A Hometown Reunion . . .

---

For many years longer than me, my friend Heather has worked for Carnival as a theatre tech. I've known Heather quite literally my whole life, since I was a baby. We grew up on farms around the corner from one another. We went to the same church, youth group, high school. Our families have farmed together for generations.

Now that I'm on the Liberty, we get to meet up. Once a month our ships are in port together, in St. Thomas. Last month, her whole family was cruising with her. I got to meet up with them and we had a nice lunch before I had to rush back to the ship. Such perfect timing that the week we were together was when her family was with her. It was only my second week on the Liberty when I was especially feeling homesick, so it was great.

Now this week, another hometown farm girl we grew up with (and Heather's best friend), Melanie, along with her husband, Ed, are cruising with Heather. So another reunion! Heather & I had emailed ahead of time and I'd said I was up for anything if it meant seeing them.

We met early, on the pier outside our ships. Then we headed off to Coral World, an outdoor aquarium park with an underwater viewing area. It's on the far side of the island, right at Coki Beach, where I did my scuba training while on the Destiny. So I'd gone diving many times right next to Coral World, but had never actually gone in. I also learned that Coki Beach is where Heather did her dive training. She too, had never been into Coral World. So today, was the day.

The park is bigger than either of us had thought. Still not huge, but we both sort of assumed it was only as big as this one building that sort of juts out into the water that you can see from the beach. There were lots of outdoor tanks with all sorts of sea animals . . . stingrays, sharks, sea turtles, tourtoises, all sorts of fish, etc. One building (the one that juts out over the water), goes down below the sea so you can view the coral and fish that naturally live in the area.

My favourite part - the touch tank. Filled with starfish and sea urchins and sea cucumbers and conch . . . all there to touch and play with. I loved my little friends I made!

After Coral World, we headed back to the port area for a nice lunch. And really that, and throughout the day, the best part was getting to spend it with Heather, Melanie and Ed. Melanie and I were trying to remember when we would have seen each other last and are only certain that of their wedding, four years back. So we figured it was about time.

A nice little touch of home down here in the tropics.

---

Photos

Coral.
At Coral World? Who knew.

This Guy Was Hiding
Heather & I were creating stories about why this guy kept hiding and not moving. Like he's bullied and scared. Or he's in love with the coral, even though they're not of the same kind.

Pelican
He was just kind of hanging out. And he was good enough to pose for me.

Coki Beach
This is the beach where I did my scuba training.

Comments

[swills82]

More Sea Friends
And there you go, making more sea friends without me. I miss my sea friends. I want to play! Although I just found out from some woman who did her master of marine life in Vigo, Spain (the city where I'll be living - there is a university there), that there is some sort of aquatic reserve in the city and you can scuba dive! YAY!

[Sarah]

Fish friends!
These pictures are my favourite! I love the starfish, the turtle, and the fish :) So fun, Netter!