Posts Tagged With: snorkeling

Our Galapagos Adventure, Part 2

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Doug and Jackie

Let’s continue with this fantastic adventure cruise to the Galapagos Islands.  As I mentioned earlier, the Galapagos Islands lie 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, isolated for centuries and only visited by whalers, pirates and eventually settlers who tried to cultivate a living on the islands.  The volcanic islands lacked dependable sources of water, with a few exceptions, and thus put a huge strain on the bird and animal life that arrived to the islands.  The need to adapt for survival resulted in species that are totally unique and were what we wanted to see on this trip.  We were not disappointed.

Our fourth day aboard was off the coast of Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands.  Overnight we were rocked pretty good by large swells, caused by the deep water Humbolt current we were told, and this was the first time seeing lights of other boats and onshore activity.  Choices of excursion for the day were a morning beach walk with beach snorkel or simply the beach snorkel.  Up early to catch breakfast and get ready, we chose the beach walk, since it involved a brief visit to a brackish pond where other birds were expected.  An 8:30 wet landing meant wearing wet shoes and changing into dry socks and hiking shoes.  The beach was white sand, the color of the water was a beautiful blue and frothy white waves crashed over the black volcanic rocks and over the red crabs and brown sea lions scattered about.  It was very cool. The pond behind the dunes was quiet and we saw some ducks and a great look at a black-necked stilt.   

Back at the beach landing we changed into our snorkel gear to check out the sea life.  Turns out it was pretty stirred up and hard to see clearly, so we opted to slip off our fins and get out.  As we were doing so, someone pointed out “octopus in the water”.  Sure enough, there in the wave wash was a dark grey/purple octopus, maybe 12” across the spread tentacles.  We watched a bit before it disappeared deeper into the water.  How very exciting!

Back on board we went through the washing routine with our gear, showered and headed to lunch.  Today was a Spanish inspired lunch with lots of delicious choices.  We had a little chill time while the ship repositioned around the island, just off Baltra and North Seymour Island.  As the ship moved north we closely passed two protected islands: Daphne Major and Daphne Minor. These treeless islands experienced severe drought in the ’70’s and as a result their finch population had to adapt to eating much larger, harder seeds. It is very protected and is the site of finch studies. Moving along the cliffs we spotted some of the red-billed tropicbirds fishing.

Doug skipped the 3:00 snorkel but Jackie went out on this deep water snorkel that she said was a bit rough with some of the same fish and was back onboard by 4:15.  It was a quick turnaround for her, as we both took the 4:45 tender for a dry landing on the rocky coastline.  This was a big nesting area for the frigate birds and blue footed boobies.  There were lots and lots of frigate birds soaring around, some who would try to snatch fish from the nesting boobies, others hovering just above us.  

Of course I was clicking away with my camera and also filming with my gopro camera the whole time – carefully stepping over the many rounded rocks and around the sleeping sea lions.  I was filming a very curious juvenile frigate bird who was just a foot or so above Jackie when he shifted over to me and came in way way too close.  I backed away as his long hooked beak headed straight for me. What else could you do, their wingspan was nearly 4 feet across and I really didn’t want to swat at him – so as I was shouting “too close, too close” I toppled over some rocks and went down.  Everything was fine, I was just a bit humbled and embarrassed by this silly bird.  Yes, it’s on video.

Further along we encountered a cute group of three sea lion pups flopping about.  The group circled around them to take pictures and the pups kept creeping closer and closer to us.  Once again we were telling them “too close” but they didn’t listen of course and they curiously kept advancing.  It was really quite amusing watching as another couple of pups joined them and there was much barking and jostling and flopping around.  Very special and up close look at them.

Onboard for the drink of the day – the Yellow Warbler (well at least I got the drink, if not the photo just yet) – dinner and then choices for tomorrow’s excursions.  Jackie has been very careful on this trip with her dining choices, since she has an allergy to shellfish (crab, lobster, shrimp) that she wants to avoid.  The cruise line was advised in advance and our servers have always asked, but somehow something was overlooked.  She had a rough night and the next morning just wanted to stay in bed.  I shared that with the maitre’d and he ordered up a bowl of chicken soup for her and followed up all day with how she was feeling.

The morning activity was a trip ashore on San Cristobal Island to visit a nature center and then have time in town for shopping or wandering.  Lots of sea lions on shore and laying about on sidewalks and benches – you had to once again watch your step.  I watched several pups splashing around in the tide pools.  Town was pretty quaint, with lots of open air cafes and shopping nooks.  I snapped pictures, did just a little shopping and was back on board before lunch.  It was a rather busy port compared to every other spot we visited.  Only 3% of the islands are inhabited, but where they are it is pretty crowded.

Jackie was still not feeling too good, but I told her it was not a real important excursion day and to stay aboard and rest.  We had some chill time again onboard as the ship repositioned off Punta Pitt and we waited for our scheduled time to visit the island (visitation is strictly controlled).  At 4:00 I boarded the tender for a wet landing, then changed into dry socks and shoes for the long hike up and around the island.  This was a hike up a dry, tight creek bed, much like a small slot canyon, and it was a nice challenge.  You pretty much had to watch your footing the whole time, but as I stopped to get a picture of the blueish lichen on the rocks I noticed something odd on the rock ledge.  Oh, wow it was a small owl.  I pointed it out to our naturalist, who got very excited to see the Galapagos barn owl.  It was just roosting on the rock, not paying a bit of attention to all of us who were snapping lots of pictures.  Nice catch.

Further along the hike we reached some shrubs where blue footed booby chicks were sitting in nests – all white and fluffy.  There was also a new bird for us, the red footed booby, both adults and juveniles.  They were much more gray colored, but the feet were definitely red.  Along the cliffs we saw the third booby, the Nazca booby.  These were white with black wing patches and a yellow bill.  Several flocks were flying along the cliffs and you could catch a few nesting out on the rocks.  Very scenic area, with red and orange plants scattered on the rocks (probably a variety of sedum).  We turned back and found the barn owl still sitting on the ledge, ignoring us.  

Back onboard the ship Jackie was feeling better.  She said the captain and other staff checked on her all day and they figured there must have been some cross-contamination.  The chef prepared a special chicken plate for her and I tried their pumpkin soups and a flounder plate.  The drink of the day was the red footed booby.  After dinner we went up to the darkened 8th deck to look at the stars, even though we couldn’t find the Southern Cross or recognize any of the constellations (too many stars!).  

Saturday was our day to visit tortoises and to do some reforestation on Santa Cruz Island so after breakfast we departed at 8:00 for a dry landing at Puerto Ayora and a short bus ride to the Charles Darwin Research Station and a walk into the Fausto Llerena Giant Tortoise Breeding Center.  We saw our first adult saddleback tortoises here and pens with many other younger ones.  This breeding center is where they hatch and grow the tortoises until around 5 years old, then introduce them back to the islands where they are native.  Great spot for lots of information about how the tortoises were removed so heavily by whalers and pirates as a long-lasting source of food onboard their ships and the efforts now to repopulate them.

Walking back to our buses in town we had some time to shop for shirts, souvenirs and chocolate.  We made sure to get some that was tagged “Darwin’s favorite chocolate.”  Right.  Chocolate was top of his list.  Our next journey was up into the Highlands for a tree planting activity.  We hopped out of the van and found our sizes of rubber boots before hiking into the green, tropical Highlands to plant some Galapagos Scalesia trees to replace the cleared invasive species that had taken over.  This tree is important to the island because of the lichen that grows on its branches and traps moisture from the air.  Each of us had two saplings to plant, with tags that indicated our specific cruise and date, so if we choose to return in years to come, we might just be able to find our trees.  

Changing out of our boots and back into hiking shoes, we boarded the vans for another short drive down the mountain to the El Mansanillo Ranch and a tortoise preserve.  The Highlands were rather lush, filled with pastures of cattle, groves of fruit and greenhouses of vegetables.  It helped us understand that when our cruise chef said they locally sourced all of their food for the cruise, it was indeed possible from Santa Cruz island.

At the ranch we were greeted in a beautiful open-air pavilion for welcome drinks and a delicious buffet lunch.  One of the featured drinks was their own Boobies Beer, which was a nice blonde ale.  After fruit, salad, ceviche, fish and dessert – plus wine and shots of their distilled moonshine – we were treated to a local high school dance performance of traditional dances.  Very colorful and entertaining.  But of course the big event was stepping out to find the giant tortoises.  Not too hard to do, since we had been watching these large moving boulders since we arrived.  In fact they were on the dirt road leading to the ranch and our driver had to gingerly weave around them.  

In the lush green fields we walked among the domed tortoises as they munched on grass, moved about, watched us carefully … and it all just seemed so strange.  These animals were two and maybe three times our age.  They had the freedom to go wherever they wanted on the island, they weren’t penned in.  Wherever the food source took them is where they went.  These domed tortoises had shells that differed from the saddleback tortoises we saw earlier, the result of adaptation that was all part of Darwin’s observations and concluding theories of evolutionary change.  The food they ate (saddlebacks needed to reach the prickly pear fruit) determined how their necks grew and shells molded.  The grass did not require these tortoises to have the long necks and saddleback shells.  It was just amazing to see so many of these big creatures all over the fields and pastures.

We had a little more time in town before heading back to the ship.  This waterfront avenue was filled with pretty high-end shops and restaurants and was lots of fun to shop, even though we really didn’t have much extra room in the luggage for extra souvenirs.  Oh, and I finally got a clear shot of that elusive yellow warbler – on a windowsill no less!

Speaking of luggage, our briefing before dinner was all about how to pack up before midnight, followed by a photo review of our week’s cruise adventure.  Each of us received a jump drive with the powerpoint slide show to take back with us – and we toasted the entire crew with champagne.  Dinner that night was special – a group of 12 of us who had become pretty close on the excursions asked to be seated together for the last night.  It was a lot of fun, as we laughed and chatted about the adventures we all just experienced together.  The meal was delicious, with most choosing the beef Wellington, while I had grilled octopus (sure hope it wasn’t the one we spotted).  If I recall correctly, it was Ena and Al, Andy and Kristy, Carol and Kathy, Judy and Linda, Adam and Janice who joined us for that last meal (which seemed to have bottomless glasses of wine). 

Well we did get our bags all packed up and outside the door for pickup by midnight.  We were up early to leave the room by 7:30 and catch breakfast before hopping aboard the tenders one last time.  The captain and crew were all there to wave us off, no doubt anxious to prepare for the next arrivals.  It was a contented bunch who docked and rode the shuttle to the airport, just a bit sorry the adventure had come to an end but thrilled with the experience.  We claimed our bags, passed through immigration, got our boarding passes and waited in the VIP lounge where there was food and water.  Unfortunately, due to national elections the next day, all alcohol sales and service in the country were shut down for 36 hours.  Ah well, we had our fill the day before.  

The chartered 2 hour flight back to Quito was just fine, with another delicious lunch served.  One in Quito the group broke up in several ways.  Some folks were headed to Peru for adventure, a few were going to the cloud forest in Ecuador and others had flights home a day later.  We were part of the group that had an early flight back home the next morning, so we were escorted to a hotel near the airport: EB Hotel.  This is a very posh euro style hotel that welcomed us with drinks (juice) and had wonderful rooms.  Once again, the lobby was filled with large arrangements of long stemmed roses.  Gorgeous.  Dinner in their restaurant was included and once again I had grilled octopus with shrimp over fettucini, with coconut shrimp for appetizer and a chocolate mousse for dessert.  

Breakfast buffet the next morning, early, and off to the airport by 6:30.  Celebrity helped guide us through the self-check process for LATAM Airlines and we were set to board a 9:05 flight to Miami.  There was just a bit of time for last minute chocolate and coffee shopping before boarding and we had no problems with the flight.  We learned later that some of the group who had a red-eye back home had their flight cancelled and spent the night at a less-than-stellar hotel.  That’s too bad. 

We connected through Miami and on to Atlanta, although neither of us found the Miami portion to be enjoyable at all.  Completely full and not a very polite group of travelers.  Perhaps we had been so spoiled with the Celebrity crew and escorts and the wonderful cruisers who joined us that nothing would have matched that experience.  But we were soon back home chatting about the wonderful memories we had exploring the Galapagos Islands. 

I hope you enjoyed this recap of our experience and will consider this for your future “life list.”  We can both guarantee you won’t be disappointed.  And when I have a bit more time I will edit the video I took and post it on my YouTube channel.  Thanks for joining us on the adventure.

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Our Galapagos Adventure – Part One

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Doug and Jackie

Amazing, incredible and like something out of time, we just returned from our Galapagos Islands adventure full of great memories, tons of pictures and maybe just a bit exhausted.  It has taken me a few days to even begin to put this together for you and I am really not sure the best way to share the adventure, so I will just start at the beginning, probably breaking this into two blogs. If you can read it on a screen bigger than a phone, you will enjoy the pictures much more.

You will recall that both Jackie and I are wildlife biologists and that I was a naturalist and park ranger early in my career.  Jackie taught biology to middle schoolers and natural selection and evolution were critical elements of that teaching.  So a trip to where Darwin first observed and later wrote about the process of natural selection was somewhere between bucket list and trip of a lifetime for us.

Quito, Ecuador

The Galapagos Islands are located 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Island.  To start our journey with Celebrity Cruises we first flew from Atlanta to Quito, Ecuador – in the foothills of the Andes mountains.  Nearly 10,000 feet elevation. Once off the plane and with our collected bags we were met by Celebrity hosts and driven to our grand hotel, the JW Marriott – a drive that was about an hour on some very crowded roads.  A nice welcome, with arrival drinks and warm hand towels, and we were soon in our room checking out our goodies.  We each had a medium sized backpack and metal water bottle, compliments of Celebrity, that would be used for the cruise excursions.  We had some health and declaration paperwork to complete for the flight to Baltra, but the next day would be an excursion around the city.

The included breakfast buffet was a gorgeous spread of fruits, cheeses, pastries, omelets – I made sure to try the dragon fruit, papaya, cherimoya, golden berries and other fruits.  Cruisers were divided into smaller groups of 10 – 12 with a guide and by 9am we were on our bus headed into Quito.  The city sprawls across hills and canyons and is divided by tunnels running through the hills.  We headed into the older Spanish Colonial section first, reaching a hilltop with a huge metal sculpture of the Virgin Mary slaying a dragon – with views of the city and surrounding volcanic mountains. One nice touch was an earpiece we each wore that was connected to our guide, so we could easily hear everything that was said as we walked about.

Deeper into the UNESCO section of the city we began a walk along the crowded streets, filled with sidewalk vendors of all sorts and stalls of fruits, vegetables, cooked meats, candies, crafts – just a wild scene.  Each tour group also had an extra security guard who kept an eye on any locals who might be too eager – but we had no problems.  Our first stop was one of the many Catholic churches – decorated in an amazing Baroque style (which meant every surface had to be decorated, mostly in gold leaf).  We also visited the St. Francis Monastery, just off the large central square that was filled with performers and more vendors, some who had beautiful woven scarves of Alpaca – eager to show you all the colors and designs.  Inside the monastery was a beautiful courtyard, but of course I had to check out the monk’s brewery, which was more museum than active brewery, but they did serve their beer in a tasting room.

We kept walking around the bustling streets, into the square with the Presidential Palace and then to another monastery for a delicious lunch buffet served in the courtyard.  Back on the bus and an hour’s drive later we were at a museum park that sat on the equator.  We were told that the traditional equatorial marker just a block away (and quite crowded and fancy) was originally set by French explorers but more accurate GPS put the location where we were standing.  There were several demonstrations of the odd behavior of the Equator, such as no drain swirl on the Equator, but clockwise or counter clockwise just three feet to either side.  Tried to balance an egg on end (couldn’t quite do it) and we of course had pictures straddling the line. 

The museum had some historic shelters and artifacts to explore and after being treated to a chocolate tasting I chased down a fancy hummingbird and yellow bird (not sure of the species) in the shrubs and then it was back on the bus and an hours drive to the hotel.  A lot of traffic, even with some hefty public transportation – bus stations in the median of the roads, trolleys and double and triple section buses.  A quick moment at the hotel to freshen up and we were off again for dinner out.  We had a really delicious meal – yellowfin tuna appetizer, most of our table had a big veal shank, I had beef hind (like a pot roast), followed by a dessert selection.  Back at the hotel we had to repack our bags and take them to the lobby, keeping only our backpacks.  A requirement for the flight to Galapagos was having all bags checked and certified so nothing biological is introduced to the islands.

A note about the altitude and preparation.  We took some prescribed medications to help with oxygen uptake and were sure to keep well hydrated.  The regimen of pills was started the day before arrival and the day we left.  It seemed to help, but you still found yourself taking a big deep breath every so often.

To the Islands

Another delicious breakfast buffet (mmm, good coffee), then boarding buses to the airport – still in our groups, which did make it easier to meet some of our fellow cruisers.  The flight to Baltra on the islands was 2 hours, arriving with beautiful weather.  Much fuss was made about having the entry QR code on your phone to pass immigration, but it worked out fine.  We identified our luggage, which was brought to the ship for us.  Another short shuttle to the dock where we boarded the zodiac rafts for the first time and made our approach to the ship (with a brief visit to our first blue footed booby sighting on the rocks and lots of frigate birds circling overhead).  We are in the tropics now!

The “Welcome Aboard” greeting was wonderful, with the captain and all key crew shaking hands and welcoming us aboard – warm hand towels, champagne and an escort to our suite.  There a bottle of champagne, cookies and chocolates awaited us as we were shown how to operate the lights, the infinite veranda and shown the stocked mini bar. We had a few minutes to explore the ship before lunch at 1:30.  There are only two floors of suites for the 100 guests, the dining room and lounge/bar deck, upper deck with grill, bar and hot tub and the marina deck where your wet gear is and where you board the zodiac tenders.  Oh and there is a very small pool – like hot tub size.   

There was a 3:30 muster drill and a 4:00 briefing about the options for the next day’s excursions and how to connect to Wi-Fi.  Information overload.  Doug chose a long walk and snorkel off the beach for the morning, Jackie the short walk and beach snorkel.  For the afternoon we chose the tender ride along the coast followed by deep water snorkeling.  By 5:00 we were being fitted for snorkel gear, fins and wetsuits.  Snorkel gear was placed in numbered mesh bags and hung on hooks that corresponded to our suite number, wetsuits on hangers also numbered to our suite.  That was a fun exercise slipping into wetsuits that might have been a bit small, exchanged and then zipped up for proper fit.  These were short sleeved, mid thigh wetsuits, although we also brought some dive skins (essentially long tights and long sleeve UV shirts).

But wait, there’s more on this first day scramble:  A presentation about the ship followed by a champagne welcome toast.  Dinner, finally, at 7:30 and then back to the suite to unpack and hit the sack.

Morning Excursion

Monday was our first day official of the cruise, begun with a delicious buffet breakfast and followed by our tender assignments.  Boarding the tenders was a routine that we had to master.  First you had to have just the right things in your backpack – water bottle, reef safe sunscreen, towel and change of socks and shoes, depending on wet or dry landing.  Then you grabbed your mesh bag if snorkeling, put on a life jacket, THEN your backpack over that, carrying the mesh bag to your tender and handing it off to the crew.  Grab the rail as the steps bob up and down and then step carefully down, taking your place along the canvas floatation.  Zoom, zoom and we were off to the shoreline.

This was on Santiago Island, at Puerto Egas and a wet landing.  That meant you wore water shoes to step off the ramp at the water’s edge of the beach.  It also meant that to hike you needed to quickly change into your dry hiking shoes, leaving your water shoes on the beach.  The hike was amazing.  Beautiful weather in the mid 70’s – we were greeted by a pair of Galapagos Hawks on shore.  And what else?  How about some of Darwin’s finches, Galapagos mockingbird, frigatebirds, pelicans, lava herons, Galapagos doves, and … large land iguanas and little lava lizards among the cactus and scrub, fur seals, sea lions, marine iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs … wow.  Just right there, up close and personal, as if they were posing for you.  Lots of pictures taken, of course.  Other birdlife spotted included the elusive (to me anyway) yellow warbler, oystercatcher, yellow crowned night heron and lava gulls.  You can pretty much preface every bird or animal with “Galapagos” or “Lava” … maybe “Darwin.”

Back at the black sand beach our group caught up with Jackie’s group and we changed into our wetsuits and snorkels, struggling to put on the fins, naturally, and slipping into the cold water (57 degrees!)  But oh what a beautiful reef.  Fish all around: yellow-tailed surgeon fish, king angelfish, parrot fish, blue sea stars, chocolate chip starfish and something we later identified as a Galapagos sea cucumber. As we were having fun watching the fish we were suddenly joined by a very playful and curious sea lion.  I mean so close he practically bumped into you – but no, he skillfully swam around and under you.  How special and what fun.  I did get video.

Time to slip off the fins, pack up the mesh bag, don our lifejackets and backpacks and step into the tender for the short trip back onboard.  The arrival routine was to take off backpack, lifejacket, wet shoes and wetsuit and then plunge/rinse the shoes, wetsuit and mesh bag in designated buckets to rinse off sand, salt and bacteria.  Hang up wetsuit and bag on proper hooks, rinse yourself off under warm shower and hand in towel – oh and beep yourself back onboard with your seapass card.  One deck up you were greeted with spiked hot chocolate and some small sandwich bites or brownies – what a nice reception.  Time for drying off, changing, catching lunch and just a bit of time before the next excursion.

Afternoon Excursion

By 3:30 the ship had arrived at Rabida Island and we were set for the afternoon activity.  We chose the wildlife tender ride with beach snorkel, so it was the whole wet landing routine again.  Dive skins, wetsuits, wet shoes, mesh bag, lifejacket, backpack, beep your card and off in the tender.  

The rocky shoreline was filled with wildlife:  a rare albino pelican, the infamous blue footed boobies (stop snickering), herons, swallowtail gulls, Nazca boobies and plenty of sea lions, fur seals and pups.  We landed at a red sand beach this time and saw flamingos on a small pond behind the beach. Our snorkel was with some of the same fish and another playful sea lion who kept swimming circles around and under us, sometimes leaping out of the water just for fun.  We were the last tender back to the ship and had to quickly shower and change before the wine and cheese gathering at 6:30.  This was also where we learned about and signed up for the excursion choices for tomorrow and got to mingle with the captain and crew (the captain was always out and about with us).

We were invited to join new friends Ena, Al, Andy and Kristy for dinner on the top deck under the stars.  Delicious meal and yes, you could see so many stars at this black sky location with little onboard light interference.  We had a final nightcap and off to bed.

Is It Only Our Second Day?

Overnight the ship moved to Isabela Island and after another delicious breakfast it was time for our first excursion: wildlife tender ride in Elizabeth Bay at 9:30.  From the deck while watching earlier tenders head out we saw whales later identified as minke whales, with sea lions swimming with them.  This was an amazing morning, as our tender moved quietly into a lagoon of mangrove trees and we started spotting EVERYTHING at once.  Look on the left, there is a green sea turtle, oh and another.  There are two sleeping on the bottom … oh, there go three spotted eagle rays and under them is a stingray.  On the mangrove branches were sea lions resting and arguing and a few others swimming around.  On your right is a group of golden cownose rays swimming past … oh look, a Galapagos penguin is zipping around, popping up and then circling back around.  There were flightless cormorants nesting in the branches and on the lava fields.  Our tender got so close we were just feet from the nest – pictures galore. What a morning!  

Back to the ship for lunch we went and while having drinks, guacamole and chips on the top deck we spotted more minke whales and sea lions in the distance.  While the ship repositioned to Tagus Cove we had time to talk with the onboard naturalists about what we have been seeing and identified a few of the fish.  I also figured out how the six zodiac tenders followed us:  they get stowed onboard after each stop.  Cables lift them up and inside the ship, stacked three high on each side.  When we reach our next stop, the ship opens up and the tenders are lowered out to the water and back to the stern, where the marina platform also lowers to the water.  Quite ingenious.  A kayak excursion was an option for this afternoon, so the kayaks were lowered along with the zodiac.  We opted not to do the kayaks, since photography would be difficult.

Afternoon Snorkel

At 3:00 we were off to do a deep water snorkel, meaning we slipped off the zodiac and couldn’t touch bottom.  This was along a rocky cliff wall in pretty rough water with current, so once in the cold water it took a moment to calm your breathing and relax.  Jackie was first in and I tried to catch up to her, but I have to admit it was a tough go – and after 20 minutes or so I was winded and got back onboard the tender.  That was ok, since from our tender we followed a group of 6 – 8 penguins swimming along the wall.  Jackie swam with 6 sea turtles, and was pestered by a pair of cormorants that got way too close. “Six feet, six feet” she kept telling them, the distance from wildlife encounters, but they seemed not to listen.  Back onboard it was the wetsuit routine, changing into dry clothes and we were back on the tenders by 4:45 for a short hike and tender ride.  The hike was up a lot of stairs to see Darwin’s Pond, a brackish inland pond.  Back to the tender and cruising along the rocky cliff we saw lots of marine iguanas, cormorants and penguins before back to the ship and the cocktail of the day: blue-footed booby.

We had our evening briefing about crossing the equator (which we will do twice this evening), choosing our activities for tomorrow and then dinner at 7:30 (the usual time).  Always a delicious meal, I opted for tuna ceviche then squid ink risotto with shrimp, squid and octopus.  Jackie had grouper, since we had sea bass the day before).  

Day 3

Wednesday we woke up with the ship anchored between Santiago and Bartolome Islands. After a quick breakfast of fruit, eggs and pastries we boarded our tender by 8:00 and were off for a dry landing at Sullivan Bay and a hike on the lava field. I remembered my geology from middle school and recognized the rough chunky  Aa (ah ah) lava and ropey pudding-like Pahoehoe lava that we walked across.  This was a huge lava flow that was a bit tricky walking over, but like a river of black mud frozen into rock.  There was some beautiful Galapagos cactus and the shoreline was crawling with Sally Lightfoot crabs.  These very colorful crabs have been all over each of the shorelines, moving fast and jumping between rocks sometimes.  

We headed back to the tender, onto the ship and Jackie got ready for another deep water snorkel at 10:00 along another stretch of the lava cliffs.  She saw lots of fish on this drift snorkel and several small reef sharks.  Once back on board we had lunch and finally some free time to relax on the top deck with more guacamole and chips, with vodka tonics.  Jackie mentioned that my hanger for the wetsuit was empty and we searched the spot for it, no luck.  The crew said it was probably grabbed by mistake and they sent two new ones for me to try (the 2X fit). With that problem solved we were ready for the afternoon excursions to Bartolome Island.  

We split up this time.  At 4:00 Doug did a wet landing and to the beach for a walk followed by snorkeling, Jackie went out at 4:30 for a shoreline tender ride.  On this snorkel around the unusual Pinnacle Rock I saw a reef shark, several starfish, including a chocolate chip starfish, lots of parrot fish and plenty of others.  Along the shoreline Jackie saw penguins and sea turtles breeding.  Back onboard the drink of the day was the Pink Flamingo before we had our excursion briefing for tomorrow followed by dinner at 7:30.  Tonight was a crab cake and a salad with grilled sea bass on top – and of course a delicious dessert.  We opted to skip the evening’s Karaoke night, grabbed a White Russian and were early to bed.

I think this is a good stopping point for Part One of this marvelous adventure.  Let me sort through my 1,000+ photos and gather my notes to complete Part Two in a couple of days.  Suffice it to say there are a few more stories and adventures ahead – you won’t want to miss them.

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A Prima Voyage

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Doug and Jackie

What a great start to the New Year! Jackie and I (well, mostly me) planned this trip to celebrate our 70th birthday milestones – choosing the brand new Norwegian Cruise Line Prima ship. Actually, a year ago when the ship was announced and open for booking I jumped on a reservation, since the design just wowed me. The amount of outdoor space and outward facing design really seemed like something very different. But, booking a ship that was still under construction for another year meant not knowing much else beyond the early renderings.

What a nice surprise this ship turned out to be.
I searched out and watched posts and videos of the launch, the naming ceremony and Katy Perry’s christening of the ship in Iceland and then caught every new reveal about the ship that was posted. This was going to be wonderful – oh! and a three story racetrack, too? Are you kidding me?

Turning 70 and celebrating this way is going to be a blast. So let me recap the adventure for you, post some pictures and remind you that a video of this whole trip is posted to our youtube channel ( A PRIMA VOYAGE ) and here on our video “Places” page.

Heading to the Ship

Most of a day’s drive takes us from Atlanta to Orlando and an overnight stay near the airport. We like the direct drive to the cruise port the next morning – less than an hour east. You know that our usual habit is to find a local brewery, such as Rockpit here in town. This time we checked out Gatlin Hall Brewing for pizza, salads and beer, with a repeat visit to Hourglass Brewing. Ok, back to the hotel (which was way more bargain basement than I had expected). Ah well, only one night and we would soon be onboard.

We were able to check in pretty early for the cruise and we were on board well before noon, gazing at the gorgeous lobby, searching out that first drink and arranging reservations for entertainment. If you cruise, you know the excitement of walking the gangway and stepping aboard – such a rush! And of course checking out all the decks of the ship and finding your cabin, getting ready for that marvelous sail away celebration as you head out to sea. Actually, as we were standing in line at the bar my brother texted that he was watching us leave the dock on the harbor camera. Yikes, we were indeed on the move and we hustled out to the rail to wave to the folks on Wonder of the Seas.

Aboard the Ship

This is certainly a different ship design and layout and while I won’t detail it like the many travel bloggers, I will try to point out what we noticed. Lots of artwork all around the ship. The colors and design are muted, classy and well thought out. Technology is evident everywhere, from the ipads for ordering food at the Indulge food hall to the room alerts and the VR Galaxy Pavilion. Navigation around the decks has been a source of discussion, but you do find lots of nooks with seating and bars that are spread around the ship – you just have to explore a bit.

This was our first time booking an outside balcony and I worked hard to get one that looked out and down along the side of the ship. Generous space that made it nice to gaze out as we entered or left our ports. The room was gorgeous and comfortable, no complaints.

Some adrenaline maybe?

Onboard we just had to try out everything. Jackie was game for doing both dry slides – the curly tubes that wound down the side of the ship, one of which was the Drop – a pretty quick whoosh straight down before spiraling to deck 8. The Wave waterslide was a quick rush down a tube, then up and out over the side of the ship. That one was pretty fast since you were riding a tube. We went to the sports deck and tried foot soccer, ping pong, mini golf and actually played a short game of pickleball, but it seemed like a small court.

And of course we had reservations for the race cars! I strapped my GoPro to a chest mount hoping to catch it all on video, but it caught more of the steering wheel and my feet than the wild ride around the 3-level track. It was nearly 10 minutes of absolute exhilaration – even though my car was last in line and I only managed to pass two cars. I booked a second run later in the week and I knew enough to get the first car in line. Wheeee!

What about food?

If you know me, you know that food is pretty high on the list. We had two nights booked in specialty restaurants: Le Bistro and Palomar. Both were excellent meals of seafood and with the offerings of the main dining room there was plenty of good stuff for dinner. I particularly enjoyed my grilled octopus, lamb chops and oysters – Jackie ordered her veal oscar without crab, but was a bit disappointed by her strip steak. After all, we do steak pretty good at home.

But hands down the best meals were in the Indulge food hall. You sat at a table or counter and ordered your tapas size choices on a tablet and whoosh they arrived hot and fresh. You can see by the pictures we had salmon from the Texas smokehouse, gnocci from Nudls, tenderloin from the rotisserie, naan and chicken tiki from the Indian kitchen and my favorite: bacon wrapped grilled dates. Definitely fun for tasting and sharing.

So what about ports of call?

Great Stirrup Private Island

NCL’s private island is just a stone’s throw from Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay, but we didn’t miss the excitement of that other private island.  We tendered over early with no problems and hiked across the beach of lounge chairs to find a spot “in the shade” as Jackie insisted.  Well, most of those spots were already taken but I did find a lounge chair under a wonderful palm tree.  As you can see, the not-so-robust tree of maybe 3 fronds had little shade to give, but we stayed anyway.  The water was definitely on the brisk side, but it was clean and a nice way to cool off.

I had a zipline reservation, so off to the lighthouse I went to get set – figuring I would have to climb the stairs to the top.  Ah, but they had an elevator to the platforms above.  Each of us got strapped into our harness and clipped to the safety cable so we could walk gingerly to the launch spot.  Amazing view from up top, and more than a few were hesitant to walk around without any railings.  But the three zips were so much fun.  Two of them were pretty long as they crossed over the beach and loungers below.  Again, I had the GoPro fastened to a chest mount, but caught more of my harness and gloves than I wanted.  O well, the only way to really enjoy it was to be there and do it.  Really, really fun.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This was a gorgeous port to slip into and the ship slowly made the passage to the dock and past Celebrity Reflection.  Our excursion started with a short van ride to the Mystic Mountain Skyway where we rode chairlifts to the top of the mountain and got ready for the Jamaican Bobsled run.  In preparation for this we watched “Cool Runnings” to recall the story of the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team.  Jackie strapped into her sled just ahead of me and with a big starting push from the staff we were both off and running.  This was full tilt speed down that mountain and a real rush.  I had the GoPro on a head mount this time, so I got more of the action than just my feet. 

Once at the bottom, the sleds are pulled back up the mountain through the woods to the starting point.  Really cool.  At the top there was an infinity pool, a waterslide, restaurant and shops, but we were pretty much ready to head back down the lift and onto the ship.  Before leaving, however, we spotted an Eastern Streamertail hummingbird in a feeder area.  This fella had pretty amazing wings and tail and would definitely be a sight at our feeder back home.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We had an excursion planned for Stingray City and some reef snorkeling here, but we learned that the excursion would arrive back at port just as the last tender was headed to the ship and figured that might be a little too close for comfort.  So we opted to skip it and stay aboard.  Two other ships were tendering just offshore too on a nice sunny day, so we soaked in the infinity pool and just relaxed.

Cozumel, Mexico

And then there was Cozumel.  We booked a 3 reef snorkel, something we have done before, grabbed our gear and walked down the pier.  Once checked in we were told “your boat is here, go get on it” and we walked back to a large catamaran loading up with guests.  “No, not your boat” we were told as we prepared to board.  “You have red boat.”  The two dozen of us looked around, there was another big catamaran, not red, and well … not much else.  Wait, there was this little skiff, not much bigger than a rowboat – could that be it?  Yep, that was us. Hmm, well we were packed in pretty tight, shoulder to shoulder and heading around the pier to a reef along the shoreline.  Just past the big ships. 

Into the clear warm water we all went to look for fish.  And the fish were there, but so were snorkelers, so Jackie and I tried our best to stay outside all of the swimmers.  I wasn’t that successful and found myself bumping into folks a bit.  But it was decent viewing.  I saw many of the familiar fish and when we picked up and moved to reef 2 I saw a couple of French angelfish that always delight.  Plus parrotfish and the pesky Sergeant Majors (attracted by the photographer who was feeding them).  Whadda ya gonna do?

Hey, it’s looking kinda dark over there, I thought as I surfaced.  As we climbed back onboard and our guide said reef 3 was next, the captain up top nixed that plan and good thing, too.  Suddenly the wind whipped up, the rain began and we were in the middle of a drenching, windy rainstorm.  Heck, we were already wet, so what was the big deal?  Well, the waves were doing a good job of splashing over the boat, soaking all our towels, gear, sandals … it was a slow, wet slog back along the shore to the ship.  We all had a good laugh about it, as we squeak-squished our way onboard.  Jackie and I both got in our shower and turned the water to “hot” and tried to warm up.  Fun!

Entertain Me!

Two shows were featured in the theater and we got into both of them.  Summer! The Donna Summer story was in the style of most of the bio/musicals that featured her life and songs.  Three singers who played her at different ages were terrific and did a fabulous job with the songs.  The Noise Boys was the other show that combined tap dancing, beat boxing and rap for a lively, loud presentation.  Not bad and I enjoyed the tap dancing.  Around the ship were other small groups performing Motown, classic rock, ballads and such and we sat in the atrium to listen.

Of course no cruise is complete without a trip to the Craps table for Doug.  First night was a winner!  Followed by up and down nights at the table and going into the last night in the hole.  BUT somehow that last night the table got hot and I was able to cash out a winner for the week – having had a lot of fun shooting the dice, placing my bets and collecting my winnings.  Yay. But that last day was a whopper – the wind whipped up late afternoon, rain came down and it was pretty much rock and roll with the ship. And of course it was raining when we arrived in Orlando. Yep, welcome home.

And the sad, sleepy trip back home.

You know it’s coming, that last morning when you grab the last breakfast, disembark to collect and drag your bags back to the car and start back home.  Orlando didn’t seem that far away at the start, but somehow driving north is longer uphill.  That’s ok, we had time to review all that we had done during the week.  It was an adventure.

What’s next for us?

Motorhome has some minor tweaks and needs to get out of the deep freeze here, so we will start up 2023 with some maintenance.  Then a family camp in Tennessee followed by a celebration of spring in Panama City Beach, Florida. There are two more cruises (yes, we ARE nuts) coming up, but more about that later.

Stay happy, healthy and thanks for joining us for the trip. Be sure to check out any and all of our videos, prior posts and adventures!

Categories: Cruising | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Snorkeling the Western Caribbean

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Doug and Jackie

It’s mid-October in Atlanta and the temperature has finally dropped from 97 degrees to a more fall-like 65 degrees with 40’s overnight.  Jeans have replaced shorts, shoes replaced sandals and it is cold enough to use the firepit. Yet here I am at the pool bar, sipping a fruity frozen drink as a warm breeze blows ripples across the water.  What just happened? Maybe I better back up the story a bit …

You see, since our last great cruise on the Harmony of the Seas this summer, Jackie and I stated rather firmly that we would not be cruising again for a year or so, since we had plenty to do back home with grandson-sitting, beer festivals, maybe a fall camping weekend and such.  But it was just fine if Dad and the family wanted to head out to the Caribbean once again, we would wish them well. So plans were made for Dad, my brother Jeff and wife Vickie – even my sister Linda and husband Norman – to head out to the Western Caribbean on the Harmony of the Seas for a fall cruise.  Good stuff – wish you well.

But things got complicated when Norm’s family announced a trip to the Canadian Rockies and suddenly Linda was a single cruiser and gosh she needed a way to get to Port Canaveral via Atlanta (from California) and wouldn’t it be nice if Doug picked her up from the airport and drove her to the port and heck, he could even be her cabin mate.  Hey, Doug, whatcha think? Well it seems that, being retired, Jackie and I go where we are needed: so that meant cruising as a plus-one with my sister.

Turns out it was a great time.  We drove to Orlando and spent the night, checking out two breweries of course.  Hourglass Brewing had a lot on tap so of course we had two flights between us. Then a return visit to Rockpit Brewing meant another pint to try before returning to the hotel. 

 

Up early in the morning and off to the ship! We parked, checked in and were on the ship by 10:30 – just minutes before Jeff, Vic and Dad arrived. This trip Jeff arranged a scooter for Dad, so we had to practice getting him in and out of the room and around the ship.  Turns out it was the BEST move, as he was soon zipping along on his own.  

 

How about some highlights from the ports and sea days aboard ship you ask?  

Perfect Day at Coco Cay

The scooter made a world of difference for Dad, who was down the gangway and on his way across the dock to the Oasis Lagoon pool in no time.  We found lounge chairs by the huge pool and were soon sloshing around with drinks in hand. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, as you can see from the pictures.  

The only disappointment was the snorkeling reef.  Over the years we have been coming here, the area to snorkel has been corralled in closer to shore and the last hurricane seems to have damaged the reef enough that you really didn’t have much to see.

Cozumel Snorkeling

The three reef excursion Linda and I took certainly was a change from Coco Cay.  We walked around and through the maze of shops on shore to find a taxi to the departure marina to meet our guides. 

Turns out there were only four of us on the small boat, which was awesome. Snorkeling in Cozumel is usually a float over the reef with the water current moving you slowly along.  We saw triggerfish (Queen and black), angelfish (Queen and French), parrotfish, yellow snapper, blue tang, butterfly fish, scrawled filefish, trunkfish and a couple of black and white eels.  Check the video:  Cozumel Reef Snorkel

 

 

We had a photographer along who kept attracting the yellow and black Sergeant Majors in front of us to get photos – nice at first, but a bit annoying if you were looking at something else on the bottom.  Overall, it was amazingly clear and a great snorkel. A float vest I purchased worked out perfect, along with a rashguard shirt that substituted for sunscreen (they are serious about protecting their reefs – no sunscreen).  Fish identification was much easier thanks to some waterproof cards I bought from fishcards.com. Thanks to Michael Greenberg for all his help getting us these essential cards. We had a few cold Coronas on the way back to the marina while sharing what we saw. 

Roatan Snorkeling

 

Getting to the reef in Roatan from our dock in Coxen Hole was much more of an ordeal than in Cozumel, where the reef was in sight of the ship.  Jeff, Vic, Linda and I made our way ashore (where they are in mid-construction of a second big dock), wound through the maze of shops once again and found our excursion driver.  Into a van with four other divers and we were off to the northeast coast. It was an hour’s drive up and over the mountains along a busy 2-lane road that was surrounded by small houses (barely one-room shacks by our standards) and market stalls.  Despite all the happy house hunters I have seen on HGTV, I can’t say that I would have chosen to retire to the island. Not exactly prospering.

   

But once we reached our destination at Turquoise Bay Beach and Dive Resort it all changed.  The small marina had several dive boats and we were soon joined by 5 others with Subway Watersports to head to the reef and snorkel.  Next to us was a beachside resort that we would be able to enjoy after the snorkel. Not far off shore we were moored and ready to slip in the water in a sandy spot that was maybe 6 feet deep with a few sea stars.  There was a bit of wind chop as we were directed ahead to find an underwater oasis of coral, sponges and fish that were just amazingly beautiful.  

The “wall” was covered with sponges, fans and corals of all sorts.  The fish were much like what we saw at Cozumel, darting in and around the corals.  A lionfish was pointed out to us along with a yellow trumpetfish. Our guide took my gopro down to get a shot of the lionfish (which was stunning, although destructive to many native fish on the reefs).  Again, my vest was a big help, since we were probably snorkeling the reef for an hour. The sponges and corals (thanks to my ID cards) seemed to be sea whips, sea fans, tube sponges (blue and yellow), sea fingers, vase sponges, staghorn coral, brain coral, star coral … gosh so many colors and shapes.  Check the video:  Roatan, Honduras Snorkel

As I mentioned, we were able to hang out at the beach resort until our taxi arrived to take us back to the ship.  Totally gorgeous spot on the water – dreamy. But since we would be leaving port early and Roatan was 2 hours behind ship’s time, we were a bit anxious when it had not arrived. We were told we would be waiting for the divers in our party to return, but when they were overdue and in fact were choosing to continue their dive, the excursion owner opted to have one of his staff drive us back to port.  We made it with time to spare, but grumbled about the decision by our fellow passengers to have extended their dive at our expense.

Costa Maya Shopping

We were surprised to hear Dad say he wanted to go ashore in Costa Maya to buy a shirt, but once again the scooter made that possible.  He was down the gangway and speeding along the dock ahead of all of us, making a beeline for the cluster of shops on shore. He found his shirt while shopping, as did the rest of us, and soon we were all back aboard.  Costa Maya is pretty much the shopping arcade, a water park and some nearby excursions and nothing else for miles around. But the coastline is very pretty and our sail away was beautiful. 

Around the Ship and Sea Days 

Now this is a big ship and you have a few of your close friends with you – about 6,000 of them, with about 3,000 crew members.  So finding a lounge chair on sea days can be challenging. You have to first get your Irish coffee at the Park Cafe, find something good for breakfast (waffles with strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate syrup maybe?) then grab a mimosa or bloody mary and head for the towel check.  Maybe some sunscreen gets slathered on and you are all set – until Jeff says “hey let’s go do the waterslides!

   

So we climbed the stairway to the waterslides for the highest view aboard ship and zipped down.  The “toilet bowl” slide was a first time for Linda and she screamed the whole way down. I did the dark Abyss dry slide again; we bobbed in the pool and Jeff and I decided to brave the Flowrider kneeboard.  The board took a moment to get the hang of, what with all the water shooting at you, but soon we both got up on our knees and … well, we took a few falls and scooted around the fast-moving sheet of water. Totally fun and a real blast – I definitely got better as the week went on, but neither of us felt confident enough to do the stand-up wakeboards.  Check the video: How We Did Harmony of the Seas

 

Dinners were in the main dining room, except the night that three of us ate at Jamie’s Italian (oh my gosh was it a lot of delicious food!).  A plank of meats and cheeses, garlicky prawns, lasagna, pasta and lamb chops washed down with a delicious red wine and followed by a huge plank of desserts. We had a delightful serving staff at dinner, with special after-dinner shots to toast the day (thank you Mikayla).  Late nights involved pizza slices and Octoberfest beer and lunch involved the famous Royal Kummelweck roast beef sandwich in Central Park. We all lunched at the Sabor Taqueria one day and had a fabulous and filling meal – so much so that we skipped the dining room and just did nibbles for dinner.

And of course we had to spend time in the casino.  The odds were not in our favor on the craps table and as the week went on, fewer folks were playing it.  But Dad had pretty fair luck at the roulette wheel, so he spent more time there than we did. He also seemed to attract his share of women who became helpful friends.  One couple adopted him as their good luck charm and we ran into them several times around the ship. Actually, everyone he met was very accommodating and helpful as he navigated his scooter.

   

     

We were naturally concerned about Dad on the days that he remained on board and we went ashore for excursions.  When we returned from Cozumel he told us that he had found the spa and toured the gym and made an appointment for a haircut and shampoo.  Then when we returned from our Roatan excursion he shared how he drove around the buffet with a plate of food and a bowl of soup, driving one-handed.  And to think we were worried about him!

       

The shows were also well done – we all watched Columbus the musical, the Fine Line aqua show (twice) and Linda and I saw the ice show 1887 (very good).  Headliner show was the Company Men, which Dad declared all “yelling and screaming – I don’t recognize any of the music” but the rest of us thought their mash-ups from the past decades was well done.

       

But aboard this huge ship, you can just sit somewhere and relax, maybe in the Central Park gardens while a guitarist plays.  Or people-watch on the Promenade on formal night. Or ride the elevator with the piano player. Or watch the sunset from the Mast Bar on deck 16 or even better from the “King of the World” overlook.  Maybe create your own drink from the robots in the Bionic Bar or discover the quiet Wonderland Bar for a martini. Watch the street parade from the Schooner Bar with a coconut mojito. It is easy to forget you are cruising off the coast of Cuba or Honduras.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Canadian Rockies . . .

 

… Norm was enjoying a beer in a hot tub in the midst of a snowstorm – – while his replacement was lounging by the pool in the warm Caribbean sun.  Ahhh, Life is Good.

Categories: Cruising | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The BIG Cruise

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Doug and Jackie

Some time after the holidays this year my brother told me that he and Dad were planning their next cruise in April and I enthusiastically wished them well. Jackie, John, Dad and I had done a Carnival cruise over Halloween to Nassau and I was just fine passing up any cruise for the next year. But things evolved and the cruise choice was no longer a 5-day out of Charleston but a 7-day out of Port Canaveral aboard the Oasis of the Seas, the first mega-ship by Royal Caribbean. Jackie and I still felt we were just fine sitting this one out and, again, we wished them well.

During a late January visit with Dad, he and my brother leaned on me to join them on the cruise — Dad pulling a bit of a guilt trip “I just want both my boys with me .. not sure how many cruises I have left in me” .. so I agreed to think it over, which meant of course we booked ourselves on the cruise shortly afterward. Heck, it should be fun on the Oasis class ship.

Then an accident happened while the ship was docked in Nassau for maintenance. A crane fell into the stern AquaTheater, the ship slipped and the (new word) azipods were damaged below. We kept our fingers crossed, but two weeks before sailing we learned the cruise was cancelled, refund was on the way, future cruise credit to be applied. Oh well.

But we would not be deterred. Since that meant that 3 cruises of 6,000 passengers each were now looking to re-book their cruise, Jeff and I jumped on the phone to contact our travel agents and find some options. The solution was the next ship scheduled to leave from Port Canaveral, the newer Harmony of the Seas, which was the same Oasis class of ship that hosted 6,000 guests and 2,000 crew. We booked the second week of June for an Eastern Caribbean cruise and hoped for the best.

So our most recent adventure just completed was an amazing cruise aboard a floating hotel/mall. Seriously, this ship had everything and really felt like you weren’t even on a ship most of the time. Not sure I can fully describe the wonderful time we had and all the available amenities the ship had to offer, but I will certainly try. I also have some videos that will take a bit longer to edit, but I promise to post them soon. I was having fogging issues with my 35mm camera aboard ship, what with the cold AC in the room and the warmer, tropical air out on deck, but the GoPro was good with the underwater shots and such.

Pre-Cruise Orlando
We drove to the Orlando airport area the day before, since it is about 7 hours (8 if you drive through rainstorms like we did) and stayed overnight. That meant we were less than an hour from the ship’s terminal and would have no problem arriving before Jeff, Vic and Dad (oh no, I am not competitive at all). So after checking in at the Best Western we searched for “breweries near me” and found several choices.

 

Since Rockpit Brewing also served barbecue, that was the choice for dinner, followed up by Dead Lizard brewing. I enjoyed Rockpit’s Yudu Yuzu, a sour Berliner Weiss, Jackie liked Nudge, Nudge golden ale and we both liked a mango beer that neither of us can remember the name of.

Slipping in the door of Dead Lizard we were immediately asked if we had a lighter – it seems they were having a birthday celebration going on and no one brought matches for the birthday candles. Sorry, we are just here for the beer (and the sticker), so we moved to the bar and ordered a flight. Pretty funky vibe to the place and we enjoyed a Hefeweizen Orange Ya Glad I Didn’t Say Banana and Key Lime Chameleon Cream-Sic-Ale. On the way out we got totally drenched in a downpour before heading back to our amply-air-conditioned room to chill for the night.

All Aboard!
Up and out and we were on our way through the Florida sunshine to the Cape and our ship. No traffic, no problems, parked close to the ship, breezed through check-in and we were in the boarding area by 10am. Within 20 minutes we were joined by the rest of our party and, gosh we were onboard in no time. Kudos to Royal Caribbean for a very smooth check-in and embarkation process. Now, where is that first drink??

We explored the ship, got lost and turned around more than once, found our way to the Solarium Bistro for lunch, found several bars, stood for the safety lesson, checked out our room and settled in for fun. As I have said before, the first day aboard ship is the most exciting and the sail-away is exhilarating. As you stand on the rail watching the shoreline pass by and disappear into the distance, all the stress of the trip and worries back home just slip away. It’s party time!

So what exactly did we do?
I’m not sure when we did just what onboard, mostly on the three sea days, but I can share the activities. And we had three ports of call, so hang on, it’s a busy schedule.

Perfect Day CocoCay
This was a totally different experience from our last visit to the private island. The investment of over $250 million to transform this island into a waterpark with a new dock (no tenders!) was fantastic. We didn’t pay the extra fee to ride the waterslides, zipline or splash in the wave pool, but we did enjoy the upgraded food service, bars, huge Oasis Lagoon pool with swim-up bar and the snorkeling off Chill Island beach. It is a clean, lush landscape that just opened officially and it is a game changer.

 

 

After snorkeling and lunch we were enjoying the pool while a film crew used drones to capture the crowd for an upcoming promotional video. Perfect Day got a little less perfect when thunderstorms moved close and everyone was whistled out of the water. The rain made it easier to find a lounge chair, but I am guessing that thunder-rumbling, rain-soaked footage won’t make the “perfect day” video. Darn, and I was looking pretty good in those fly-by shots!

St. Thomas
We cruised into the port at St. Thomas about noon, a beautiful approach to this island. We were keeping it pretty casual that day and decided not to fight our way to a beach or snorkeling location, since we had a nice excursion planned for the next day.

So it made for a good day of having fun around the ship without the crowds. We never really felt like there were 6,000 other people crowded around us anyway – except on the pool deck on sea day afternoons – which is to Royal Caribbean’s credit for having so many places to hang out.

St. Maarten
This was our first time to the French/Dutch island and we were lucky to be the only ship in port at Philipsburg. Another gorgeous green-mountain island with a broad curve of beach along the harbor.

We had booked a snorkel excursion on a small-boat tour, hoping to avoid the disappointing experience in Nassau where we were overloaded with 60+ folks on a kayak, paddleboard, snorkel, party boat. Jackie and I walked the half-mile along Great Bay to the boat dock to check in and were told that once the other party of 2 arrived we would be good to go. That meant that all four of us had the boat to ourselves for a fabulous private tour along the coast.

First stop was snorkeling in Little Bay, a cove below the pelicans of Fort Amsterdam with clear water and some reef fish. The bottom was mostly rock and not much in the way of fans and corals, but there were fish around and some sunken artifacts (canon, helicopter, small sub, grocery cart?).

Back onboard and we zipped along the coastline, noticing the remaining damage from previous hurricanes (two Cat 5 within 10 days). Captain passed around a bowl of french bread, cheese and apple slices and we washed it all down with a cold beer. Hey, snorkeling is hard work. We stopped in the path of approaching aircraft as a jet passed overhead to land at the airport. This is the famous Princess Julianna airport with an over-water approach where people get blown around during jet takeoffs. Just Google Maho Beach. Then we crossed to the French coastline and hopped out for a swim in a turquoise water cove, Baie Longue, surrounded by villas that rent for thousands a night (Belmond La Samanna). Ahh, and we got to enjoy the same beautiful waters that they did. Time to head back to the ship and across some choppy water that made for a bouncy ride on a beautiful afternoon.  Snorkel video is posted here.

The excursion was really a treat. Back at the dock we stepped out of the boat with our gear, except that I was so focused on my footing that I completely missed the overhead metal rail of the bimini and “klunk” I hit it hard with my head. Had I been watching earlier, I would have noticed Jeff do the same thing as he was getting out. Ah … what’s a little blood in the scalp?

Aboard Ship
When we weren’t lounging by the pool or slipping down the waterslides, we might have been walking down the indoor Promenade (just like a mall), sitting at an outdoor cafe in the garden areas of Central Park listening to Spanish guitar, having a drink at an Irish Pub with a folk guitarist, watching robots fix our drinks or trying our luck at the casino. Our rooms were upper level balconies that overlooked the Central Park “canyon” so it was also nice to sit with a drink and listen to the music or wake up with a cup of coffee out on the balcony and people watch.

 

 

 

The casino was a destination for Dad most evenings, as he loves to play roulette. Jeff and I sat with him and played a few times – actually we donated to the casino, but our game is the craps table. We had our ups and downs and some nights were just wild at the table with some good runs, but in my case I came away just less than even for the week. Actually that is great, considering how long we played all week and what fun we had. We met the friendliest casino dealers who would really help you understand how to improve your odds and by week’s end came to recognize you. What fun.

Food
We did our best to try every eatery on board and enjoyed them all. Of course everyone heads to the Windjammer buffet for breakfast and lunch but we ventured away from that most days. The Park Cafe had delicious roast beef sandwiches and salads for lunch on the terrace in Central Park and Sorrento’s had pizza almost all night. The Solarium Bistro (the adults-only area on the decks 14 – 16 at the bow) had slightly lighter fare and a great view. There were several up-charge specialty restaurants that we mostly skipped.

Dad, Jackie and I ate lunch at Jamie’s Italian (complimentary for balcony bookings) on a sea day and were totally stuffed. Appetizer was an antipasto plank of cold meats, cheeses, olives and veggies; main courses were pasta, burgers and salads. We each made a dessert choice, whereupon our waiter asked why not all of them?

So, as you can see in the picture, we were served another plank with Tiramisu, Lemon meringue cheesecake, brownie, Almond sponge cake, and a raspberry pavlova confection. Yikes.

Dinner was mostly in the main dining room (short ribs and rack of lamb were the best), but we also tried the Solarium Bistro on the upper deck for dinner as we sailed out of St. Thomas and then the Izumi Japanese hibachi grill on the last night. That was a hilarious show of food preparation that none of us had yet experienced. Chef tossed pieces of egg for us to catch in our mouths – ok, weird but fun – and a few of us (Doug and Dad) nailed it on the first try.

Lobster, scallops, chicken were all delicious, and the tenderloin beef was mouthwatering. And some strange ice cream-filled dough balls for dessert.

Jackie and I also had a complimentary dinner at Wonderland, themed with Alice in mind.

Definitely something different, with all sorts of special food effects – smoked buffalo chicken eggs, “liquid” olives and mushrooms, spicy tuna in frozen limes, baked halibut and branzino. Quite the presentation, capped by a dessert plate of fungi: mango sorbet with cake and meringue mushrooms in pop-rocks dirt and a crazy bit of wizardry: The World – a chocolate sphere that melts before your eyes as the waiter drizzles hot caramel sauce, revealing salted caramel ice cream and chocolate mousse. Wow.

 

Drink
I did get a chuckle on the first day when I pulled out a bar checklist for each of us – crazy Doug – but later in the week we were all caught checking which bars we might have missed! “Oh, did I get a drink on each floor the Rising Tide bar stopped at?” “What about the Bionic Bar?” “Darn, I missed a glass of wine at Vintages.”

The robot arms of Bionic Bar

If you purchase the Deluxe Drink Package, you will have more than 16 bars to choose from. Poolside, in the Central Park garden area, restaurants, Promenade (mall) area, Solarium (adults only), plus the island of CocoCay. Yeah. That’s right. You try it without a list! Plus specialty coffees with a shot to start your day, like Icy Bourbon Mint Coffee.

We definitely gave our beverage package a workout.

Fun
Yep, another checklist just to be sure I didn’t miss anything. Besides the snorkeling in St. Maarten and CocoCay, there were plenty of activities onboard.  Check the video that combines the fun from our two cruises on Harmony of the Seas:  How We Did Harmony of the Seas

 

 

Whirlpools, main pool, the 9 deck drop on the Ultimate Abyss dry slide, three waterslides, rock climbing wall (made it halfway), zipline over the boardwalk “canyon” … busy, busy. We didn’t ride the carousel, ice skate, or play mini-golf, nor did we try surfing the flo-riders, but it was fun to watch. We saw the Jules Verne styled ice show “1887”, “Grease”, “Columbus, the Musical”, “Fine Line” and “Big Daddy’s” aquashows and a rock tribute band, all of which were top-notch entertainment.

 

You might not have the pool to yourself

Riding the waterslides was crazy, since two of them were designed for you to race your opponent. Jeff and I swapped winning times, but maybe my worst showing was when halfway down the dark tube I realized the water was pretty much disappearing and I slowed to a stop. “Send water!” Soon a gush hit me from behind and I started to move along again, but it might have been a long squooch, squooch crawl to the end. And yes, Jackie did try the Ultimate Abyss, which also lost some steam at the finish and we both had to scoot ourselves out of the last 3 feet of slide. The launching pad was the best part, as you are perched on a glass floor high above the stern of the ship!

 

I guess this all sounds like one big commercial for Royal Caribbean, but it turned out to be a much easier cruise for Dad than we expected and I do have to give credit to the cruise line for a ship that was well designed. It never felt crowded, it was gorgeously appointed, there was plenty to do for all ages, the rooms were thoughtfully laid out, staff was abundant, friendly and attentive. Dad had his walker and our rooms were close to elevators, so it was easy enough for him to head to the casino or up to the buffet on days when we were ashore. Jeff and I figured out how to push him along backwards in the walker when we needed to cover some ground quickly, and he was a good sport to go along with it. These twice-a-year cruises are his big vacation getaways, and as his escorts we are happy to go along (but seriously, we need some time to recover!)

Once we got back home we were greeted by two of the five fawns born around our yard this year. I guess they thought we had left town for good this time and they had the run of the place. Kodi keeps a careful eye out now and the mommas don’t seem to be as fiercely protective, so it seems safe to use the backyard again.

Up Next?
Well, it isn’t really an adventure, but it does involve the motorhome. We head to the mountains of North Carolina to help John with some work on the cabin he is building. It is under roof now and I think we will be doing some staining and working on the deck railing. Once again we will pack the motorhome with supplies and the pets for a trip to the mountains.

If you haven’t checked out some of my latest glass creations, be sure to look over the Glass Totems page and then catch up with recent events on the Happenings page. Stay tuned for a brief blog with some of the crazy video from the cruise, once I get it edited.

Thanks for following along on the adventures. And to borrow a phrase from our cruise director, “bing bong.”

Doug

And I should thank Alex and Bethany for watching Kodi and Merlin.  It looks like Allie kept a wary eye on Merlin, though.

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Of Devil Rays and Dolphins

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

As promised, I am writing our next blog from Panama City Beach – a camping vacation in our favorite spot on the gulf coast: St. Andrews State Park.  Since this is our fifth visit, (see 2015, 2016, 2017) it might be hard to find some unique stories and shoot some new photos, but these two weeks have a lot of special meaning, so let’s recap the adventure:

It starts with Mother’s Day.  We traveled and arrived on Sunday and went straight to the beach — found it just as beautiful as we remembered.  The soft white sand beach, while narrow, sloped gently into the water with almost no waves and clarity that beats most pools.  Jackie says she had a perfect Mother’s day, sitting on the beach with drink in hand, sunlight sparkling off the turquoise water.  The colors are as beautiful as the Caribbean and the snorkeling along the jetty was nearly as good.  Lots and lots of fish (blue tang, bluenose wrassie, mullet, sheepshead, angelfish, sergeant major, yellow tail) can be seen on the gulf side and the lagoon side.  Just amazing.  Click on the word link:  Snorkeling highlights video

It continues with our anniversary.  We celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary at Sharky’s, a perfect beach bar and restaurant.  You can sit beachside and enjoy what we swear is the best fried grouper sandwich.  Since we remembered to bring our Fat Tuesday cups from last year, we got our fill of tropical drinks much cheaper.  It was a perfect, magical evening as we watched the sun set on the surf.

The cups also came in handy at Pineapple Willy’s one rainy afternoon when Jackie was searching for wifi to download books to her Paperwhite Kindle.  Jackie consumes books, so this was a “must do” event.

It becomes something special.  Wherever we go we manage to find something special.  This time it was while we were knee deep in the water.  A small raft of dark shapes was headed our way and we watched in wonder as we were surrounded by five or six rays zooming along, mouths open, feeding on plankton.  Up and down they bobbed, wings flapping, sometimes the tips out of the water, moving around us in the shallow water.  We learned they were devil rays, looking like small versions of manta rays, maybe two feet across.  They would move back and forth along the shore in groups of two to twelve and we saw them almost daily.  Every once in a while you would see a splash where one would break the surface, but the most fantastic moment was when I saw one shoot four feet into the air, do a slow flip and then dive back into the water.  What a treat. Check out the videos by clicking on the word link:  Devil Rays Video

And of course this area is great for spotting dolphin.  Sitting on the beach you watch the various dolphin tour boats and jet-ski tours arrive at the end of the jetty and watch for dolphin.  And most times they are not disappointed:  the dolphins appear and jump about for the tourists.  We almost become “ho-hum, another dolphin,” but we were well entertained one afternoon as the dolphin must have found a thick school of fish and furiously zipping through the school and shooting out of the water.  One or two were jumping four to five feet in the air, maybe a dozen times or more.  Quite the show and something that you don’t always get to see.

One evening as the lagoon calmed down I hopped on a paddleboard and paddled along shore to see if I could find some stingrays.  We saw several on a paddle over to the point of the inlet and I was hoping to find them again.  No luck, but on the way back Jackie called to me from the dock and we both spotted several dolphin bobbing around.  One was a mother/youngster pair, easily seen as they sliced up and out of the water.  I just sat on the board as they fished within feet of me, spitting and fluking.

Another afternoon we were similarly treated to a small pod of about 8 dolphin within 25 feet of our boards – bobbing and splashing about.  The water was so clear you could see them beneath the water, turning sideways to show their lighter belly and then breaking the surface.  Very special.

I spotted some spoonbills in the marsh one morning on my way to the beach, but I only had my phone to snap the shot – not my best shot.  Spoonbills have been an elusive bird to get on camera for me, so this was something of a catch at least.  I figured I could find them again the next day, but was treated instead to a turf war between gators.  While snapping shots of one alligator in the marsh, a second male came lumbering in and quickly dispatched the other one out, watching to be sure he got the message, his tail flipping back and forth.  You might be surprised at how quickly these boys can move!

It ends with the school year and a tropical storm.  We know our fellow teachers back home are celebrating the end of the school year and a few teachers in the family are within days of their school year ending.  We congratulate them all on making it through another year and especially Linda, who finished her first year back in the classroom teaching autistic students.

As we pack up camp we are under a tropical storm watch, with nasty weather brewing in the Gulf and heavy rain headed our way.  We returned the golf cart, brushed off the sand, packed up chairs and toys and pulled in the awning.  A good time to be headed away from the coast and back home.

And of course, an “uh-oh” moment.

Jackie and I have come to the conclusion that no matter how well planned you are, each camping trip seems to have at least one “uh-oh” moment.  Somehow something unexpected happens and you hope it is a simple fix, not AC failure or a cracked windshield or blown tires.  This time it was all about water.  With the prolonged cold spring we didn’t de-winterize the RV until late, which meant that this trip was the first of the season.  The week before heading out, we drained the potable antifreeze and flushed the water system.  Into the main water tank went bleach to sanitize it and another flush of the water lines to sanitize and rinse them before adding a few gallons of fresh water to the tank.  We also needed to fill the LP tank, which was no problem.

But there was one itty bitty detail.  The first drinks I fixed in camp tasted a bit off – like gulps of swimming pool water off.  I made ice from the tap and it seems we must have been a little heavy handed with the bleach.  Yech.  Ok, toss that drink and let’s use bottled water for the ice.  That meant a trip to the store for a few more gallons of bottled water for the ice and coffee, but worth it until we flush out more of the water in the system.  Well, at least it is sanitized.  (Note to self: use far less bleach and do a better job of flushing and rinsing the water lines).

The other glitch involves hot water.  We have it — we just can’t get it through the lines. The water tank fills and heats water just fine, it just doesn’t flow from the taps.  Grrr.  A bit of a head scratcher, which had me draining the tank, bleeding out any air, trying the water pump, flipping the bypass valve each way — and then doing it all over again to no avail.  This one will require some research and tinkering at home, maybe a vinegar rinse of the tank and a systematic check of the lines for a blockage.  Since we are using the camp showers, the only need for hot water is washing dishes, so filling a container from the water heater drain outside worked for now.

A plate of oysters and a grouper sandwich at Hunts.

Thanks for following along on our adventures.  Next up for us is our Alaska cruise – in two weeks!  Jeff and Vickie will be along with us to zip line, whale watch and explore the inside passage.  I hope to have some cool pics and video to post after that wild journey, so keep an eye out.

And be sure to check my nephew Adam’s blog about his continuing Appalachian Trail adventure: Adam’s blog.  He has video and stories about the first 300 miles posted now.

Doug

A plate of oysters and a grouper sandwich at Hunts.

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Caribbean Cruising … again!

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

Let’s see, when we last left “Caribbean Jack” in October he was already talking about the next cruise.  It seemed too early to talk about another cruise, but in the weeks leading up to Christmas he kept checking schedules with various family members until it seemed that Jackie and I were the last ones standing … since we were retired and all.

Ok, I volunteered to research dates and itineraries out of Charleston and soon we had a date booked in April for a 5 day sailing to Nassau and Princess Cay.  Oops, we found out that was spring break for some schools in South Carolina, but by then it was too late.  What’s that Jackie?  Just like the romantic hike in the mountains for our anniversary that involved a gaggle of fifth graders? (see the post “Hike Inn Anniversary“).  Retired teachers can be soooo crabby!

Our “Welcome Aboard” drink!

So with bags packed and adventure awaiting, we set off for Dad’s – leaving freeze warnings at home amid April showers – with visions of the blue Caribbean and warm sunny days ahead.  He was all set, bags also packed and waiting, with a reminder that we needed to get the handicapped hang-tag out of his car and be sure to pack his walker.  That proved golden, as Charleston does not charge mobility-impaired passengers for parking and we were able to use their lift-equipped shuttle van and wheelchairs for a swift boarding process.  With little fuss we were soon on the Lido deck, poolside, with that first tropical drink in hand.

Ready for our day at sea.

Ok, it was a bit drizzly and chilly so we moved inside while we scanned the list of shipboard activities and planned our first day at sea.  Soon after we pulled away from shore and the Carnival Ecstasy was headed out of Charleston harbor and on to warmer and calmer waters.  If you are a cruiser, you know the exhilaration you feel at the sail-away moment, with all the stresses of life left behind and the thrill of the open water ahead of you.  This was going to be fun.

        

The itinerary was for our first full day at sea followed by a stop at their private island, Princess Cay.  That first day brought us into the sunshine, but the water temperature in the pool was still mighty chilly, so it was pretty much just the kids who were splashing about (when they weren’t filling up the hot tubs, that is).  Undeterred, we sat poolside, legs in the water, adult beverages in hand, chatting with other passengers – most from the mid-Atlantic and Southeast region.  I kept a look out for “that kid” who would sooner or later appear, gleam in his eyes, and flop in the pool, sending icy sprays of water over all the adults nearby.  Oh, wait, my glass was empty … time to head to the bar anyway.

Even the towel creatures had their day by the pool.

Those first days also involved casino strategy sessions – well, between Dad and I anyway.  Craps for me and roulette for Dad.  Jackie declared she was going to get to every comedy show and a few of the musical ones and Dad said he might join her.  After a slow start at the craps table, I headed to the room to find Jackie napping and with good intentions of making the evening shows, but we ended up crashing and leaving a note on Dad’s door.  He later said that he went to the musical performance (too loud, no real dancing, just wacky moves), then the casino and stayed up to nearly midnight.

Jackie was proud of the shawl she had crocheted – and it was needed.

What do you do on a five-day Caribbean cruise anyway?  Here is how we kept busy:

  • Talk about meals and food, check menus, and then talk some more about food. This is something of a pastime for my family anyway, but we would hear all about the great omelets, warm pastries, and breakfast dining room service from Dad on those days we went ashore.  Dinner was fun, with great appetizers (mussels, conch fritters, escargot, calamari) and main courses (lamb shank, short ribs, prime rib, crab ravioli, roast duck).  And dessert!

Roast duck and crab ravioli

  • Go ashore at Princess Cay for snorkeling.
  • Talk some more about meals and food. Guy’s Burgers were a big hit and the fresh tacos, burritos, pizza and Reubens all delicious.

Burger run from Guy’s Burger Joint

  • Hit the casino, and in Doug’s case hope for better luck at craps.
  • Go ashore in Nassau and pay to wander Atlantis on Paradise Island.
  • Read a book

Love that new eReader!

  • Hang something special on your door (Jackie has been great at crocheting shells, starfish, palm trees and such for the doors).

Of course mini golf!

  • Wander the ship and play mini golf, look at the fitness center, pass the duty-free shops, sit by the pool and maybe get wet.
  • Hear how well Jack did at the roulette table – again.
  • Check out the Chocolate Fantasy at the Lido buffet.

  • Check to be sure you haven’t hit your 15 drink limit for the day (not even close).
  • Enjoy the sail-away each night and watch for flying fish (yes, there were many of them popping out of the water at the bow as we left Princess Cay this time).

  • Buy the drink package and enjoy yourself for a few days. We bought the special Tervis insulated cups to hold our favorite drinks.

We enjoyed our previous snorkel on Princess Cay and were hoping for just as much fun.  Caught an early tender and walked down to the snorkel reef area.  It is an easy, sandy entry into the water and you can snorkel along the shoreline to see corals and fish pretty easily.

Easy entry to the snorkel area.

Jackie saw a large barracuda and Doug saw a small flounder and eel besides the parrotfish, yellowtails, blue tang, sergeant majors, crevalle and lots of the typical reef fish. It began to get a bit choppy after a few hours, so we tried another spot that was more protected, but more jetty than coral reef.  It was a good morning on shore and we were back aboard by mid-afternoon.

You can’t beat the color of the water in the Caribbean.

The snorkel reef from above. Just beyond and below the waves were fans, corals, and reef fish.

How was Nassau this visit?  Lots of flowers in bloom and fresh paint on most buildings made Nassau a colorful port of call.  We had three other ships in port with us, but we were in the slip right along the embarkation dock.  Easy on and off and a great way to people watch along shore.

   

     

   

This time we purchased tickets to walk the grounds of Atlantis on Paradise Island, so we caught a cab and zig-zagged our way through traffic to the resort.  If you have never been there, I recommend it – even though it is pricey to just walk through expensive shops, a gorgeous casino and tropical grounds.

        

        

 

After wandering through the casino and gazing at the Chihuly glass sculptures, we found our way outside and around the waterfalls and gardens.  And typical for us, we walked in The Dig aquarium from the exit (we managed that by accident in another aquarium).  It didn’t really matter, we were out of the way of strollers for a while.  It is a pretty nice aquarium, with all sorts of artifacts that add to the experience as you gaze at the reef fish, including some spotted eagle rays and a very large manta ray.

       

When you make your way to the lobby above, you can also look down on the pools to see the schools of fish.  In the Predator Lagoon area there are several species of shark and three very big smalltooth sawfish.  We were at the rail where a guest was feeding squid to the sharks and got a pretty good look at the frenzy.

 

Further on we saw turtles and hammerhead sharks before climbing the dunes to the beach.  Hey, we didn’t buy a wristband for beach access … nor did we buy the water park pass, but we somehow ended up next to their signature waterslide.  Darn, we didn’t have our bathing suits on!

       

Another wild ride back to the ship and Jackie headed onboard to have lunch with Dad while Doug walked around town for some photos of the local scene.  From the edge of the harbor it really is an amazing sight of clear blue waters and large white ships, with street vendors and excursion boats sprinkled in.

            

And what about the casino onboard?  Well, Doug had his new craps strategy in play during the week, but was up and down (mostly down).  He would sit and play roulette with Jack for a bit, then Jack would watch him play a while at the craps table.  Dad stood at the rail and played craps one night but opted to return to roulette.  So it went, up and down.  But the last night got a bit more exciting.  While they were both at the roulette table, Dad said “I’m going to do a crazy bet” and he covered one whole column of numbers.  Of course he hit one and got a nice payout.

Aboard Carnival Ecstasy (15)

“You have to have a system …”

Doug heard the call of the craps table for one last time but when Jack joined him his stack of chips was dwindling.  Jack stepped to the end position on the rail and it was soon his turn to shoot the dice. By then, Doug had ditched his strategy and was back to just odds on key numbers.  “So what do I need to roll?” Dad asked.  “7”.  “Okay, here goes.”  Bam, we got a seven.  And another.  Then he hit his point as Doug managed both their bets, and again hit his number.  “Am I still throwing?” he asked several times, to which the entire table replied “hit it again, Mr. Jack.”

That was how the night went on until he crapped out and we cashed in.  Everyone was fist bumping him around the table congratulating him for a great run.  Our stacks of chips were back to respectable size again!.  A good recovery for sure, but these are only $5 tables, so it’s never that much money, just good fun.

Our last night in the dining room was a special celebration, even if a bit teary-eyed.  We ordered a round of champagne and toasted good fortune (finally) and good sailing, with a nod to the memory of Nancy and all the cruises she and Dad enjoyed together.

Nancy and Jack aboard Forbes yacht Capitalist Tool

It had been a great five days at sea and we declared it a success.  I think I heard something about “not sure I have another cruise in me …” but I chose to ignore that one (of course he does).

Leaving the ship was a breeze. Thanks again to Jack’s walker we were able to do a late departure and rolled off the ship to head home.  Yep, rainy conditions again and more freeze warnings at home.  As we look out at the leaves just popping and the azaleas finishing their bloom, we can’t help but compare the low 30’s temperatures to the warm breezes of the tropics and ask ourselves “weren’t we just snorkeling in clear, blue waters three days ago?”  Cruising is magical.

Be sure to look at all the photos below to get a sense of the ship and ports of call.  I should point out that the underwater shots are at the aquarium, not from our snorkel.  Soon I should have snorkeling video edited and posted on the Video gallery.  Thanks for following along on our adventures.  Next trip is Panama City Beach in the motorhome.  Yippee!

Planning a cruise?  You can get a great deal and we get some credit if you book through Cynthia Long at CruisesOnly.  Their loyalty program will give you extras like shipboard and resort credit on top of the cruise line’s best deals.  Give her a call at 617-587-6000 x 38584 and mention that Doug and Jackie sent you.

 

Jackie was proud of the shawl she had crocheted – and it was needed.
Even the towel creatures had their day by the pool.
Our magical drink cups.
Our “Welcome Aboard” drink!
Ready for our day at sea.
“You have to have a system …”

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Caribbean Jack

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Doug and Jackie

It seems you can’t keep Dad away from a good cruise.  He really needed this respite break and some of the family was happy to join him.  So Jackie, Jeff, Vickie and Doug set out from Charleston Harbor on Carnival’s Ecstasy for 5 days in October to enjoy the sand and sun.

Rat Pack ready for the Cruise

Sail away day is the BEST day of a cruise … you grab your colorful favorite drink and the party starts right away as you leave your troubles behind.  This was our first trip out of Charleston and the weather was just perfect to head past Fort Sumter and into the Atlantic.

Here’s to getting aboard first!

Charleston Harbor

Charleston Harbor and Ft. Sumter

Happy Jack

After a day at sea we arrived off the shore of Princess Cays.  Took an early tender and our snorkel gear to see what we could find.  Since the drink package did not include anything on the island, we all figured to spend just the morning ashore and be back on ship for lunch, drinks and dinner.  The snorkeling beach, however, was quite a surprise.  It was one of the best small reefs we have encountered in the Caribbean.

Princess Cays and the snorkeling spot

A small sandy entry point gave access to a sloping reef that was loaded with fan and pipe coral, sponges and all sorts of reef fish.  Several flounder were spotted, along with plenty of the other colorful reef fish: blue tang, parrot fish, sergeant major, angels … and a good size barracuda.  What a good morning of snorkeling (oops, no pictures).

After a Fine Meal

Dinner each night was in the main dining room and was good service with darn good food.  Dad certainly enjoyed the selection.  After dinner the guys tried their luck at the casino and the ladies did the shows.  Doug and Jeff tried a new strategy at the craps table that started out really well, but ended up working against them.  Overall, I think we all played as much as we wanted to and pretty much broke even.

Cheers!

Back to the “Cheers” program and our handy list of gotta-try drinks.  Some of us were fretting that the prepaid drink program’s limit of 15 drinks per day was going to be a concern — but we must be lightweights, because only one of us hit the limit on one night (and we agreed it was because the day started with a bloody Mary!)

Cruise Oct 2017 (67)

Rough day at the office…

Cruise Oct 2017 (65) b

Popular spot for us on the pool deck

Our favorite bar was the RedFrog Rum Bar, poolside, but we also frequented the lobby bar, the BlueIguana Tequilla Bar, Alchemy Bar (for some wild martini productions) and the casino bar (but that was tricky — had to make your bets last until the drink arrived!)  So, despite our history of craft brewery visits and beer festivals, we were quite happy to try lots of fruity and colorful concoctions.

Freeport shops

The other island visit on this trip was a stop at Freeport, but we all decided to stay aboard ship and just watch the crowds wander the shopping plaza adjacent to the ship – and to giggle at the late arrivals who almost didn’t make the ship’s departure.   It didn’t appear that the recent hurricanes had a significant affect on the two ports we visited.  Jeff and Doug decided that with so many folks off the ship, it was time to try the Twister water slide.  Pretty wet and wild affair, and we hung in there for several runs.

Waterslide awaits

Cruise Oct 2017 (95) b

Yikes!

Oh yes we did!

Overall, a good cruise and a nice ship with friendly staff and good food and drink.

Mango Magic

The point of this cruise was to make sure Dad had plenty of sunshine, good food and companionship — and that he did.

Pretty sure this was one good week for him!

Sleepy Jack

Planning a cruise?  You can get a great deal and we get some credit if you book through Cynthia Long at CruisesOnly.  Their loyalty program will give you extras like shipboard and resort credit on top of the cruise line’s best deals.  Give her a call at 617-587-6000 x 38584 and mention that Doug and Jackie sent you.

 

Oh yes we did!
Rat Pack ready for the Cruise
Charleston Harbor and Ft Sumter in background
Here’s to getting aboard first!
Cheers!
After a Fine Meal
Mango Magic
Princess Cays
Charleston Harbor
Happy Jack
Freeport shops
Waterslide awaits

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To Panama City Beach … the Long Way!

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Doug and Jackie

The gulf at St. Andrews State Park

We were excited to be returning to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach again this year, but it took something of a circuitous route this time.  You see our future daughter-in-law was having a wedding shower in Memphis just as our trip was to start, so we had to go west before going south. Turned out just fine, however.

We didn’t want to make the entire drive to Memphis all at once, so we made our way northwest through Huntsville, Alabama and stopped for the night at Joe Wheeler State Park along the Tennessee River.  We prefer state parks when we can, since it is reasonable and you discover some cool natural areas.

Not much of a campsite …

Jackie made the reservation for a pull-through site, since we didn’t want to disconnect the car and tow dolly, but we discovered this was more of a pull-aside site.  Maybe just a wide spot in the road, an extra bit of shoulder . . .  It was long enough, there was plenty of room between sites, we had full hookups and a nice view of the lake, but it had a few problems.  First off, we weren’t facing the campsite.

Sites are usually situated so your right side faces into the site, with utilities on the left.  In this case we faced the road, fairly tightly, too.  Putting the awning out was out of the question and we barely extended the bedroom slide – just enough to get around the bed and into drawers.  Stepping out the motorhome door meant looking both ways for sure. And if we had wanted to use the picnic table, well that was way off thataways.  But, it was only one night and easy to pull out the next morning.  Overall it was a very nice campground and Kodi enjoyed the evening walkabout to meet children and other dogs.

At least the site next to us was empty.

After driving across northern Alabama and into Tennessee, we pulled into our site at the Agricenter International RV Park, a multipurpose fairgrounds in Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tennessee.  While it was a basic gravel lot, it did have full hookups and an onsite Farmer’s Market that was fun to wander through.  We met up with Alex, Bethany and her parents and they took us to Central BBQ for some Memphis-style ribs and barbecue.  I had a plate of ribs, half dry half wet (rub and sauce) that was fall-off-the-bone good and Jackie tried the pulled pork nachos with some good hush puppies to share.

Farmer’s Market

Next day Jackie’s sister and niece arrived from Nashville and the ladies went off to the shower.  Alex, Jim and I took Kodi and their two terriers to another part of Shelby Farms Park for some exercise, with a stop at a dog-friendly outdoor gear shop.

All the dogs …

Once again, Kodi was a hit with the kids (he is such a friendly dog).  Jim and Dawn hosted us all back at their home for a delicious (and I mean delicious) cookout and then it was back to the camper with Judy and Rachel for the night.  However …

Wow did we get a thunderstorm that night!  Everything was buttoned down tight, but the wind was rocking the van pretty good and the rain was quite loud on the roof.  We had the paddleboards strapped to the roof of the car, but while we are parked I usually loosen the straps a bit to let the boards relax and flex.  The wind was so intense I found myself peeking out the bedroom window to check on them, only to see them bouncing around more than I liked.  I had visions of them slipping out from under the straps and snapping or just blowing away.  I certainly couldn’t sleep with the thought, so I ran out to tighten them down and got totally, totally drenched.  But the boards were safe.  Unfortunately, the outside radio compartment popped open and I wondered how the speakers and radio would hold up when dry …

Just a spot for the night

Heading south through Alabama, we stopped at Birmingham South Campground for the night, again with full hookups and a pull-thru site.  Easy access to the highway and a rather nice park.  It was entirely full, since this was now Memorial Day weekend, and we were glad we made an advance reservation.

Nice spot at St. Andrews

Finally hit the road on the last stretch through Alabama and into the Florida panhandle to arrive at St. Andrews State Park.  Got ourselves settled into the campsite and took Kodi on a walkabout to check out dogs, kids, deer and everything else around camp.  While inside the van I suddenly heard loud voices outside and was a bit confused.  Stepping out I realized that the radio had turned on, muffled as it was behind the hatch door.  Odd.  It mysteriously turned on and off a few more times during the trip, so I guess the rain must have short-circuited something.  Just another project for back home.

Lagoon paddleboarding and watching for dolphin.

Let’s see, what did we do for the next few days?  Well, we paddleboarded in the Grand Lagoon out to the inlet, where there is a gorgeous spit of sandy beach and clear water for swimming.  We always manage to spot fish below us and a few dolphin around us.

Lagoon side beach and children’s “pool”

Gulf side beach (awesome)

At the St. Andrews Beach you have a choice of the Gulf side beach or the lagoon side, which has a great spot of water perfect for kids and jetty snorkeling.  Depending on the water conditions, you can snorkel the Gulf side jetty, too.  So we alternated between both, since the water was a refreshing 81 degrees, clear and clean.  Amazing.

Patches Pub Patio

One of the first nights in town we wanted to try a local spot that was always crowded and seemed like fun: Patches Pub.  The patio had live music (not as good as Blind Fate, mind you) and there was a nice selection of craft beer, but no open table.  We were asked to join a couple and promptly learned that they were regulars and were also staying in a motorhome nearby.  They headed out and we ordered a second round and some food, only to look up and see a few ladies who had come out on the patio and were without a table, too.  “Why don’t you join us” we asked, and we were soon sharing stories about the local scene and what was going on.

Peeps at Patches

One of the gals was from Kennesaw, — about 3 miles from our house!  Turns out, two were sisters in town to visit their mother Henrietta, who declared that at 92 she was ready to party.  Her condo sits next to the party spot LaVela, which bills itself as the largest nightclub in the US. Apparently she can catch the action from her balcony, some of which she described in pretty wild detail.  As we were chatting, she swapped her plastic glass of wine for one of her daughter’s glass stems (adding her red to the remaining white for a nice blush wine…) declaring “it’s just classier” and we all laughed and enjoyed our newfound peeps.

How was Kodi in camp?  He was great, and he certainly had his fan club.  Every walk around camp involved meet and greets with kids and dogs – he even got the hang of being walked/run on the leash while Doug was riding his bike (a disaster-in-the-making, according to my brother).  Later in the week we had folks saying “Oh there’s Kodi, Hi Kodi” around camp. Crazy that he became so popular.

Beach Buds

My brother Jeff and sister-in-law Vickie (you will recall them from our cruise posts) joined us for a few days and we had a total blast.  Our mission was a search for the best oysters around, plus some good snorkeling.  But first we had to hit our favorite beach bar Sharky’s for grouper sandwiches and drinks.  It was as good as ever, with a table at the rail along the beach.  So of course there is a bit of a story, too.  Jeff ordered a frozen margarita and was asked “large or small?”  Large of course, and it arrived in a big plastic beer stein with a lid.  Okay then.  I ordered a ‘Shark Attack’ for Jackie and I to split, large of course, and got the same plastic mug.  Cool.  Well, during dinner we learned that refills were cheaper if you had the mug, so heck, why not?  Even better, the mugs were good at two other spots that had the Fat Tuesdays bar setup.  So keep that tidbit in mind for later.

Beachside at Sharky’s

Jeff rented a pontoon boat from the park for a day and off to Shell Island we went.  Shell Island is just on the other side of the inlet and the lagoon side was waist-deep clear water along the jetty.  Amazing to see so many bait fish – clouds of them in the water, plus mullet, pinfish, tang, and others that we really couldn’t identify.  “I can’t believe we have this place to ourselves” was the refrain that morning, since it was indeed a quiet spot.

Thumbs Up for sure!

Oysters discovered!

Mmm, fish tacos

Lunch was the main event, however, and our quest for the best oysters took us to Old St. Andrews Marina and we tied up at the dock.  Within sight was our destination: Hunts Oyster Bar.  This local spot was busy, but we got a table pretty quick and put in an order for a pitcher of beer and two dozen oysters on the half-shell.  Bam! We had our oysters before we had the beer.  Cold, sweet and awesome beauties from the Apalachicola Bay.  Jeff and I worked through them pretty fast and ordered up another tray, while we also asked for their fish tacos.  I have to say that the tacos were really, really good.  Jeff and I marveled at the speed of oyster shucking and he determined he was going to get some for later.  Since we had the rest of the day on the boat, we decided to wait on the oysters to go.

Schools and schools of baitfish

Back onboard we returned to snorkel at Shell Island and then across the inlet to the sandy spit for a quick swim and then back to the marina.  A great day – and I recommend the boat rentals from the park.

Next morning Jeff was pondering the whole question of a box of oysters to take home.  “Dad’s gonna love them, but I don’t know if I want to drive around to Hunt’s to get them.”  Those oysters were calling our name, so we decided to try the closer Treasure Island Seafood Market and bought 100 fresh oysters (hey, they were a good deal), piled in a box and filled with ice.  Hmm, don’t have a clam knife in the van – guess we need to hit Winn Dixie.  Oh, and what about that bloody Mary mix over there?  Perfect!  Back in camp it was time to shuck oysters (Jeff’s job) and serve up bloodys (Doug’s job).  Ouch, that knife was sharp and the oyster was tight … well, 12 oysters and a bloody thumb later we had to rethink.  88 to go and “how exactly did they shuck those guys so quick?”  Ah well, time to snorkel instead.

Grilled oysters

Before he left for home, Jeff left me with about a dozen to fight with.  Grilling seemed to be the answer and that worked out for the next two nights – they were much easier to open when they had been steamed on the grill for a bit.  Jeff later texted from home that he also steamed them and Dad polished off most of them himself (maybe his secret for reaching 90 years old?).  Well done.

Oysters and Dad

I should mention that there was much boating activity that weekend, mostly due to the 3 day season for red snapper in Federal waters.  Best place to see them was at the fish cleaning station, where Jackie pretended that she caught a big one.  I recall those fish-cleaning days on the Jersey shore when we came back in with barrels of bluefish and I didn’t envy the guys who were filleting them at the dock.  But snapper is good eats!  Made me also think of the lionfish cleaning in the Keys from last fall (see the post: Island Hopping).

Did you REALLY catch that?

Fish cleaning

So what is left to say about the remaining week at the beach?  Let’s see, we changed campsites after a week and a visit to the dump station.  New site was closer to the water for a great view.

Dinner for two at the next campsite

Two days of rain – but that was really an excuse to have lunch beachside at Pineapple Willy’s for some amazing grouper po’boys (oh, and a refill rum drink using our special mugs).

Gotta get that refill on a rainy day

Pineapple Willy’s and po’boys

More snorkeling (and my GoPro, since I finally got the batteries charged) and great swimming, since the water was amazingly clear and the bait fish were all over the place.  A last refill rum drink in our special mugs (I mean, we just HAD to check out all the options) and grouper sandwich at Hammerhead Fred’s.  Good times.

Hammerhead Fred’s and the refills

So, despite the 8 hour trip home – never fun at the end of a vacation – we are all set to plan it again for next year.  Remember, those 8 hours include the time it takes to hook up and then unhitch the car and tow dolly and some traffic snarls in Dothan, Eufaula and Atlanta.

I have to start editing the pictures and video from my GoPro, which may take me a few days, so I’ll make them a separate post.  There are some teaser shots in the gallery below.  You can check back later for more of the snorkeling shots and videos.  I updated Happenings with news of our deer and Merlin says he made some comments on Mews, so be sure to give them a look.

And thanks again for following our adventures – we have fun with it and I enjoy writing the stories.

UPDATE:  I have now posted some snorkeling and paddleboarding videos on the “Places” page, so go check them out.

Osprey
Oysters!
Schools and schools of baitfish
Just a perfect day
Gotta get that refill
Big guy
Lagoon Beach
Pelicans on patrol
Dinner for two at the next campsite
Sheepshead
Gulf Beach
Woah big wave
Beach Buds
Hammerhead Fred’s and the refills
Campsite on the lagoon
Schools of fish
Baitfish
Jetty snorkeling spot
Snorkeling Jackie
Paddleboarding in the lagoon.
Soft shell turtle
Snorkeling Jackie
View from campsite
Perfect day for a swim
Pompano
Angels

 

 

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Reefs, Writers and Conch Fritters

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Doug and Jackie

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Adoption Day for our granddaughter!

It’s about 85 degrees early this morning, with bright sun, blue skies and a warm breeze as I sit outside facing the water and get caught up on our wanderings.  We are camping beachside at Curry Hammock State Park and it is indeed a quiet start to another hot Florida day.  It has been a week since we left John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, counting down the mile markers to the end of the road.  A highlight of the trip as we left Marathon was 7-mile bridge, which somehow has this magical attraction.  Parallel to the new bridge is the old one, a remnant of the East Coast Railway and later the original Overseas Highway.  But you may know it best, as we do, from the movies.  In particular, True Lies, where Arnold Schwarzenegger pulls Jaime Lee Curtis out of a speeding limo at just the right moment.  Is that the limo I see underwater just there?

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7 mile bridge

I should probably pause to say that I consider our adventures to be well planned – mostly because if you want to be in state or national parks, you have to reserve well in advance.  But sometimes you miss a few things, such as September is still really hot in Florida (90’s) and Bike Week in the Keys happens right now (about 10,000 or more motorcyclists).  We knew about the hurricane season and kept our fingers crossed, but somehow missed the Poker Run.

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Bike Week in Key West!

But it’s fun when the unexpected happens.  For instance, our next few nights were in Bahia Honda State Park and we discovered it was a really nice island with views of the overland highway and old Flagler-built East Coast Railway bridge. It is one of the few keys that has sand beaches that are nice to relax on or in (we sat the chairs in the ankle deep water for most of the day). We signed up for our second reef snorkeling adventure, only to learn that the boat was in need of a part for repairs and the trip was canceled.  Next day as we were awaiting the part – oh the part is in, but the mechanic is out – canceled again, there was a lot of buzz about “the movie.”

Set of "The Leisure Seekers"

Campground set of “The Leisure Seekers”

On the set for "The Leisure Seekers"

On the set of “The Leisure Seekers”

Down by the nature center there was a crew setting up for a shoot, complete with some vintage campers, tables, grills and such and lots of cameras and equipment.  Actually, this wasn’t even part of the campground.  Someone said it was a film with Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren.  We watched and wandered about, got waved out of the shot and tried to figure the smoky scene, which looked like some grilling gone bad.  It is “The Leisure Seekers,” a story about a retired couple who set out in their vintage Winnebago RV on an adventure of a lifetime.  Hmm, sounds kinda familiar.  We probably saw both actors, but who could tell?  Shorter in real life and all…

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Reef snorkeling

As we learned that our snorkeling trip was canceled yet again, we quickly checked with the nearest dive boat and got ourselves on for a run to Looe Key – a marine sanctuary reef that was supposed to have reef sharks and goliath groupers and spotted rays.  Very clear water that was a different reef than Pennecamp, deeper and lots of fish and coral: parrot fish, French angelfish, barracuda, yellowtail snapper, sergeant major, blue tang, some grouper, fan coral, elkhorn coral and some low-flying frigate birds circling.  But we didn’t see the reef sharks (some folks did), goliath grouper or spotted rays.  We did see lots more moon jellies and just as we were headed back to the boat, Jackie got nailed along the neck by one.  Ouch!

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Reef fish

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Reef fish

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Reef fish

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Barracuda

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Christ of the Abyss

The boat moved to a spot where we got to see several large green sea turtles from the boat, one might have been a Loggerhead.  Overall great afternoon, despite the jellyfish sting.

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The beach at Bahia Honda

We really do like the Florida State Parks – they are clean and very dependable for hookups and campsite conditions.  Bahia Honda had some beautiful sunsets and we got to ride bikes along the shore, paddleboard and bird watch (no spoonbills or swallow-tailed kites yet, but a nice osprey).  The Keys are not really beach scenes. To appreciate them you need to get out on the water and fish, snorkel the reefs or paddle around.  They are rocky coral and pretty darn shallow and there is lots of weed at the water’s edge. And no waves – no sounds of the roaring surf, hardly even a ripple.  We got to chat with others about where they had been, and “you’ll love Key West, it was so quiet in town yesterday – even with 2 cruise ships in port.  Empty.”  Right.

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Sandbar off Curry Hammock

So off we went to check in at Leo’s Campground on Stock Island (the island used to be the stockyard for Key West), which is maybe a half-mile from new town Key West. Umm, not so easy to navigate back to the site.  We unhooked the car and pulled forward, but needed to do a K-turn, which just wasn’t happening without the tow-dolly getting tangled up with an old Dodge van (oops, sorry, did that leave a scratch?), so I turned around, started over and backed all the way in, with Jackie’s help. Usually the private campgrounds are more like wide-open parking lots, but Leo’s not so much. Well, the dino-sized iguanas were amused at least (and it seems our site was next to the official feeding spot for these 4 and 5 foot guys). Remember, always the unexpected!

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Key West awaits, let’s see what it’s all about.  We drove in and parked ($$) near Mallory Square and Duval Street, which was blocked off for the bike event, and tried to get a flavor for Old Town Key West.  Stayed for the sunset celebration on the waterfront along with a zillion selfie-takers and wedding photos.  We returned on Saturday, but this time we parked at Higgs Beach in free public parking and then bought a trolley ticket to get around.  So what did we find in two days in Key West?

  • Bike Week is a big event – best to avoid it if it isn’t your scene.
  • September is their off month, several restaurants post “Gone Fishing, back in October”
  • Upper Duval Street is much like Bourbon Street’s bar scene, but it was great for drinks and seafood.  Lower Duval has the art galleries and more expensive shops and is quieter.
  • Conch fritters were delicious – the Conch Shack had the best ones in my opinion.

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  • Sloppy Joe’s was Hemmingway’s watering hole, and this weekend just about everyone else’s.  Plentiful bar, though.
  • Everyone sells Key Lime Pie, but get the pie on a stick, dipped in dark chocolate!
  • Lazy Gecko had best craft beers, Key West Crazy Lady and Funky Buddah Floridian, and a delicious grouper mango taco

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  • Flying Monkey bar at Fogerty’s had a “uuuge” fish sandwich with some brain-freeze drinks that were very welcome on a hot day
  • Hemingway House is inside a wall of vegetation, a pricey tour so we didn’t go in to see the six-toed cats
  • Some beautiful homes, but for the prices (millions) you would expect a little better maintenance on some.  Fixer-uppers are still around a million bucks.
  • I would hate to see a cross-hybrid between kudzu and banyan trees.  Whole cities would disappear.

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The trolley tour told a little more of the local history of a town that has been one of the richest per capita more than once:

  • Salt ponds were used to gather salt for the North Carolina fish-packing industry (hurricane wiped it out)
  • Reef shipwrecks became a profitable salvage industry until better navigation and charts came along.
  • Flagler’s East Coast Railroad was to be the entry port for cargo from the Panama Canal, plus luxury hotels (hurricanes wiped out several bridges after a few years, then he sold it to the state)
  • Cigar industry using local Cuban talent thrived until the great fire (which then spawned the requirement that roofs be made of tin)
  • Finally tourism became an industry
  • Declaration of secession when the feds blocked US1 to stop the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants in the 70’s – the Conch Republic was born
  • The bars and latitude seem to inspire writers:  Hemingway and Sloppy Joe’s bar and the lighthouse that led him back home each night; Tennesee Williams and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (was it 6-toed?), and “Streetcar Named Desire.”

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So we did as many of the usual tourist things as we could all the while dodging the motorcycles.  Parked all down Duval Street, the lineup of bikes was crazy and the crackling motors and impressive sound systems let you know they were there. Since we forgot our tattoos and leather vests, and I have been shaving regularly, we probably stood out, but the crowd was really very friendly (but black leather in mid 90’s heat meant the watering holes were pretty busy). Our picture of the Southernmost Point in the US was a drive-by and it was crazy that there was a line of 50 or so folks waiting to take selfies with the cone.

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Sunset at Mallory Square

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Sunset at the end of the road…

 

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French angelfish

 

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Starfish on the sandbar

Still no spoonbills, although I did see a kite soaring over the waterfront while driving (darn!), and even though Big Pine Key had all sorts of warning signs about key deer (and as you know, we have quite the reputation with deer) we were for once disappointed not to see deer. But you never know.  We still have a few days left before we head out of the Keys and back home.

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It is just so tough paddling around the keys!

Oh wait! We heard about manatee being in the area today so we quickly grabbed the boards and got in the water.  After paddling around a bit, we were over and around five really big manatee in the water.  They would surface, snort and then go back under and swim along.  Big, big, big!  So much fun to paddle over and around them, ever watchful that they might just toss those back flippers and send us swimming!  How cool.  I got some video before the battery went dead (of course), so will post that soon.

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We found Dory!

Ok, as I finish up this post, the “little” iguana is advancing on me … followed by three more of his buddies.  I think they replace the pesky squirrels or pigeons who beg for food – except these guys are fast… and long.

Next Adventure?  Not sure. Need to spend some time at our “other” home.  When I get home I will post some of the great pics and videos from our trip!

PS. This is our first trip without Benji, our beloved adventure dog.  It seems empty without him sometimes, but we know he is traveling with us in spirit. Merlin and we miss him and send him a heartfelt shout out.

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