The Cruise

 Tuesday October 25 we hopped on the cruise ship at the Ft Lauderdale port and headed out to sea.   We headed to the Bahama's first of all to a gorgeous island called Half Moon Cay.  We got there and immediately signed up for the sting ray excursion.  They took us about five miles from the port to a quiet little bay where we got to snorkle and swim with some wonderful sting rays.  I was amazed at how soft they were.  We got to feed them baby squids!  We swam with them about 40 minutes - saw lots of colorful fish and sea cucumbers.  Then they took us back to the beach where we soaked up the rays for about 3 hours.  The sand was the softest finest sand I have ever experienced.  Almost like sugar but not so sticky.

 I had to add all the towel art that we enjoyed each night as we got back to our rooms after dinner - that plus chocolate candies ...

 I loved it how he used my sunglasses with most of them!

 Cool rabbit

 I guess crabs don't wear glasses!!

 Then we headed to Key West - we spent Friday and Saturday night there.  We got chased back to the boat both nights with HEAVY heavy rains.  Here we are on the trolley ride through the streets of Key West Saturday night.  This is the famous Green Parrot restaurant in Key West.  This was the beginning of a 7 hour day that included a one hour tour of Key West, and a six hour catamaran trip out in the ocean.  We started with a nummy breakfast of quiche and juice and muffins as we rode out eight miles to the barrier reef where we snorkeled.  Ed jumped off of the side of the boat into the water while I took the easier route of climbing down the steps into the ocean.  The seas were somewhat rougher and the water wasn't as clear as we had hoped for.  Within 15 feet of leaving the boat I watched as a six foot long SHARK swam right in front of me.  I quit moving (DUH!) and thought ..what is the difference between a dolphin and a shark (I really wanted it to BE A dolphin!) but then I thought, no way is this a dolphin...it is so sleek ...but he wasn't the least bit interest in me....I kept looking behind me to make sure he didn't turn around and come after me but I didn't see him again.  The guides told us that if we ran into something scary we only had to swim faster than the guy next to us ;-D...but there was no one close to me!  So I continued swimming over to the reef and thoroughly enjoyed all the gorgeous brightly colored fish.  They had warned us that we may see jelly fish and to stay clear of them.  These didn't have a REAL bad sting ...it would only hurt for about 20 minutes.  I saw three of the ethereal floating jelly fish -  pink in color.  I swam away from them but thoroughly enjoyed them.

After we left the reef then they took us over to mule island where we got to kayak - saw some gorgeous birds and learned a little about the flora and fauna of the area.  We also swam in the ocean but with the strong waves we didn't stay out long. They set up lunch for us then - wonderful salads, everything was delicious including the four inch fresh shrimp - a huge bowl of them - yuuuuummmm!  Then they raised the sails and we sailed for about an hour.  We had hoped to see dolphins too, but there were none to be seen.  They took us back to the port and we got to walk through Key West about a mile back to the boat.  It was a seven hour tour - we left at 8:15 and arrived back at port at 3:30 - what a fun fun fun day.

 Here I am heading back to the ship with my towel slung over my shoulder.

 Another day at sea (they were the relaxing days while the days in port were busy)  Then we landed at Grand Turk, part of the British West Indies.  Here is the view of the beach from where we got off the boat.  We had time to go and grab a bite to eat at Margaritaville - the only place to eat, before we caught the van to a spot on the other side of the island.  It was another beautiful beach.  They proceeded to teach us how to SNUBA...another great experience.  We were able to swim right down along the sea floor about 15-20 feet down.  Ed and I are now talking about maybe taking scuba lessons.

  Did you know that Grand Turk island was the landing area for John Glenn!!  They had an interesting display.  You can see Ed standing with our swim bag in his hand.  We were finally able to buy a few souveniers for family members here at Grand Turk.  We had planned on buying them at Key West but got chased back to the boat both nights with heavy rain.

So we had another wonderful day at the beach - both snuba'ing and snorkeling and shopping at the little native stores.

One more day at sea and then back to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning.  We ate escargot and frog legs and all sorts of wonderful meals.  We met a lot of warm and wonderful people and make some fantastic memories.