Coffee was calling my name this morning (just like every other morning) so we threw clothes on and went up to the buffet for some breakfast. Not bad – had some eggs, piece of an omelet, piece of toast, bacon, part of a grapefruit that I couldn’t eat (was way too sour) and some fresh seasonal fruit (honey dew, pineapple, cantaloupe). The day was dawning with mostly clouds and before we could even get back to the room we had quite a little rain squall. Not looking good for a day on the water and snorkeling. But nothing to do about it but just go with it since these excursions are booked months in advance. 

We met the Williams’ about 8:30 to head down to the gang plank and catch up with our taxi to the marina. They had had some issues this morning – Jeff’s sugar count wasn’t cooperating, was way too low and they were all trying to get it stabilized. Finally everyone was there and we rode the 15-20 minutes to the marina. After a little talk from the owner, we were piling on a power cat with 10-12 others for a fun filled day! Our captain, Jervais, told us it was a little choppy out there and we’re gonna get wet. He just wanted to give us advanced notice so we could mentally prepare. Myles was the 1st mate and just as cute as he could be.

Our first stop was an island about 20-30 minutes away. Let me just say, it was a long 20-30 minutes. We were all holding on so tightly (while our grips continued to slip and the cushions underneath sliding in the opposite direction) on the way out. The waves were a bit frightening I don’t mind saying. Jervais was maneuvering them pretty well – we thought – until the first one that drenched us. Well then. I was prepared to get splashed. Not soaked. You should’ve seen our faces. LOL So much for trying to stay dry. We may as well have just jumped in! Then there were the waves that sent us airborne. Hilarious. Poor Bob’s ass was actually between cushions so when he went airborne he came down on a hard surface. (He and DE both ended up with bruises from that day.) By the time we got to our snorkeling spot we were all ready to jump in because being in the water was warmer than being cold on the boat. The skies were cloudy and we even has some rain here and there, so it was a bit chilly unless you were in the water. Jervais reminded us that this was their winter and this was cold weather for them. The water did feel good but, unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. It was a little murky and without sunlight to help it wasn’t that pretty. Even under the best conditions I’m not sure there was much sea life there. We saw a couple of turtles and a few fish. Someone in the group saw a stingray or two but that was about it. I had trouble with my mask leaking so I just started swimming toward the beach. Ha! Sure didn’t look that far away. Jervais brought the boat closer to shore before we left so at least we didn’t have to swim all the way back out to the boat. Talk about a workout. (I’d discover later that was I bringing back quite a bit of sand from that beach as well.) Getting to shore was challenging and I’m sure quite comical if you were an observer. The waves just threw me around like a noodle. Every time I tried to get up another one knocked me down. It didn’t help that the bottom went from over my head to 18″ deep very quickly. So imagine trying to climb a hill like that while being pummeled by waves. And holding a noodle and flippers and my snorkeling mask. Oh and the camera. Getting a visual?

The next planned stop was nixed due to the choppy seas. I really didn’t see where we ended up was any better. But Jervais tried to convince us about this drift snorkeling. Just let the current carry you he said. The boat will drift with you so you really don’t even have to work at it he said. Try it he said. Lots of sea life he said. “Hell no,” Bob and I said. We’ve learned you don’t usually see much when the water is choppy. Just wasn’t worth it to us. So we stayed in the boat and had a Carib while watching the other idiots, um passengers who bought his argument. Some came back in and said they didn’t see anything. Then you have DE (yes he was one who jumped in – the only one in our group) who said he saw all kinds of life by the coral – he also said the current was wicked and he had to really work to not be sucked into the reef.

Our last stop was Pinel Island and it had a decent beach. Myles brought out some simple sandwiches that were very good – we hadn’t been expecting that. Fed a leftover one to some fish. Bob and I jumped in to enjoy some calm blue water. DE, Jesse and Jeff swam to shore and looked around. I was still bobbing in the water (Bob had gotten back on the boat) when DE came back asking Sarah for the camera. Said there was this huge iguana he wanted to photograph. Myles tossed him a couple of sandwiches to feed him. Bob tossed me my camera and I followed. What a freakin’ cool experience! There were iguanas everywhere – different colors, all sizes, eating right from people’s hands. Iguana Island is how I’ll remember that one. Love the video and pics I got. Best pics I took all day!!


Eventually it was time to head back and Jervais had warned us it wasn’t gonna be pretty. Actually we thought it was better coming back in than going out. Maybe we were just better prepared in our heads, I don’t know. But we sure had fun with it. There was no more hanging on for dear life on this ride. It was more like a Busch Gardens roller coaster ride and we were doing the “Look Ma! No hands!” Thing. I was even doing the riding a bucking bronco deal. We laughed our asses off whooping and hollering. We still got wet and still went airborne but not nearly as badly as on the way out. It was a great time. Not what we had planned but we just made the most of conditions no one could control. Jervais and Myles were fantastic and I think they appreciated that we just enjoyed what it was. After we docked they said they weren’t going back out that afternoon – it was too rough. FRO?

It was after 2:00 by the time we got back to the port. So we mosied through the shops to see what we could find. I forgot all my bloody hats – visors and beach hats – left ‘me sitting right on the bed beside the suitcase – not sure what happened there. Not good. Found a visor and we picked up a couple of $5 t-shirts in one shop, grabbed a couple of Carib beers at one of the bars ($3 ea is much better than $7+ on the ship) and just hung out to enjoy the moment. We lost the Williams’ and assumed they just headed back to the ship.


Back on the ship we dropped our stuff off in our cabin and went by the buffet for a snack. We ended up with chicken fajitas that wen’t bad. We figured that would hold us until dinner. Then we headed to the spa. That was different. We knew they had separate dressing rooms for men and woman but assumed the spa itself would be co-ed. Nope. That was disappointing. I stayed in the steam room until I started nodding off and called it quits, then just waited outside for Bob. Back in the cabin we took a half hour nap before getting showers and dressing for dinner – it was formal night. We had reservations for 6pm.

They seated us table 135, Antonio’s table. He was wonderful. He remembered each one of us by name and every time he came back to the table he made sure he greeted us that way. Pretty special. We were impressed. DE and Sarah got steak, which they both said was very good. Bob, Jesse and I got the shrimp ravioli and we all liked that too. Jeff chose the cobia and said that was good as well.


The 9pm show tonight was Kyle and Misty’s Night Magic. Husband and wife team from Vegas. It was a great show. They’re both really good. Our seats weren’t the best. If I hadn’t been so wiped, I would’ve gone back to see the late show and gotten better seats. They did some amazing illusions, tricks, magic or whatever you want to call it. Let’s see how many I can remember.

  • Tied up Misty with 20′ of rope and she managed to get a man’s suit jacked off of him and wear it (underneath the ropes) in a matter of seconds.
  • Picked a card (8 of hearts) chosen by the audience out of a deck of cards that had one of the audience member’s signature on it.
  • Shredded a man’s $100 bill and it popped up coiled inside the center of an orange from a bag he’d given to another audience member earlier in the show.
  • Had envelopes with digits of a phone number chosen by four different audience members from a Vegas phone book. He threw out three frisbees (one to each section of the audience). One person chose the page number (666), another picked column 4 and the last one was brought on stage to be blindfolded and slide her finger down to wherever she wanted to stop and that was the phone number.

Crazy I tell you. They were all “WOW” moments! I’d definitely go see their show in Vegas if we happened to be able to catch them. We were so done after that. Came back to the cabin and got ready for bed. I even broke my rule and didn’t journal. I tried, just couldn’t do it. We have a sea day “tomorrow” so that worked out okay.