What a wonderful world.

As you all know by now, just over a month ago, I went on a fantastic Southern Caribbean Cruise. We left on Saturday night and caught the the red-eye to Miami. The red-eye flight is very convenient, but it sure can wipe a person out. Miami was a beautiful city, one that I had never before visited. We arrived early and had to wait a time in order to board the ship and find our cabins.

We spent some time wandering around the ship, becoming familiar with our home away from home for the next week. As time to depart was nearing we found our way to the top of the ship and watched as we pulled out. The send-off was nothing like seen on The Love Boat, from the '70s. However, as we were leaving there were people on the freeway that were honking and waving as we departed. The rest of the evening was spent getting acclimated to the movement of the ship and of course, finding our way to the dining room. Our second day of the cruise was spent at see. It was a very relaxing day as we were able to catch some rays and spend some time on the ship visiting with one another.

Day 3 saw us arriving in Honduras. Our scheduled off-shore excursion was clear bottom kayaking followed by snorkeling. Through a series of errors and a bit of some comedy, I decided that instead of kayaking I would try to snuba. After all, I was turning 40 that day and thought it would be great to try something new for my birthday. What an amazing opportunity this was for me. Being able to dive a little bit and see some of the amazing underwater fish was incredible. It was a wonderful way to spend my day. Swimming under the water is always so peaceful and serene. Swimming and not hearing the sounds of the world is a great way to become centered and even more to be able to focus on the beauties of this great earth.

After our time in the ocean, we went on a short excursion through the jungle and were able to spend some time seeing some of the animals living in the area. Monkeys, iguanas, and the parrots seen in the picture here.

After we returned to the ship and cleaned up, we went to dinner. While at dinner I was given a birthday cake. Which I was able to share with everyone at the table. The day turned out great. I absolutely loved spending my birthday trying something new and just being away from it all.

We arrived in Belize on our 4th day. The scheduled excursion was cave tubing. This was a great experience, we were able to lay back on the tubes lights on our heads and we explored caves and were able to see rock formations as we floated down the river. Everyone but Kay and mom from our family floated down the river. While we were floating, they took a boat and jeep trip to see Mayan ruins. We all had a great day, enjoying different activities. That evening back on the boat was "dress-up" night for dinner.

I think this has always been a fun tradition and something to enjoy. Doesn't make the dinners really any better, (they are still pretty good) but it is fun to be able to dress up for the night.
Costa Maya, Mexico was our 3rd port of call. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The beach we ate lunch at was gorgeous. You have probably all seen it, it has been featured in commercials for Corona.

After one more day at see, our last stop was in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Kay. Despite the wind, this was a great stop. We did some snorkeling and dad and Chris had an opportunity to go Para-sailing. This was a great time for them and some of the pictures they have were awesome. Unfortunately, I don't yet have those pictures loaded onto my computer.

We returned to Miami. Where we had one more excursion. This might be one of the more exciting shore excursions I have ever done. We took an airboat through the Florida Everglades. WOW! It is so unreal to me, when I live in Cedar Trees and sage brush, to know that across the USA is something so vastly different.

On Monday afternoon we caught a flight and returned to the land of Utah. Where it was surprisingly warm. However, as we returned to Nephi and grabbed our luggage it started snowing on us. Sort of a fitting way to end our trip.
As always, I loved this trip and had a great time. I am looking forward to my next cruise. What will it be, a trip through the Panama Canal or a Cruise up through Alaska?