A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

Honey, you taste like fish.....

Welcome back from vacation to me! Since there is just absolutely too much to write about, here's a brief with some photos of the fun we had. Here's a pic of our ship, Liberty of the Seas, docked in Cozumel. She was big - I never even saw many of the features/activities she offered.

Our trip basically circled Cuba, we were always about 90 miles away from it.

Picture above is from 7 Mile Beach in Grand Caymen.

Saturday, the 22nd: Flying into Miami via American Airlines, about 35 people were on our flight - little 3-seat across number



Kenny was instructed to make sure I didn't look too fat in this photo. Somehow he gave me magically huge tits:

Got acquainted with the Ship, found "our spot" at the Let it Ride poker table, had a nice dinner with our friends at the Main Seating (6:00) time in the dining hall.

Our room was really lovely, future trips will require a balcony. Geri would still hate this trip and the room. They're pretty snug, but I adapt okay to it. The rooms were actually better on this trip than last year, slightly bigger overall (probably due to the upgrade to the balcony), but the showers were better because they had curved sliding doors rather than the gross fabric curtains which I hate touching me - skeeves me out, to think of how many/who's butt that fabric curtain has clung to before mine.

Loved my room with a balcony! The stateroom attendant brought me in a lounge chair from the pool area so I could totally lounge and relax - and drink the champagne that my friends Joanne and Melanie had waiting for us upon our arrival!

What's not to love about this view??


Happy to be sailing.

Sunday

Spent the day at sea, which I love as much as being in a port of call. Got acquainted with the casino and the bartenders, who we considered friends by the end of the trip. In fact, I think we spent more time with them than we did the folks we travelled with! But they have a baby (3 years old and cute as a button, but still....) so we were on different agendas.

Here she is, Little Leia giving us her special "smile" - she squinches up her eye and gives a Popeye grin! Her grandma Vaso kept telling her not to smile, to say "cheese" instead!

Kenny gave me his own special grin:

As luck, literally, would have it, Kenny won the progressive jackpot one night early in the trip on a nickle Deal or No Deal machine - $2,233!! He had sat down next to me to wait for a beer, slipped in a $20 and won A Major Award! Course, that's always tough to hold on to in the beginning of a trip....lots more nights to be spent in the casino. Suffice it to say, by the middle of the trip he had achieved High Roller status, which allotted a couple of polo shirts and more importantly, free alcohol in the casino. Course, by that time we had a massive bar bill already established. We like to drink and gamble. It is what it is.

Monday

Tendered in Labadee, Haiti

Labadee was beautifully landscaped, it's owned by Royal Caribbean:

Some local flavor greeted us with a Jamaican beat:

Dragon's Beach - notice the rocky conditions leading to the water. We heard a lot of "ouches" and of course it's the day I didn't bring my water shoes. Made for some painful swimming around.

Bought some Voo-Doo dolls from a Haitian vendor. I have plans for those things :) They even schooled me in the right way to use them for good vs. evil. Kenny purchased a Panama Jack hat, have to keep the sun from scorching his lily-white skin.

We lounged and indulged in the special island drink, a Laba-dabba-doozie which was one of my favorite cocktail blends. Enjoyed a beachside barbecue compliments of Royal Caribbean, which included some fabulous jerk chicken - yum!

Tuesday

Montego Bay, Jamaica

A very scenic ride from the pier to the activity area - we passed this jail which was run down/slummy. Maybe this is the way to inspire the tourists to be on their best behavior. We also passed a few open-air jeeps loaded up with men in camos sporting machine guns - slightly unsettling on vacation. Picture a scene from Blood Diamonds. No, I didn't risk taking a photograph, I may well have ended up with a room on the island.

Towards the end of the day a really cool storm rolled into the island. We felt a bit of rain as we shipped out.

Life in Montego Bay is very bustling and crowded:

We spied, and Kenny correctly identified this big black mound growing in the trees in Jamaica: Termites! Unfortunately, we've become experts at recognizing their habitats. The black lines trailing up the tree limbs are their "tunnels" and they live in the big mounds. They were doing the same thing with our garage....

A bit of a dirty island, not much offered other than beach, shit-shopping (which all islands are chock-full of and we avoid as we have enough shit), and Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. We opted for that option and took the island shuttle. It was fabulous, situated right on the water and had a very leisurely pace. Local flavors. In this case, Peach!

Parrot Heads:

Blue, blue waters:

Pretty, tropical colors:

Fire eating talent:

Below are a couple of random shots:

Changes in Latitude...

7 Mile Beach, Grand Caymen - pretty, lacked the much-needed shade

We saw a couple of Stingrays in Grand Caymen:

Part of the state park in Chakanaab in Cozmel, where we swam with the dolphins, Marina and Valery:

Elvis is Second to none on Grand Caymen

Big Orange Iguana Boss, Cozumel. Too scary to try to kiss.

Dolphin kissies are the best!

One of the many dining experiences....

The trip was overall fabulous - with the Dolphin Encounter by far our favorite part. We've already left a deposit for our next vacation - we just need to decide on the "where." Our travel friends are lobbying to turn it into a back-to-back 14 day adventure, which isn't out of the question, but I need to give it some consideration. I do miss my houseful of cats while I'm gone, and I'm sure they miss me. Widda let me know the extent of her disapproval by shitting in the bathroom sink sometime last night. She managed to kick my watch into the sink before she shit for added emphasis. Ah. It's good to be back!