Sailing Away on the Fun Ship!!
The ship served wonderful dinners!!
We took our own dinner pics, instead of buying pics from the ship for $20!!
Silly mommas, sitting on the bar!!
Parkers and Robinsons
As usual, Dustin and I played Bingo and bought Lotto Tickets every night!!
Our first port was Belize. Belize is surrounded by coral reefs so the ship had to tender to the island. Here is a picture of the four of us on the tender to Belize, glad to get a day off of the big ship!
Instead of going to the mainland, we chose a snorkling excursion to Caye Caulker. It's a small island off of the coast where there are no cars and life is relaxing! The snorkel boat took us on a guided snorkel tour around a huge coral head near Caye Caulker. We saw lobster, tons of fish, and a moray eel!! After snorkeling, the boat took us to a place where the sting rays gather. Mandi and I were very intimitated by the sting rays and the tall grass they were swimming in and quickly got back on the boat!!
Adam and Mandi on the Snorkel Boat
Notice our guide in the back, we were a little leary of these guys and their small boat at first
(it wasn't the one in the picture they sent!! ha!!), but this was a wonderful excursion!!
After snorkeling and swimming with the rays, the snorkel boat docked at Caye Caulker for everyone to get lunch and explore. We had lunch with Carlos. He's a guy with a grill on the beach. No building, no employees, etc. He cooks lobster, conch and chicken on a stick on the beach for $7.50 each. Delicious!!
Carlos cooking real authenic lunch!!
Lobster was out of season, but our chicken and conch were yummy!!!
I'm sure Mandi's OBGYN would die if she knew pregnant
Mandi ate right off of the beach like this!!
Adam found a coconut and was able to crack it and we all tasted the water.
The next day, the ship docked in Rotan. We arranged for a private tour guide, Ali, to show us around the island for the day. We were able to get some wonderful pictures, play with monkeys, do a little shopping, and also relax on the beach!!
Wonderful scenic view at a little roadside market in Rotan
Our driver actually drove down the beach in the van, Dustin got out to dip his feet!
After sighting seeing and shopping, Ali took us to Victor Bodden's house. He is the owner of the tour company and has a little zoo set up at his house.
Here is Dustin petting the anteater.
Notice, he's one of the only animals in a cage. That's because he BITES!! Yes, Dustin still had to touch. The little thing just wanted his back scratched. The guide called him over to the edge of the cage and he stood up and pressed his back against it so we could scratch it!
A baby monkey that was VERY attached to Mandi. He didn't want to get off of her shoulder!
He was such a cute baby and strength was already amazing!
Dustin with the baby too!
Next we went into the bird house. This was the only one that would come down and visit.
After the birds, we went into the cage with the bigger monkeys. Immediently one jumped down from a tree and landed on top of Adam's head. Shortly after that, one jumped on my head and tried to steal my earrings and bite off my sunglasses. I thought he was going to rip my ear off!!
Dustin and Adam tring to coax the monkeys down from the tree.
He ended up with a money friend on his head too!!
After the animals, we were ready for some lunch and beach time. Our guide took us to this little place on the beach and we ate and swam for the rest of the afternoon.
The beach in Rotan!!
Scenic picture I took in Rotan
There are several neat shipwrecks in Rotan
Our last port was Cozumel and we choose to do a ship sponsered excurision to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. After a VERY rough 30 minute boat ride and a 1 hour bus ride, we arrived at the ruins. Thankfully, it was windy and we didn't die from the heat at the ruins.
These ruins were amazing!
Mandi was such a good sport for being six and a half months pregnant!!
On the cliff overlooking the beach at Tulum
Cool Margaritas and a real Mayan lunch before boarding the bus back to the ship!
Formal Night Pictures
Our waiters were WONDERFUL!!
Dinner on our last night
Saying goodbye to our new friends "Your hinny" and "Yo Man".
For the life of me, I can't remember how they are spelled but thats how they are pronounced...
We love to cruise and had a wonderful vacation. We haven't been on a cruise with friends in a long time and that made it even more fun!!
For those of you who are still reading this post that is much too long, here's an extra tidbit...
FIVE FUN FIRST FROM OUR FIFTH CRUISE:
1. Dustin got a golf lesson from the pro on on the ship!
2. We actually got up in time to go to breakfast in the main dining room!
3. Dustin, Adam, and I all slid down the funship slide!
Adam and I climbing to the top
Splash!!
4. Dustin and I ran on the treadmills in the ship's gym on three different days. Dustin may have done this one before but not me!!
5. We won a $1000 bingo game with our friends Mandi and Adam. It was actually Mandi's card that won, but we split the pot!!! YAY!! Yes, we acted like nuts jumping up and down screaming BINGO!!!
