This itty, bitty island is called Goff's cay. It's surrounded by a gorgeous reef where we snorkeled off Belize. The plant life was amazing--fish, not so impressive. Grand Cayman is my favorite for amazing fish. My original plan was to go on the $70 excursion arranged by the cruise line to snorkel with the nurse sharks and sting rays, but my dad foiled my plan. He talked my aunt out of going with me and instead convinced her that we could arrange our own similar excursion for half the price. Well, it turns out you get what you pay for. Our $40 excursion was not quite the adrenaline rush that I had envisioned.
These two girls live in Belize. They worked on the tiny island where we played after an hour of snorkeling. Tamara and Prudence look drunk in this picture and they are. The island/snorkeling package included all you can drink rum punch. All I can say is the boat ride back to the main land was extremely loud. My aunt and I are non drinkers and have not had much time around heavy drinkers. I kept trying to figure out what was so funny, finally, I just started laughing with the rest of the passengers.
This is my mom in our cabin probably not wanting me to take this picture. I think she looks beautiful! I should have taken a photo of the whole cabin including my bunk. I'm sure it is more fun for me to share a room with them that it is for them to have me on a bunk right above them.
This my dad on the last night of the cruise. He had to hold his hat on to keep the wind from taking it away. He looks just like Santa right?
This is me in Belize right before boarding a little boat to go out to snorkel at a reef near a tiny island. The photo was taken by Lee, a man I met on the cruise ship. Lee followed me around for a few days and tagged along with my aunt and me on the snorkeling excursion. He found out I was not looking for love (after he had requested point blank), so fortunately he stopped following me around. Single women need to be careful on cruises; I learned THAT lesson 10 years ago from an awkward experience with a waiter from Turkey.The cruise that I took with my parents and aunt and uncle was great!! They say you can gain 7 pounds on a 7 day cruise--I was thrilled to find that I had lost 2 pounds. I exercised 2 or 3 times each day and I was really careful to eat vegetables and lean protein so that I could enjoy dessert each night. The best part is that the chefs that Norwegian Cruise Line hires don't make delicious food. I found that I would get excited for the fancy evening meal, but then push it away after a few bites. It wasn't gross; just not worth the calories. The morning breakfast buffet was the best. I became good friends with the omelet man. He teased me about my egg whites, tomato and spinach omelets--he would even try to tempted me into adding cheese or sausage ;-)
So the cruise was a perfect getaway. I had more time than ever (since motherhood) to exercise, converse, meditate, journal and read. It was really fun to have so much time with my parents too. They are easy travel partners. Cruises are great because you can have plenty of alone time too. You are all safe on board with tons of activity choices and you meet back up at the cabin before dinner. The first time I cruised with my parents was 10 years ago. They told me afterwards that I tried to plan their activities and keep them too busy, so this time I held back a little and only invited them to join me for some fun events. They stayed out late with me 2 of the nights--we even did some dancing and singing. I completely embarrassed myself singing a Whitney Houston song. Oh well, I will never see those people again, right?
I didn't start to miss my girls until day 5, but it hit hard. I started telling my dad that next time we would take the girls with us and he said, "I love your girls, but I won't be cruising with them." We'll see about that!!
