OH SHIP!!! Family Cruise - Roatan, Honduras

Monday March 9, 2020
~Day at Sea~
That description should be prefaced with the work 'Rough'. The day started out with a little sway, but by noon we were in 13 foot swells, sometimes higher. Cali, John, Nancy and I were having a great time, but Darryl, Alan and the kids suffered a little from the motion sickness. So while I played Trivia in Schooner's bar, ate a second breakfast and delicious lunch, lounged by the pool and had a deliciously relaxing day, Darryl, Gideon and Alan napped on the deck.

Monday evening was listed as a formal evening and 'Greet the Captain' event. We decided to dress up for the occasion. I fixed Miss Parker's hair then did my own. I was excited to wear this formal I bought back in 2014. It was just a little snug and I felt like I was ♪♫'bustin' out all over'! ♪♫

That's a good lookin' group right there!

Funny Story. My brother John looks so handsome in his Formal Military Dress. As we were waiting to get our photo taken and were walking around, his 20+ yr old dress shoe just fell apart. It was kind of funny really and he laughed as he tried to walk with his shoe flapping.

🌴🌴🌴
Tuesday March 10, 2020

 Roatan, Honduras
The nice thing about this cruise is that everyone in our group 'did their own thing'. While Darryl hired and driver and took Cali and the kids to explore the Island, John and Nancy went on a Zip Line tour and Alan and I went scuba diving at Anthony's Key Resort.
I don't have photos of John and Nancy's adventures but here are Darryl and Cali's.

Parker and Gideon try out the beach.

That's our cruise ship in the background.

It's a Pirate sign.

They also visited the animal park where they were able to hold and interact with the critters.

Gid the kid liked the sloth cuddles.

This little monkey kept reaching into Cali's front pocket for food or treasures.

Parker told me the sloth was cute and fun to snuggle..

But she wasn't so sure about the bird or the Monkey.

Awwww.....

They drove around the island then up a mountain where they could look over the bay.

When they got back to port this huge Norwegian Cruise liner was parked next door. It sure made our ship look small.

Alan and I took a 40 minute bus ride to the other side of the Island to St. Anthony's Key Resort. 

Unfortunately we didn't have an underwater camera that could go below 20', so we don't have any photos, but we did two dives, the first one along the barrier reef, the second one at 'Mandi's Eel Garden', and saw some amazing things.

We had two dive masters dive with us. One in the lead and the other coming up behind and they would both point out things to see. I saw my first seahorse, a large flounder, and needle nose fish, lion fish and my first Loggerhead Sea Turtle eating and coming up close and personal. 

The coral on the barrier reef was beautiful and when the sun peeked out the colors became so very vibrant.

After the first dive we moved about 5 or 10 minutes away to the Eel garden when Alan and I stayed with the second dive master and he pointed out the flounder and eels and many other interesting things. 

It was a wonderful time and we have decided we are going to have to do this again.

Alan said it was worth enduring the rough seas to go on a dive like that.

I completely agree. We cleaned up and bought some souvenirs then our rickety little bus took us back to the boat. Dinner was quite fun that evening as everyone shared their adventures with the group. Can't wait to do it again. 

And.... We found another cruise duck.

This afternoon Darryl, Nancy and John joined me for Trivia. We won and realized that between the 4 of us we have a lot of useless knowledge.
Until tomorrow. 

OH SHIP! It's a Family Trip!

March 6, 2020 - leaving Mississippi

Back in August Cali called up and said she found a fabulous 8 night cruise where kids sail free for $500 per adult. It had 6 ports of call and wasn't until March. Would Dad & I like to go with her and Alan and the kids? Well, it didn't take much convincing and we decided to go. I even told several family members about the trip and my brother John and his wife Nancy booked the cruise too! 

Darryl and I left Friday morning March 6th to drive to Miami and meet up with John and Nancy at a very nice Hampton Inn near the Port of Miami. We walked to a delicious Argentine Restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. By the time we were finished Darryl and I were ready for bed!

🛳 

Saturday March 7, 2020

. Darryl and I left our hotel early Saturday morning to pick up Cali, Alan, Gideon and Parker at the airport. OOPS! We went to the wrong airport. They flew into Ft. Lauderdale. No worries, we picked them up and got them back to the hotel in time for them to take a nap, take a shower and enjoy some breakfast before leaving for the port.

To start our cruise off right I made goody bags for everyone with snacks, hand sanitizer and a few things to keep them busy. I put games and a couple of toys in Gideon and Parker's. I was one happy Grandma to see my grandchildren!

 We got to the port, had our temperatures taken, answered all the health questions and within 30 minutes we were on the boat. We all met in the Windjammer Cafe' for lunch and a little conversation, then Gideon and Parker wanted to swim so I took them up to the pool while everyone else explored the boat.

We unpacked and arranged our cabin, attended our mandatory muster drill, explored the ship and had a wonderful dinner in the main dining room. We absolutely loved our waiters, Jorge and Francisco and set our dining time each evening so we could always have the same table and waiters. After dinner we took in our first show of the cruise. It was fun! 

🦋🦋🦋

Sunday March 8, 2020

There was only 1 thing I really wanted to do while we were in Key West, Florida, our first port of call, and that was to take Gideon and Parker to the Butterfly Conservatory and to see the southern most point.

Darryl and I had them off the ship by 9:00 a.m. The ship docked at the Naval Base, so they had trams and trolleys take us to the edge of town. It was a little breezy and chilly so we stopped to buy parker and long sleeve T-shirt. She didn't want one that said Florida or Key West, she wanted the pretty tie-dyed shirt that said Tybee, Island, Georgia! Haha! After a 40 minute walk we arrived at the 

Key West Butterfly Condervatory.

I think Gideon really enjoyed the science side of the pavilion and Parker loved all the butterflies and birds.

It was only a short 2 blocks to the "Southern Most Point", but since the line was about 40 people long to take a picture there, we stood across the street for ours.

Then I had the kids walk over to the end of the wall and street, the real end of the road, and took another photo. We had some snacks, stopped in at Blue Heaven and bought a Key Lime Pie to eat and I visited the Audubon House before we headed back to the boat for some real dinner.

When we got back to the boat we found our first "Cruise Duck". Darryl found this one actually. People buy rubber ducks, attach their family name and give you a facebook address where you can attach a picture of the duck and where you found it.

You have the choice of keeping the duck...

or hiding it again for someone else to find. Needless to say the kids kept all of our ducks.

After a delicious dinner where some of us may have had more than one appetizer or dessert, we had sacrament meeting up in John and Nancy's cabin. He had obtained permission from his Bishop so we could do this. 

 As the evening approached we sailed off into the western sunset towards our second port of call, Roatan, Honduras.

It was a lovely sunset from the ship. I felt so blessed that I could enjoy this adventure with family.