Port #1: Jamaica!

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!