Blogs from Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Oceans and Seas

After all the excitement of the sting rays yesterday, today has all been about rest and relaxation. A trip to the gym, a leisurely breakfast, an interesting lecture on the slave trade (there was a lot of it in the part of the world we're in right now). Had a wonderful lunch with two totally diverse couples. One was a dinosaur from Yorkshire who thinks computers are a total waste of time and money and who firmly believes that big band music is making a rapid return to major popularity at the moment! The other couple we met on the yacht yesterday and they're right up our street with a lot of interesting things to say and a brilliant ascerbic wit which was put to great use the moment the dinosaur left the table! We got ... read more

Not only did our wildlife list expand today, it did it with serious style. We dropped anchor at 7 o'clock this morning just off George Town, the capital of Grand Cayman, one of the British West Indies. That meant we got a fun ride ashore in one of the ship's lifeboats and then we killed time meandering around the shops. And Grand Cayman is famous for being a tax free island so it is a haven for jewellery shoppers. I actually managed to resist all temptations to buy but I have indulged in a fabulous trying on day. At one point I had a diamond and emerald bracelet around my wrist that had a price tag of $39,500.00! That's well on the way to paying for two round the world cruise tickets so I didn't take ... read more

October 2-9 marked a cruise I had really looked forward to. I finally got to return to my favorite ship (Carnival Legend) and my favorite itinerary. Jason and I had another couple join us for all the fun. Ryan and Dana came along for their first cruise ever – and it was Dana’s first flight ever to get to the port in Tampa. I have some other blog entries for each of the ports: Oct 4 – Cozumel (Bar Hop) Oct 5 – Belize Oct 6 – Roatan (Beach!) Oct 7 – Grand Cayman (Sting Ray Sandbar) The ship had actually changed a little in the 2 ½ years since we’d been on it. The firebird lounge had a new backdrop making it a comedy club (Punchliners) and the Serenity area had some great lounge areas ... read more

To whom it may concern. Just wanted to share some pictures that we took when we visited your Caves last week in Jamaica. We are from Barrie Ontario Canada... It was one of our high lights visiting the Green Grotto Caves. What a great thing to do when you need a break from Jamaica's hot sunshine. I use to live in Jamaica back in the 60's. We lived in Port Royal, Morgan's Harbour. I wanted to take my kids to the house that I grew up in but we didn't have enough time. If we come back to Jamaica I will for sure come and visit your caves again... We are telling everyone we know about your special place. My youngest daughter Mackenzie is thinking of doing a school project on your caves. Take care and ... read more

Sunday Jan. 16th, 2011 The Edge of the World The plane took off from Raleigh-Durham airport on one of those cold clear mornings where the visibility is unlimited. Once we reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet the view was unbelievable. From my vantage point in a window seat on the port side of the cabin I could see over a hundred miles, all the way to the outer banks as we headed south toward Wilmington. There were no clouds on the horizon and then as I looked out across the great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean I saw it for the first time, the actual edge of the world. I have seen a clear horizon many times while at sea, but the effect is completely different at sea level than what I saw now at ... read more

It’s been five weeks since I got home from Fiji and other than the weekend in Memphis, they’ve all been spent at home (well, around Southern Ontario – which is home!). It’s been so great to be home because there have been some exciting things happening . . . starting with – Alexis and Kevin got married!! And it was a surprise wedding!! I was “in” on the surprise. They actually told me in early August, when I was still at camp. Because otherwise I wouldn’t have been in the country! I’d planned to go to Fiji and New Zealand but I couldn’t miss my sister’s wedding so plans changed. They were married on 10/10/10 – one week after I got back from Fiji. I spent that week staying at their house playing wedding assistant running ... read more

I had not had a *real* vacation since April 2009, and I was going crazy for warm weather. Jason knew how badly I wanted to get away and gave me one of the best Christmas presents a girl could ask for - a CRUISE! I'm apologizing now for the lack of detail in this post as I'm actually writing this September 2010, I'm hoping the abundance of pictures will fill in the gaps! The weather didn't cooperate much and it was by far the rainiest cruise I have been on (my 6th total!) but who can complain when they are on vacation?!? We took Carnival's Fantasy ship on a 4 day cruise with a single stop in Cozumel. It was super windy and many of the excursions were canceled. Luckily we didn't have one booked at ... read more