Cruise 2010: Cozumel, Mexico

Do I look Mexican [don't mind my goof smile]? I don't see it, but the locals thought I was a local. I think it would be to my benefit that I learn Spanish...
Cozumel was the best! We had so much fun! In the morning we went on a snorkeling adventure. We decided to pay for a tour this time because we could take a boat and go out further to see everything. We had some incredible encounters [videos too]...


This next one is awesome. These fish have no fear. They'd come right up to you and nibble on your finger if you put it out. Fish attacks and a video...

Brando got to see his barracuda. That was something he really wanted to see and I held myself together so we could see it. It was actually really cool. The barracuda must have been surrounded by a school of 10,000 fish. I have a video of it as well [at first you will just see a really dark cloud...look in the center clearing of the dark cloud for the skinny dark line...that will be the barracuda]...

After snorkeling, I decided that we really needed to eat an authentic taco in a taco shop on the beach [we considered the possibility of getting sick and decided we'd be ultra careful, but I just really wanted to have done this in my life]. We found a cute place right on the beach and ate the best tacos we have ever eaten in our lives...
I know you are wondering-- we didn't get sick so it turned out great! Lastly, we walked around the streets and enjoyed the incredible views...

Cruise 2010: George Town, Grand Cayman

We absolutely loved the Cayman Islands! The water was gorgeous...you know the clear bright blue kind. We basically fell in love with this place and decided we could possibly make it a permanent residence! They do have a medical school there; we saw it:)! Anyways, our visit in Cayman consisted of a lot of walking along the beaches to various snorkeling areas and looking at fish all day long!
We started by snorkeling at the Wreck of the Gamma. It is an old wrecked ship site right off the coast. You know fish love things like this; it's their hangout. You can see the wreck close to shore in between the 2 cruise ships in the distance (Freedom of the Seas is on the right)...
We swam out to the shipwreck and saw tons...

Can you see it below?... It's not the crab. Look for a peacock flounder...

Here is a video at the Wreck of the Gamma...

Our next snorkeling area was called Eden's Rock. This place had tons including creatures on land. We ran into this guy...
Here is what we saw underwater at Eden's Rock...
Our last snorkeling spot was called Hammerheads. When we first got into the water I saw some scary looking huge Hammerhead sharks, or so I thought. I was getting so mad at Brando because he wouldn't listen to me to turn back. [Heck no was I going into water with sharks.] Well, it turns out that they were not sharks, but the hugest fish called Tarpon. I seriously think some of them were as big as me. I guess those fish can get up to 7ft long...
Here is a video of me freaking out with these huge fish. It does sound horrible with a bunch of yelling and me acting like a baby, but Brando thinks it's funny and he really wanted me to put it on here...

The port into Cayman was not big enough for our ship so we had to take a tender back and forth. Here we are on the tender heading back to the ship for the day...
Next up is Cozumel, Mexico! It was so the best!

Cruise 2010: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Jamaica was nice and pretty and all, but it really was not our favorite place. In fact, Brando was a bit mad by the afternoon because he was so annoyed by all the locals' aggressive tactics to get our money. Everywhere you turned someone wanted to sell you something or try and get you a deal!
The first thing we did in Ocho Rios [8 rivers], Jamaica was catch a cab to the Dunn's River Falls. We were able to hike up the falls approximately 600 feet. It was so pretty and fun!
Some parts were really slippery with such a fast current so you needed guard rails...
It was all so fun and very jungle-ish...
After the hike we walked up and down the main streets in downtown. We thought about going snorkeling, but everything required a "small fee". It was just kind of a damper so we ended up doing a lot of looking because we were hearing a ton of "no fee for looking"...
Jamaica may have made us sound like cheapos, but we really had fun on this beautiful island. On another note, Cayman Islands was a blast and it's coming next!

Cruise 2010: Labadee, Haiti

Our first port day was in Labadee, Haiti. Don't worry all you people thinking "Haiti" "earthquake" "disaster" etc. Labadee is a private peninsula owned by Royal Caribbean. We really did not see Haiti except this beautiful small piece of the island...
We spent the morning at the beach enjoying land mixed with a few episodes of snorkeling...
Snorkeling is awesome. Brandon has become obsessed with it. He kept trying to make me wear the fins and telling me I needed to practice for when we went to Cayman and Cozumel [because we would see the 'big stuff' there]. He is so funny when he gets worried about me. We did see some really cool things...


















In the afternoon, we walked around and explored.
Everything was gorgeous and we had so much fun on our first port day. Next up: Jamaica!