Life on a Ship

Annmarie, Steve, Kendall, Jake and I took a Western Caribbean cruise the first week of December. It was the first cruise for Jake, Kendall and I and Annmarie and Steve's third cruise so most of the time we just followed what they did. The cruise ship was amazing with many amenities and felt more like a fancy hotel than a ship. It was nice to be pampered from food whenever you wanted which was always fabulous, multiple pools and hot tubs, movies in the pool, entertainment all day, and my bed being made everyday. We also celebrate Steve's birthday and Annmarie and Steve's anniversary. This was such an amazing vacation and already looking forward to our next cruise!

Grand Cayman

After a day at sea, our first stop was to the island of Grand Cayman. Annmarie, Kendall and I went to a turtle farm while Jake and Steve went snorkeling. The Cayman Islands have very strict laws and basically does not take any crap from their people or other countries around them mainly Cuba. Before the turtles we made a stop in Hell. Mail sent from their is postmarked from Hell. The turtles were amazing and extremely large. We were able to hold a baby turtle which did not feel anything like I thought it would. To calm them when there fins got going all you had to do was stroke the back of their neck and they would instantly settle down. I did not get any pictures of the turtles, not really sure what happened there.

Here are some photos of Jake and Steve snorkeling with the sting rays.

Roatan, Honduras

Roatan is an island off of Honduras. The moment we stepped off the ship the heat and humidity hit you like a brick wall. We spent some time shopping at the port before taking a tour of a monkey refuge. The cruise line built their own port in Roatan with restaurants, shops and a beach. The crazy thing is they have to back the ship into a narrow port, I could not even imagine maneuvering such a large ship like that.








At the monkey refuge the monkeys were able to climb on you. You had to make sure you did not have any loose items because the monkeys would take them and carry them away into the trees.

Cozumel

In Cozumel, Jake and I took a ferry over to Playa del Carmen to take a tour of Coba. Coba is not as excavated as the other ruins and still has many large structures covered from the jungle. We had toured Chichen Itza and Tulum when we spent time in Cancun so we were looking forward to these Mayan ruins. Especially because they still allow you to climb to the top of main temple. We had a really interesting experience while we were on the bus traveling to Coba, our tour guide asked if anyone had heard of Zarahemla. Jake and I both shook our heads not thinking anything of it. Well as we were walking in the ruins, the guide came up to us and started speaking Spanish to Jake. He said that he was going to walk with his Mormon friends. After talking with him, we found out that he knew Helaman (Helaman is a LDS tour guide that took us to Chichen Itza and Tulum)and that Helaman had explained how The Book of Mormon could be related to the Mayan ruins. So from then on the tour guide would mention some of the things Helaman had told him through the tour. The amazing part of this story is that while we were at some ruins we turned around and there was Helaman. I mean really want are the odds. After we climbed the temple, Helaman was at the bottom and we were able to talk with him. This was probably by far my favorite shore excursion we did because of this experience.

Princess Cays, Bahamas

This was our last stop on our Caribbean cruise before the ship turned around to head back to Florida. It was a perfect day not to hot and the humidity was not an issue. While Steve and Jake went snorkeling for the second time, Annmarie and I lounged around in our clamshell on the beach. The sand was soft and felt good in the toes but the ocean floor had lots of big rocks. Kendall was not liking the beach at first but that only lasted a little bit and then she became a beach lover. She had no fear and would have ran to the ocean if we would let her.