back to finish shopping and get

back on the ship. These live statues

were everywhere.

This guy pointed his gun at me, as I

took the picture.

Cozumel, Mexico....

Day 7, was another day at sea on our way back to the USA.

There was lots of time for relaxing

and the ship put on a circus parade...

The final show before dinner was lots of fun.

It included these people.

It was fascinating. I was amazed at how strong they were.

He is hanging my ribbons -- holding that girl with his feet.

And the crew said goodbye....kind of sad!

We awoke the next morning back in the USA.

Back to life and back to reality.

We drove all the way home that day and I must say that one of my favorite

moments was walking in the door to my sweet kids.

They were SOOO excited to see us.

That was the best feeling ever!

It was a great vacation with hubs. I hope we can

do it again sometime. It was also great to come home

to my babies.

If you have hung in to read all of this, thanks!

Have a great day!

in HIM-