Our third and final stop on the cruise was in Cozumel, Mexico. It was the third port in three days, so Catherine and I were exhausted and relieved that arrival time was later than the previous days. Our excursion was also in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to sleep in and then go explore afterwards.
By the time Catherine and I had finished breakfast and headed back to our stateroom to prepare to get off the ship, we'd docked in port. While I was out on our balcony I snagged this selfie with the incredibly blue water. The water in Cozumel was crystal clear, but this water was beautiful and blue and I couldn't wait to go swimming in it later.
Where we docked in Cozumel. We walked around the shops along the shore on the right.
We debarked the ship around 11am and headed down the dock to the shops and restaurants. We were on the constant search for sun screen. We'd already gone through 5 or 6 spray on bottles of the stuff and had just finished off our supply. The first store we walked into was selling sunscreen for $29 each. Needless to say, we continued to look in other stores.
We checked out the shops along the street that ran next to the shore. We poked our heads into a few stores, but I don't think either of us really bought anything. We did find a really fun bar that we stopped in, called Mr. Chile's. The bar stools had been replaced by swings- what a fun/ unique idea!
We ordered some cheap beers and ate some chips and "queso." Anyone who knows us knows that we can't turn down ordering queso when we get Mexican/Tex-Mex food. We thought, what better place to order it than in Mexico. However, it was not exactly what we were used to or hoping for.
A guy (who we think worked there?) started making balloon hats for everyone sitting at the bar. Catherine got a balloon crown and I got some hat contraption that came fully equipped with earrings! You should have seen the looks we were getting afterwards while we were walking along the streets shopping.
After an hour or two walking around, we made our way back to the ship to grab some free lunch and take a short nap. Our excursion didn't start until 3pm, so we had plenty of time to spare and we were just so exhausted, we wanted to relax a little bit before we went snuba diving.
Snuba= half-way between scuba diving and snorkeling. Just like scuba diving, except instead of each of us having our own air tank, the four of us shared one air tank that was on a raft at the surface of the water.
We left the ship again around 2:30 and found our excursion meeting point after finally tracking down some sun screen (for just $14 too!). There were just four of us in our group, so we got a lot of one-on-one time with our snuba instructor.
We swam up to 20 feet deep and saw all sorts of neat sea creatures like a speckled sting ray, a black and white spotted moray eel, and a little sea horse. It was fun, but I had to think a lot while doing it so I didn't accidentally breathe through my nose and then panic because I couldn't breathe. Catherine really enjoyed it and said she wants to learn how to scuba dive before next time! :)
Overall, Cozumel was a really great experience! We had a great time snuba diving and enjoyed our last excursion before heading back to Texas.
Laying in bed last Wednesday evening, I reflected on how long the day seemed. I was exhausted and Catherine and I were in bed by 11:00 and passed out quickly. We'd woken up around 6:30 that morning to the sight of us docking in Grand Cayman's bay, surrounded by 5 other ships. One of the other ships was the Royal Caribbean's 'Oasis," that carries over 6,000 passengers. That's almost twice the number of passengers that our measly little Carnival Freedom can hold.
View from our balcony when we woke up in the morning. Shore of Grand Cayman in the distance.
Three other ships that we were joined by in that morning when we docked at Grand Cayman. There were others on the other side of the ship as well.
After quickly dressing and spraying ourselves with copious amounts of sunscreen (seriously, at this point we'd already blown through like four bottles of the spray-on variety), we boarded a "tinder boat" and made our way to the island. There we met up with the excursion group, were given our "cranberry" colored wristbands, and herded to a mini van that drove us to our destination, Dolphin Cove. That day we'd signed up to partake in the "Dolphin Swim and Sting Ray City" excursion - thank you again mom and dad for this wonderful Christmas present! :)
View of the Carnival Freedom from the dock at Grand Cayman.
The very well trained parrots that met us when we arrive at our sting ray and dolphin adventure.
The "cranberry" (they were really just red, but I guess they wanted to make us feel special?) wristband group headed out to Sting Ray City first. We hopped on (yet another) boat and took a 30-minute ride out to the sandbar populated by all the sting rays. All the while I was having visions of a Steve Erwin-like incident taking place. I'd also seen too many sting ray episodes of 'River Monsters' to not at least have a healthy appreciation for the damage that barb can do when the ray puts his mind to it.
Sting Ray City.
The water at sting ray city was waist deep and crystal clear. Seriously, crystal clear... the pictures don't even do it justice. Catherine and I seized the opportunity to hold and kiss a sing ray and got some pretty sweet pictures as well. I also managed to get some pretty cool pictures on the GoPro (thank you again, Kellie!). There were some serious monster rays out there!
That's my leg! Ahhh!
Catherine and I holding a large sting ray.
Pucker up!
After about 45 minutes to an hour, our tour guide blew his whistle calling us back to the boat. It wasn't until after I'd reboarded out boat that Catherine let me know that our "sting ray handler" (guy on the right side of the photos above) had been stung in the ankle/lower calf area. Catherine said his wound didn't look too serious and the guide was all bandaged up and in good spirits on the way back, so I figured he was okay. He's been doing this for 30+ years and he said he hadn't been stung since the mid-80s.
I took this picture shortly after getting out of the water at Sting Ray City. In my mind, it's the best representation of how beautiful the water was:
After taking our boat back to Dolphin Cove, we swam with dolphins. Our dolphin's name was 'Sally' and she was 11 years old. We got dolphin kisses and belly rides, but no pictures because they wanted to charge an arm and a leg for them. I think I'll stick to the memories and hold onto that $100, thank you very much.
The big tank where we swam with dolphins.
After our mini van drive back to the port area, Catherine and I grabbed lunch and drinks and 'Breezes' and enjoyed the view from the second deck while I perused photos I'd taken on the GoPro. I was pretty surprised at how well they turned out, particularly because most of the time I didn't know quite what I was aiming at.
View from the patio at 'Breezes.' Our ship was to the far right behind some of that heavy equipment.
After lunch, we did some quick shopping and took the tinder back to the ship. I was exhausted and may or may not have fallen asleep on the tinder while waiting for everyone in front of us to disembark, which is a feat considering how rocky the boat was.
Once back aboard, I took a nap and we walked around the ship before showering and prepping for another "elegant night" dinner. As always, it was delicious!
Wow! Okay, so Jamaica was really fun! Catherine and I perused the excursions back in November when we first decided to go on a cruise. The horseback riding immediately stood out to both of us as something fun to do. Our mom and dad paid for this excision as well as the other two- Merry Christmas! Thank you mom and dad for making this cruise ridiculously fun!
View from our stateroom balcony while the captain was guiding the ship into port.
Catherine and I woke up around 7:45am and started to get ready. As we're getting dressed, we hear an announcement from Jen, our Cruise Director, letting us know that due to the wind, the captain had missed the port the first go-round. She said that we were going to try "one more time." What?! You'll give it another try? This was definitely one of those "you had ONE job" moments in my book. Thankfully, we made it into the port on try #2, as Jen told us was due to our "amazing captain." We docked around 9:30 and Catherine and I were off the ship and waiting in line for the horseback excursion by 9:45.
And oh my gosh, the heat! Catherine and I were both thrilled to leave a foggy and cold Texas ON Saturday, but I don't think I was 100% prepared for the humid heat of Jamaica. Catherine checked her phone when we got to port and the magical app told us it was a balmy 85 degrees. You could have fooled me- while on horseback it felt no less than 95 or 100! Needless to say, neither of us were complaining as we were still relishing in the warmer weather.
Catherine and I on the bus headed toward the horseback adventure. Note that I have so much sunscreen on my face that it's three shades lighter than the rest of me. I utterly refused to get sunburned on this vacation.
We boarded the bus to Chukka, where they do horseback riding, ATV riding, and other adventures. Jon, our bus driver, was hilarious. He schooled us up on saying "yah mon" instead of yes, "eh, eh", instead of no, and "ire" (pronounced eye-ree) instead of good. He'd ask us how we were doing and the whole bus would respond "ire." It definitely took a little prodding before we all said it loud and proud.
Chukka- our excursion destination outside of Montego Bay, Jamaica.
It was seriously a beautiful day.
After a 30 minute bus ride to Chukka, a little outside of Montego Bay, our tour guides prepped us for our trail riding adventure. There were 30 or so people in our excursion group and enough horses to go around plus a dozen or so. After given some brief instructions (pull back to stop, pull reigns left or right to turn, and kick to go faster) the instructors called us up one by one to pair us with horses. Thank god there was a tall platform to help us get onto the horses, I'd had nightmares about trying to hop up from the ground- something we short people find rather difficult.
While it appears that Catherine and I color coordinated our outfits for the day, it was entirely unplanned.
I got paired with a beautiful brown horse named "Country Boy" and Catherine was paired with a blonde beauty named "Johnnie Walker." We led the trail ride behind our guide, "Erval" (our best guess at spelling his name), who did an amazing job pointing out different things along the trail. Later, Catherine told me she'd told our guide that I had had an unfortunate falling off of a horse incident as a child and may be nervous. I was fine with riding the horse, but whenever I tried to get him to go faster, he'd turn his head and look at me like "just try me, puny human."
Selfie mid-horseback ride. Headed into the Jamaican rainforest.
Riding 'Country Boy' with Catherine on 'Johnnie Walker' right in front of me.
We rode through the rainforest, up and down some small mountains (probably really just large hills), and along the beach, splashing in the surf. We passed goats (a.k.a. "Jamaican reindeer"), stray dogs (a.k.a. "Jamaican mountain lions"), mango trees, lobster fishermen, and lots and lots of bamboo. It was beautiful- absolutely breathtaking! All the while, Erval was encouraging me to "ride that horse like you stole it."
View from atop of a hill on our horseback ride.
Catherine rode in front of me on the trail ride, so I basically became her paparazzi.
Horseback riding. Let's do this!
Lobster fisherman we passed on our horseback ride. We ended the ride walking along the beach and then through the shallow surf.
'Country Boy' walking through the surf at the end of the trial ride.
After our 45 minute excursion through the rainforest, we dismounted our horses and were given some time to change into swimsuits. While we were changing, the horses were getting their swim clothes on too! The nice, comfy leather saddle was replaced by a "swim pad," a nice name for a 2-inch waterproof pad of foam. No stirrups, so wrap your legs around that sucker! You had the horse's reins and a small loop on the back of the swim pad to hold onto- god bless and good luck!
One of the horses at the excursion. Note the blue 'water pad.'
Catherine and I about to hop on the horses to go on our horseback ride through the surf.
Catherine riding her horse through the water in Jamaica.
My friend and colleague, Kellie was incredibly generous and let me borrow her GoPro camera that she'd gotten for Christmas. Anyone that knows me, knows that technology is often not my friend. Thankfully, I learned the bare minimal to make the camera and wireless remote control work before our Jamaican outing. I strapped that sucker to my wrist and hopped on my horse and headed for the water. Using both legs to clutch onto the wet, moving horse with all of my might while trying to stay upright and not get knocked off by the waves (we were in the water up to my waist)... it was a struggle to say the least and probably down right hilarious to watch.
Below is the video of my horseback ride through the surf...
After dismounting the horses for a second time, I went and changed out of my swimsuit while Catherine perused the gift shop and purchased some photos of us on horseback that the guides had taken. We enjoyed a nice "Coca-Cola Light," took some photos on the beach, and boarded the bus to Margaritaville. At Margaritaville, we had some delicious, yet overpriced drinks and split a burger, which was long overdue since it was about 4pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.
Catherine and I at Montego Bay's Margaritaville.
My overpriced, yet delicious drink at Margaritaville.
At 4:30, we hopped back on the bus for the last time and braved rush hour traffic to head back to the ship. We boarded without fuss and made our way back to our room to deposit our stuff and watch the stragglers make their way back to the ship.
Last photo I took from our stateroom balcony before the ship left the port in Jamaica.
By 6:30, the crew had pulled in the gang plank and we were on our way... out to sea and bound for Grand Cayman!
I spent this past week on a cruise with my sister, Catherine. We decided back in November that it was about time that the two of us went on a vacation, just the two of us. Catherine went on a cruise last July and had an amazing time, while I hadn't been on one for about ten years... and to be honest, I don't remember much of it. She suggested going on a cruise and I was immediately on board (hah, ship jokes!).
We decided on a 7-day Carnival cruise through the western Caribbean that made stops in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. We started the countdown and started checking out the options that we had for excursions in each port.
When all was said and done, we'd chosen to sign up for a horseback excursion in Jamaica, a combo sting ray and dolphin adventure in Grand Cayman, and a 'snuba' experience in Cozumel. By the time December came around, we'd paid off the relatively cheap cruise (yay for off-season rates!) and were saving up for the excursions that we'd chosen. We were shocked and thrilled when my mother surprised us by paying for our excursions. It was a wonderful Christmas gift and one that we got to enjoy together.
The end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 went by very quickly! Before I knew it, we were discussing packing lists, parking in Galveston, and who was going to watch our precious puppies while we were away.
On Friday, I wrapped up things at work, finished packing, dropped my pup off with my parents and headed to Catherine's place in Kingwood for the night. After waking up far too early, Catherine and I headed to Galveston on Saturday morning and met her boyfriend, who'd gotten off of a cruise just hours before we were getting on ours, for brunch. I took a just-in-case dramamine and we headed toward the port. With our "Faster to the Fun" pass we were able to board early and skip all of the lines. From parking lot to ship it only took us about 40 minutes, a fraction of the time it would have taken otherwise. Definitely worth the investment for those pondering a future Carnival cruise.
Before boarding the ship, Catherine told me that she had three surprises for me once we boarded the ship. Needless to say, my interest was piqued! The first surprise was a quick one- when we opened our stateroom door I was met not by the interior room that I expected, but a room with a balcony! What a wonderful surprise! We spent many hours on our balcony relaxing after our excursions and I got a lot of reading in out there.
Our stateroom on the Carnival Freedom.
Catherine and I in our stateroom before we left Galveston.
After checking out our stateroom, we went out to explore the rest of the ship and grabbed our first drink!
Pre-departure selfie on the Carnival Freedom.
Enjoying a drink on the Lido Deck before leaving port.
Around 3pm, the Carnival Freedom departed Galveston and we waived goodbye to all of our responsibilities for a week. It was great! We attended our mandatory safety briefing so we all knew what to do in case of an emergency. Afterwards, Catherine and I each visited the spa, where I got a facial and massage- perfect way to start our vacation! Due to waking up early, we were exhausted, so after dinner we tucked ourselves into bed early- around 11pm and were eagerly looking forward to our first day at sea!
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