The first week in February Monty and I went on our first cruise. In one word it was AWESOME! We had a wonderful amazing time. Mia stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Cobbley for the first part of the week, then with Aunt Trina, and finished off the week at Nana and Grandpa's house in West Jordan. She had fun hanging out with her Grandparents and we had a great relaxing adventure filled week.
On February 2nd we boarded the Norwegian Dawn in Tampa, Florida.
We spent the afternoon soaking up some sun waiting for the ship to leave.
Sunday we were at sea. We spent more time in the sun, took in some country line dance lessons, and enjoyed the entertainment.
The food on our cruise was great, however, ice cream was a staple in my diet.
Monday we were in port in Roatan, Honduras. It was beautiful and the weather was great!
Taking a cab in Roatan is a whole new experience. There are no traffic laws just a bunch of narrow winding roads. There are pot holes everywhere that the cabbies just dodge left and right. For a time I wondered if we'd arrive at our destination in one piece. Luckily we had an awesome cabbie named Charlie who knew the roads well and he got us to Victor Boden's Monkey Park in great time. The monkey park is essentially a small zoo, however in this zoo, you get to go in most of the cages with the monkeys and birds. The first cage we went in had two monkeys. They run around, climb all over you, and beg for sunflower seeds.
For a moment I ended up in the middle of a monkey fight.
Eventually they settled down and we had some good play time.
The monkeys would just leap all around and often wrapped their tails around you as they were flying through the air in order to stop.
They had some beautiful tropical birds.
We couldn't go in with the spider monkeys but they would give you hugs through the fence. Right after this one hugged me he stole my glasses. Now I know why we couldn't go in with them.
Next we got to go in with some macaws. If you look close you can see how big their talons are...thus the look on my face. I had talons digging into my scalp and Monty had them digging into his sunburn...somehow he kept a straight face though.
We got to feed the macaws sunflower seeds too.
My bird wouldn't come off my head!?!
I don't remember what kind of bird the green one was, but he was much friendlier.
These are Honduran rabbits. They are a major source of food on the island so I guess these guys are lucky to be on display.
They also had squirrels, white tailed deer, a few other small animals and other birds. After the monkey park Charlie took us to Bannanaramma Resort. My friends Lou and Jamie from Coeur d'Alene manage the resort there. It has been many years since I've seen them and it was great see them, catch up, and learn about life on the island. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of Lou and Jamie. :-(
We had lunch with them at the resort and then hit the beach.
The water was warm and so clear.
We took lots of self portraits.
Warm water, warm weather, lots of sunshine...what could be better.
On Tuesday we went to Belize City, Belize. The port in Belize is not deep enough for the cruise ships so the boat set anchor and then we took a 10 minute ride on little shuttle boats to get to land. This is us on the shuttle boat.
The port in Belize.
We did some shopping in the port and then we loaded on to a bus to head out into the jungle.
The first stop was 4-wheeling. It was a blast.
They warned us that we'd come out looking like chocolate chip cookies, and that was definitely true for Monty. We was speckled right from the get go.
We rode through the jungle. We didn't see any animals (the ATVs scare them away) but the scenery was absolutely beautiful.
We followed a trail that was mostly just mud. People kept getting stuck. Monty got stuck but I'm happy to say I never did.
At times I don't know if the trail filled with water or if we were riding down a river.
There were times were the water on the trail completely covered the wheels. I don't have any pictures of where the water was that deep. In some places we had to put our feet up on the front fenders not only to keep them out of the water but to keep from being burned by the steam that would come off the ATVs.
After 4-wheeling we cleaned off and went cave tubing. We hiked through the river a couple times and up the canyon to the water. We learned all about the trees and vegetation as we went. Again it was just beautiful.
Ready to go with our head lamps and life jackets.
We were all hooked together in a big chain as we headed into the caves. That's me in the front of this picture...I think.
There were all kinds of rock formations in the caves.
That night before dinner we caught up with our wonderful room steward. His name is Victor and he's from the Philippines. He's been working on the ship for two years. He was an awesome guy.
Wednesday we were in Costa Maya Mexico. We were supposed to go to the Kohunlich ruins but the day before we got there the company got a bus stuck in the mud going to the ruins because of all the rain they'd had before we got there. They gave us the option of still going but with the understanding that there was no guarantee we'd make it to the ruins or that we'd make it back in time to be on the ship. We decided not to risk it and went to the Chacchoben ruins instead. We were a little disappointed but figured it was better to be safe than sorry. The ruins are Chacchoben were still pretty cool though.
This is a massive solid pyramid. It was built in 3 different stages, each time making it bigger and corresponding with a big event.
We were allowed to climb the first few steps.
The back side of the pyramid had an awning where there was a bench with ancient paintings on it. They have pictures of the bench but in order to preserve it and save it from vandalism they covered it up with a rock front so you can't see it anymore. I guess that's how they did things in the 1950s.
I can't remember the name of this tree but the locals carve X's into the tree draining the sap off of it and then use it to make natural chewing gum.
These are the steps and foundation left from a home. There is a whole little neighborhood around the plaza but all that's left are steps and foundations because the rest of the house was made from wood and palms leaves.
This is a massive stone tablet that was carved by the Mayans. Most of it has worn away but you can still see part of it.
After climbing a massive hill with stone steps (the Mayans hauled in dirt and rocks to make the hill) you reach the temple of the Sun.
Just down a bit from the Temple of the Sun is the Temple of the Moon.
This rock with it's little carved hole marks the spring and fall equinox. On those days the sun shines directly through the hole for 10 min at 8 am and again at 8 pm.
We also got to see some dolphins in Costa Maya. They were right next to the ocean and for a ridiculous price you could get in their sad tiny little pool with them. Needless to say we didn't do it but we took their picture and said hi.
We were able to get a good picture of our whole ship when we were in Costa Maya. It was huge.
Our final port was Cozumel Mexico on Friday. We took a cab to a meeting point and then took a dune buggy to the main meeting place.
On the walk down to the ocean we saw a big lizard on a rock.
Then it was into the water for snorkeling. We had some mighty fine life jackets.
More self portraits.
We saw lots of fish. These ones were feeding on something.
We saw a sea turtle and a sting ray. I tried to get pictures of both but I only got a picture of the turtle.
After snorkeling we had a fajita lunch and then it was back to the dune buggy for a tour of the island. It was just us and one other couple on the excursion and we shared a dune buggy.
This picture is for Mia. It's a little hard to see but the sign on the road there with the sun on it says Playa Mia.
It was really nice to tour the island in a dune buggy. The open top and lack of windows made it easy to see everything around us. The first stop was Punta Sur Lighthouse. It is still a working lighthouse that you can do tours of during the day (so it's not on).
Monty signing his life away so if he got hurt he couldn't sue the Mexican government.
The views from the lighthouse were just astonishing.
So beautiful.
A Mayan ruin near the shore that acted as a lighthouse for the canoes coming from the main land.
Between the snorkeling and the wind in the dune buggy I was a little wind blown.
Monty was barely able to fit through the hole to get out and in the top of the lighthouse.
An ancient canoe the Mayans used to get to the island.
There were 2 families that lived at the lighthouse to maintain it back in the 1940s and 50s. This was part of their living quarters.
For the 2nd part of the trip we were the passengers in the dune buggy.
This is a Mayan ruin that was used as somewhat of a weather channel. There were shells on the top that the wind would blow through depending on it's direction and strength.
We stopped at a boardwalk that's built out over some marshes and saw some wild crocodiles. There were about 6 of them just laying in the sun.
Shockingly there is nothing illegal in this picture. Notice what is in our driver's hand. Only in Mexico will you see someone with one hand on the steering wheel and a Corona in the other hand. No worries we were never in any danger here. The alcohol flows freely throughout Central America and it was very baffling to some of the locals that we didn't drink.
On the back side of the island there are beautiful rocky cliffs where the waves splash up into the shore.
I was just amazed at the colors in the water. I can't even describe how beautiful it was.
We also stopped for a Tequila tour. Tequila is made from the berry that grows underground on these agave plants. There is only one area in Mexico where agave's with grow to full size but they have nurseries all around Mexico to start the plants growing and then they move them once they reach a certain size. It takes 10 years for a plant to become full grown. The white thing next to the plant it not a real berry but is an example of a full grown berry. They are HUGE. They also explained the process of making Tequila. It was pretty interesting.
When we were in Cozumel, docked right next to us was the Norwegian Star. Since there were two Norwegian boats side by side they had a big party between the two boats for the last hour and a half before we had to be on board.
All the staff and crew were getting into it.
There were cheerleaders, fruit drinks, Popsicles, and a DJ.
Several nights we had a towel animal from Victor waiting for us when we got back to our room. This monkey was my favorite.
After Cozumel they had a chocolate buffet at the main buffet that night. They had everything chocolate you could imagine (including chocolate sushi) and some amazing chocolate sculptures.
They also had some ice sculptures including this eagle.
Our last day of the cruise we were at sea again. We just hung out and relaxed. It was a little overcast and windy that day so we didn't get to enjoy quite as much sun but the weather was perfect for the rest of our cruise so I'm not complaining. We spent a little bit of time out on the deck again.
That afternoon they had an employee talent show for us. There were several different act representing the various departments and cultures on board. This was from a traditional Philippines dance.
I don't know how this guy did this but he would sprinkle sand on a projector and within seconds create sand paintings, add more sand, scribble it out, and begin again.
The entertainment crew did their own skit called "Fountains." It was really rather gross but at the same time hilarious as they were human fountains and often fountained on each other. We heard one of the girls talking that night and she said she showered 3 times after this.
Our last night was the only night the whole cruise I had to wear my sweatshirt...and really I didn't have to I'm just a wimp.
Beautiful sunsets at sea.
They were really big on the ship about hand hygiene. There were hand sanitizers everywhere and then we had these two girls. They called them "Happy Happy" and "Washy Washy." Their job was to spray the hands of everyone as they came into the buffet. Every morning as we entered the buffet we were greeted by Mary Grace (she's the one next to me) dancing around and saying "Washy Washy Happy Happy." Many skits and shows mentioned the excessive use of hand sanitizer and they totally owned up to the song they sang. It was awesome and hey it kept us from getting sick.
It was such an amazing trip. I know there are a ton of pictures here if you actually made it through. It was so hard to sift through all of them and decide which ones to put up. This is probably 1/4 of our pictures. I never knew a cruise could be so much fun. I can't wait to do it again!
