Southern Carribean Cruise

Day 1: Embarkment

Dustin, Julie, Andy, and I flew into San Jaun, Puerto Rico and boarded the Carnival Destiny ship. After getting settled in our cabins, we had a life vest safety drill. This was a little unnerving, but good to feel prepared. (We also heard the Titanic music playing during dinner one night.)

Day 2: Port of call, St. Thomas.

We took a wild open-air taxi ride to a great beach where we snorkeled and soaked up the sun.

Here's the beach.
Here's some shots from our white-knuckle taxi ride.

That's our ship down there, can you see it?
Day 3: Port of call, Dominica.

We payed a whopping $100 taxi ride to this destination. We were a little disappointed that it was a rocky beach, so we didn't relax there like we'd hoped. It did have great snorkeling, however, with champagne bubbles ascending from the floor of the sea. Dominica solely depends on tourism as their means of survival. It was humbling to see the poverty they live in.

This was formal dinner night. The menu was amazing EVERY night or anytime of the day for that matter. We ate to our heart's abundance. Good thing there were treadmills on the ship! Quite weird to be able to order anything from the menu. All 5 courses, twice over if you like! We LOVED the chocolate melting cake...are you drooling yet?

Day 4: Port of call, Barbados.
We went to the other side of the island which was so worth the trek because this is what we saw. Crane beach. Right next to a the home of Prince Charles. The sand was a creamy white with pink flecks, so gorgeous! This was a wave beach, so no snorkeling. We had a blast!

Yeah, he's in construction.
Ahhh, wouldn't you like to stay at the resort atop that cliff?
That night we played shuffleboard on the top deck.

Day 5: Port of call St. Lucia.

We went to Pigeon Island State Park for some hiking and beach bumming.

I love this pic!
Had some smoothies at this cute shack restaurant.

Played some frisbee.

Bye, bye St.Lucia!
What a cute pair.

Day 6: Port of call, Antigua.

We prebooked an excursion here which included kayaking, hiking and snorkeling. The water was the most beautiful aqua blue. We kayaked around mangroves which are a huge part of the earth's ecosystem. They are protection for the coast line and 80% of the fish population are hatched in them. They are those shrubby forests in the distance.

Conk.
Andy and I got a free tee shirt for winning the kayak race. Ha! I'm still not sure how we managed that. (Andy's quick lesson for me on how to paddle most effectively must have helped.)
Day 7: At Sea

After our disembarkment from the cruise is ship, we spent 2 days in San Jaun. This is where my brother lived for 4 years, so it was fun to see some of the city. Here is Old San Jaun, the pride of the city. Loved the architecture and paint colors!These are war ruins.


Everyone was flying kites.

Eating at Danny's Pizza. We weren't used to paying for our food, so we ate here twice because it was cheap.
Eating "monfongo", authentic Puerto Rican food. Uhhh, don't you guys like it?

One crazy tree!
We are really grateful that we got to do this trip. It was a refreshing getaway for Andy and I. Over and over we were amazed with the ocean world and how intricate yet vast and how gentle yet powerful it is. Really, it's order and intelligence points to God as the creator. Looking out into the waves and never- ending waters I got such sense of insignificance and at the same overwhelmed that He would think of me.

We're glad that Julie and Dustin pressured us into going, we will always have great memories! Thanks to my parents who watched our 3 sweeties, that was such a sacrifice.