As promised...

Here's a couple of the parrot videos from Nassau.  They make me laugh!  We spent about 30 minutes with these two birds...

Last day...sea day

Last day of our holiday is today and we're happy it's a lovely, lazy sea day.   The sole extent of the excitement today was an emergency medical evacuation about 250 miles from Miami.  A helicopter came in to take the passenger away but, because of strong winds, it took many, many tries and about an hour before they could lift the woman up.  Hopefully she's ok.  

After dinner tonight, we went around to see some of our favorite crew members and to thank them for their extra service with some cash.  Our room steward, Galo, was fantastic - though we didn't see much of him.  The two stand outs on this trip were Lee, who orchestrated karaoke every night, and Gladys, one of the bartenders.  

Lee & Andrew - Lee was so great with karaoke.  There was a girl with Down's Syndrom who sang several times
each night and he was so great with her.  He would also sing along with her when she asked!  

Gladys - she had an amazing talent for remembering faces and drinks, and she was so friendly!

So, that's it for this trip.  Next up for us is Canada in July, and then New Orleans in October.  Hope you can join us then!  

Grand Turk

This is the second time we've been scheduled to dock in Grand Turk.  The first time, however, we were not able to dock at the last minute due to sea conditions, so we were relieved when we heard the announcement that debarkation could commence!   Like many ports, you get off the ship and walk through a large, touristy area with many shops and a few restaurants & bars.   Other than this area, and a very small "downtown", Grand Turk is very small, without much development.  Andrew had read that many people rented golf carts to get around, so we booked one in advance.  We picked it up just outside of the port area, got our brief instructions (stay to the left!), and were on our way.  

More of those beautiful Caribbean waters!

Andrew in our snazzy rental.  He did very well driving on the left!

In about 10 minutes, we were "downtown".  Downtown consisted of a few shops and some historic buildings.  The main feature of Grand Turk is the water, and some of the best diving in the world.  Maybe next time!   We continued past downtown and headed to the north end of the island.

Donkeys are wandering around everywhere.  

The lighthouse at the norther tip of the island. 

Us

Main Street

Highway.  Stay to the left!

Governor's Beach - amazing sand! 

Wreck in Governor's Beach

After we tooled around the whole island for about three hours, we planned to stop at Jack's Shack before going back on board.  Jack's Shack is only about a 5-minute walk from the port, so is quite well known with the cruise crowd.  Just before we made it there, however, our golf cart made a horrible noise, spit out a bunch of black junk, and came to a standstill along the side of the road.  When we picked up the golf cart, we were given a series of phone numbers and the instructions "If something happens with the golf cart, just call us & we'll come get you."  I assume, based on the pre-printed materials, that this happens fairly routinely.  Oh well, in about 15-minutes, we had traded our disable golf cart for a jeep and were back on the road.

Broken down!

Last stop in Grand Turk was Jack's Shack.  Nothing too fancy, but a beautiful view...

Jack's Shack - this is pretty much it, plus a BBQ off to the side.  Note to anyone looking for a start-up opportunity - this place had some beautiful beach in front, and charged no less than $8/drink.  With practically no overhead and a captive cruise audience, I think you could make a killing!  

Rental vehicle #2.  Looks nicer than the golf cart, but it wasn't.  The passenger seat back would not stay in a vertical position so you either had to hold yourself up or look at the sky.  

View of the two ships in today from port.

View of the cruise terminal.  Of note, on either side of the gangway, are beautiful beaches that are free!  

Now we're back on the ship and scheduled to set sail in about 10 minutes.  Grand Turk was our last port on this cruise, and we have one sea day tomorrow before returning to Miami on Saturday morning.

Half Moon Cay

Today's port is Half Moon Cay.  Half Moony Cay is the private island owned by Holland America which is, in turn, owned by Carnival.   Basically, it's a little island resort that where you use your sign & sail card, just like you do on the ship.  It is, however, probably one of the most amazing beaches I have been on.  Beautiful, clear, water in shades of brilliant blue.  Sand as soft as powdered sugar.  Gentle waves lapping at the beach.  If you have young kids, or are a big kid who loves a beach day, then Half Moon Cay is your port!  

When booking this cruise, we also rented a cabana on HMC.  The "cabanas" are small little "shacks" on the beach that you can rent for up to 6 people to use.  The cost is about $220 US for the day and includes snacks (see picture below), water (two 1-litre bottles), pop (8 cans), snorkel equipment, floating mats, and lounge chairs.  It has a little window-unit air conditioner and several fans, as well as a little outdoor shower.   We chose cabana #15, which is the very last cabana in the line.  This means that it is farthest down the beach.  Even though it's only about 100 yards to that point, about 75% of the passengers don't make it down that far.   They plop down closer where the tender drops them off, or stop in front of the Pirate Ship Bar.  We had very few people in our area, so it was lovely and quiet!  

A view of the cabanas fromt he ship.  The large, two-story version is
for large groups of more than 8 people.  Our is the last one on the left (#15).

Andrew on the steps of the cabana.  The floating mats are to his left, and
the outdoor shower is right in that same area.  

View of the inside of the cabana.  Those longe chairs were heaven!
In the cabinets along the back are a fridge and trash  

View of the beach & the ship from our cabana.  Have you ever seen
anything so beautiful?  

Pirate ship bar.  About 50 yards from our cabana, which meant that the crowds
and the noise stopped here! 

It was a beautiful sunny day, but only about 80 degrees and quite windy.  We took floating mats out for a little bit but it was a bit too cool with the wind, so we just laid out on the beach on our mats and soaked in the sun.  About an hour after we arrived, they brought snacks to our cabana.  It was quite a lot for just two people - I think they bring the same amount regardless of the number of people!

After lunch, the sun had moved around so that we could lay on those luxurious lounge chairs.  We spent the next two hours luxuriating in the beautiful weather and trying not to think about the snow we'll be returning home to!   About noon, we wandered up to the main pavilion to check out lunch.  They had burgers, hot dogs, jerk chicken and about a million kinds of salads.  They also had fruit, cookies, and several kinds of cakes.  Since we had a snack in our cabana, we just had a light lunch and then grabbed a drink in the Pirate Ship bar on our way back to the cabana.  

After lunch we decided to try out the snorkeling, so we grabbed our gear and headed back down the 100 yards to the "snorkel area".   Along the way, we passed many people making the most perfect sand castles with that amazing sand!  The snorkeling was less than impressive.  Holland America has created a few artificial reefs and there are a few fish swimming around.  The nice thing about the area is that it was only about 6-feet deep, so even young kids could navigate it easily.  Unfortunately (or, fortunately!), we've been spoiled by the beautiful reefs of Belize & Honduras, so we didn't look for very long.  

We had just enough time to dry out a bit in the cabana before it was time to get on the tender back to the ship.  We then had a couple of hours to relax (from such a strenuous day) back in our cabin before it was time for dinner.  After dinner, we went back to watch karaoke for a bit, then hit three shows in the main lounge (two game shows and the Love & Marriage game), then saw the adult's only comedian at 11 pm.  We typically don't go to the comedy shows, because we find they are not especially good.  This comedian, however, was very funny so we were glad we made it! 

We were back in the room around midnight - which is shockingly late for us!  Good thing we get to sleep in tomorrow...we don't get to Grand Turk until 11 am.  Good night!  

Nassau, Bahamas

First full day on the cruise and we're in Nassau, Bahamas.  We've never been to the Bahamas before, so we were looking forward to it.  We we up early and off the ship by 8:15.  We had read online that Nassau has a nice little zoo that is within walking distance from the port, so we headed in that direction.  It took us about 40 minutes to walk there, but it was right along the beach so the scenery was lovely!  

The zoo was adorable and you could interact with many of the animals.  Mostly it was birds, a few monkeys, and some other various farmyard animals.  We were the only people there until about 10:15 am, when a tour group showed up, and Andrew was in heaven feeding various animals.  I took several videos of Andrew dancing with a pair of Amazon parrots while either whistling or taking turns saying "hello".  It's hilarious, but on ship wi-fi, I won't be able to post it here.  I'll upload it when we get home, I promise - you don't want to miss it!   

We were back on the ship in the afternoon and had a nap.  We didn't get much sleep last night because I had some sort of insect bite on one of my ankles that swelled up and was oozing and itching.  This required a run up two floors to get a bunch of ice.  After that, we were both pretty much awake for the next hour or two.  Combined with a 6 am alarm, it made for a short night!  

Dinner tonight was "formal night".  The nice thing about Carnival is that this has gotten less and less formal over time.  Some people still get really dressed up in tuxes/gowns, and other people are in kahk's & Hawaiian shirts.  We were closer to that end of the spectrum on this cruise!  

After dinner, we went to the piano bar for a little while and then went to watch karaoke.  The mix of singers was quite interesting including some young kids, and an adorable woman with Down's Syndrom singing Abba.  There was also a 250 pound white woman who sang (from memory) every word of Baby Got Back.  Highly enjoyable!  

Tomorrow we're in Half Moon Cay, which is the private island owned by Holland America (which is owned by Carnival).  We tender at 7:30, so we'll call it a night!  

Andrew and his goat friend.

This guy was putting on a show for the ladies

Flamingo - they did a show where a group of the flamingos "marched" on command.
Kind of weird but interesting that they could train them like dogs.  

Four ships in port today!  This is Junkanoo Beach, which was along the way to/from
the beach.  

Andrew feeding a lory

Nassau Straw Market - this place was crazy!
A million stands and as many tourists - we only spent a few minutes there!

View of Atlantis from the pier.  Probably the best-known landmark in Nassau.

Cruise day!

We arrived in Miami Sunday afternoon from Belize.  The flight was uneventful and we had picked up our rental car and were on our way by about 4:30 pm.  We were hungry so we stopped for dinner at Tony Roma's (which was right on the way to the hotel).  We also stopped at a store to pick up a few things we needed for the cruise.    

View from the puddle jumper on the way from Caye Caulker to Belize City on Sunday.

We were hungry so we stopped for dinner at Tony Roma's (which was right on the way to the hotel).  We also stopped at a store to pick up a few things we needed for the cruise.  We arrived at the hotel about 6:30 pm, and were pretty much in for the night.   This morning we were up early so had time to wander around the grounds of the hotel a bit.  The gardens are beautiful and they are in the process of doing a $250 million reno of the hotel.  Good thing we stayed there now - we won't be able to afford to stay there when they are finished!  

First hole of the Blue Monster

Us on the grounds of the Doral Spa & Resort

More grounds of the Doral

 About 9:30 we checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport to return the rental car.  I'm having some issues with my Global Entry (priority customs access we have) so we wanted to swing by their offices while we were in the neighborhood.   I spent about an 45 minutes at the Global Entry office, but they still couldn't fix the issue.  Looks like we'll have to go to MSP after all.  

From MIA, we hopped a cab to the cruise terminal.  I have platinum status with Carnival, which means  priority boarding - so we were in our cabin just about 15 minutes after arriving at the terminal.  We dropped off our bags and went up to grab some lunch and a drink.  Carnival has this new alcohol program called "Cheers", which we're going to try.  It's $45/day and you have unlimited drinks (ok, up to 15, but we'll never hit that).  You have to drink about 5 cocktails or glasses of wine throughout the day to make it worth the while, so we'll see how it goes.  FYI that Andrew and I typically don't drink 5 drinks TOTAL on a week-long cruise, so this ought to be interesting.  As a matter of interest, we have both left our second drink mostly untouched already.  Guess it will be a few glasses of wine with dinner, huh?  Good thing drinks are about $10 a crack on the ship!  

Now we've unpacked and are just hanging out.  Sail away is at 4 pm EST.  Below are a few pics of the cabin and the ship.  Tomorrow we're in Nassau, Bahamas - so will post more from there! 

Our cabin

View from the balcony

Cruisin' Andrew on the balcony

Me - Port of Miami

Main deck of the Victory

Our aft balcony - Andrew's fav!

Our bags are packed...

...we're ready to go.   Sorry to be leaving but we'll be back someday, I'm sure.  We love this little island too much to never return.   Much of today we spent getting organized to go.  Because we're getting on the cruise ship directly after Belize, we needed to do a couple of loads of laundry.  Not surprisingly, the laundromat was still closed at 8:10 am, though it says it opens at 7:30.  Ahh...Caye Caulker!  Never disappoints.  Luckily, while we were standing outside the laundromat discussing what our next move would be, the owner saw us from his house and came out to let us in.  Whew - crisis of having to find a different laundromat averted!

While the laundry was working, we headed over to Cafe Y Amore for breakfast.  Andrew had grilled cheese with fried egg, and I had a grilled ham, cheese & pineapple.  With two iced coffees to wash it down, our bill (with tip) was $15 US.  

After breakfast, we picked up the laundry and returned to Alta Vista.  It was a nice morning, so we headed up to the roof deck for a little sun.  In fact, a little too much sun - we're both a little crispy now.  When we came down, the gardeners were here giving the Traveler's Palm a hair cut.  

Big knife!

Lunch was a big bowl of ceviche and a couple of rum & pineapple juices at Paradise.  Then home to finish packing and just enjoy the house for the last few hours.  

Ceviche - yum!

Now we're pretty much ready to go in the morning.  We'll get breakfast from "the taco lady" (johnny cakes) in the morning and the "taxi" (which is a golf cart) will pick us up for the airport about 9:45 am. We'll spend tomorrow night in Miami and get on the Carnival Victory Monday.  Stay tuned!  

Cold front!

A cold front came in last night after midnight.  It brought with it buckets of rain, and lovely cool temperatures.  Today's high was a delightful 74 F/23C.  However, with the high humidity, it was still warm enough to be in shorts.  For us, anyway.  The locals were dressed like it was Minnesota in January.  Seriously - winter coats and long pants! 

We slept in - until 8:30 people!  That may be some sort of record for me.  I'll chalk it up to a combination of a late bedtime, a Benadryl, and no itching.  We had breakfast at home (rolls from the bakery, fruit & coffee) and then lazed around all morning while things dried out a little.  Freaky was very happy to share the couch with whomever!

Around 1:30, we headed in to town on foot.  We learned on our November trip that bikes and sloppy Caye Caulker roads leave a white clay/sand stain on the back of your shorts/shirt that nearly impossible to remove!  We settled on lunch at Rainbow, which is a restaurant set out over the water with a lovely view.  We both had burgers & fries for a nice change of pace.  I had iced tea & Andrew had a Belikin.  Total was $20.50 US including tip.  

From Rainbow, we went in search of one of the "walking bakeries" they have on Caye Caulker.  We spotted Lloyd (aka Cake Man) yesterday when we were eating lunch, but by the time we finished and went to find him, he had vanished.  This is no small feat for a 400 pound man in a chef's hat pushing a giant cart full of baked items to do; but I tell you, he did it.  We searched every street in Caye Caulker (remember, there are only 4) on our bikes, to no avail.  We didn't find Lloyd today either (he typically starts his rounds after 3 pm), but we did happen across Errol, who had banana bread, tres leches cake & meat pies ($4 BZ for the cakes; $1 BZ for the meat pies) .  I took a picture of his cart for you to see, but it did not turn out (despite the fact that the pictures on each side of it were fine).  This will not surprise some of you, who know that electronics seem to malfunction at an alarming frequency in my hands.   If I can find either Lloyd or Errol tomorrow, I'll try again.  

Sloppy street after the rain.  A good day to leave the bikes at home!

We hiked back home and resumed slug positions for the rest of the afternoon.  I finished another book, and Andrew rested his eyes for a couple of hours.   About 6 pm, we walked back in to town to get Bert to stamp our dive books from last night's dive.  He told us that they had a few dives planned for today, but all were cancelled due to the wind & storm.  He said that tomorrow looks bad, also.  Whew - we lucked out with perfect conditions last night!   

Not especially starving after a late lunch, we meandered around trying to decide on a snack of some sort when we stumbled upon Anna.  Ahhhh!   We have been by Anna's pupusa stand every night since we have been here, and she has not been open.  We assumed that she was away, and were very disappointed about it.  Happily for us, she has returned!  She greeted us by name and we chatted while she made our food.  $12 BZ ($6 US) later, we headed home for a perfect dinner.   

Tomorrow is our last full day on Caye Caulker.  We don't know when we'll be back as we've got other trips planned through the end of 2014.   We'll keep our fingers crossed, though, that it's sooner, rather than later.