Caribbean Cruise, 2013
As a sort of farewell to the Caribbean our family went on a week-long cruise. What a lovely way to relax after our very stressful packout/graduation/house-buying week! This cruise originates in Puerto Rico, Sunday to Sunday, but they reserve about 30 cabins for people who want to start and stop in Barbados. Not only did this mean we could just pop on down to the dock to join the cruise, it meant that check in and check out were incredibly easy because we weren't with the mad rush of thousands of people. Unfortunately although we were supposed to get our documents for the closing on our Big Bear house on Monday, they didn't actually come through until after close of business here in Barbados on Tuesday evening. The consular officers in the Embassy couldn't have been nicer about it though, and they agreed to meet us first thing in the morning for our signing and to get everything properly notarized. Between that and moving all of our bags and the few personal belongings we still have with us up to a temporary house that we will stay in for the remainder of our time here, and making sure that our house was clean enough to pass our check out inspection, and getting the signed and notarized documents to Fed Ex, we made it to the ship within 1/2 hour of the end of our check in window! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when we got on board and let it sink in that for the next week at least there was really nothing we needed to worry about or take care of. We were all in desperate need of a relaxing break!
Our first stop was in St. Lucia...
...where the kids decided to stay on board and play in the kids club. Greg and I took a 1/2 day excursion tour to a rain forest where they have an aerial tram that takes you up into the forest canopy. This was a perfect way to start the week. The tram was slow and just about silent, the only sounds were the birds in for forest and the wind in the trees. About half way up I took a deep breath and I think I truly relaxed for the first time in weeks!
Pictures from the tram ride, and the tram below us going the other way.
A few other pictures from the forest. The hollowed out tree is a ficus. They grow around other trees in the forest and eventually when the first tree dies they are completely hollow. This one fell recently and was home to all sorts of creepy crawly creatures. The humming bird is a green-throated Carib.
Back on board with Ryan and Conor taking in the views of St. Lucia.
Our next stop was St. Kitts where we split up a bit.
Greg rented a scooter to drive around the island while the kids and I just shopped a bit at the port before going back on board to enjoy the pool, slide and the mini golf course. In the afternoon the kids went to the kids club so I could get a massage in the spa, and then we all met up again at dinner to talk about our day.
Our ship, the Carnival Valor, and our next stop St. Maarten.
This guy just really liked hanging out on Greg's backpack, leading to his butt being in dozens of tourist pictures. It was on there for a ridiculously long time, until I finally coaxed it onto my hand.
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| "Butt-erfly" |
Ryan's friend.
It took a while for Conor to get a butterfly to land on him, he kept flinching ever time one would move or touch him with it's tongue. Once we found this one though, he didn't want to ever fly away!
Next stop... Puerto Rico!
San Juan Gate and Castillo de Can Cristobal.
Surprisingly I only have to shots of the family in this port. This was a day full of walking around the old city where we stopped at one of the old forts, Castillo de San Cristóbal, which is a part of the US National Parks service. From here we walked through the old city, stopped at a nice little children's museum to cool down for a bit, and then continued on to San Juan Gate. San Juan Gate was one of the only gates into the old city which was completely walled in, and it was the one that was used for formal visitors. The wall at this point is about 15 feet thick and reminded Conor a bit of the Great Wall. Saving the best for last: St. Thomas
This was our best day yet, and probably my favorite island so far in the Caribbean. St. Thomas is beautiful and we are so happy that we decided to take a small-group eco tour of the St. Thomas Cas Cay and Mangrove Lagoon Marine Reserve. This is a nationally protected wildlife sanctuary, and it is wonderful to see the efforts that are being made to protect these delicate ecosystems.
We kayaked around and learned a bit about the different types of mangrove trees. Conor was particularly impressed with the way that mangroves filter out salt from the water they grow in. First they have a slimy coating covering the areas of the plant which are submerged in the water, and this covering filters out most of the salt, approximately 90% of it. Next they have a system where only one leaf in every bunch (called the sacrificial leaf) will absorb all of the salt, leaving fresh water to go to the rest of the plant. Whenever you look at a mangrove you see yellow leaves, but they don't mean that the plant is unwell, the sacrificial leaf is just doing it's job and eventually it will die and fall off, taking all of the salt with it. The mangroves provide a perfect nursery for an extremely diverse ecosystem, so the lagoons, islands and reefs in the area are a perfect place to explore.
Our first stop was on a small island called Cas Cay where there were hermit crabs everywhere.
If you stopped to check out a pile of shells after a second or two you will see them all start to move!
This is the lagoon where we all snorkeled through a coral-fringed mangrove nursery. The clear, protected waters were perfect. Conor did great on his own, he was adventurous and independent spotting things all around. Ryan was also very adventurous and he snorkeled with me. We stayed out with the group until he got too cold and then we came into shore where it was a little warmer and where he could dive around with his goggles and chase needle fish.
Checking out a live sea urchin. I haven't ever held one before and didn't realize just how much they move around!
Family pic one: nice, happy family...
Family pic two: crazy family!
Exploring volcanic cliffs and marine tidal pools, complete with a rare geologic blow hole!
Ryan and I shared a single person kayak...
... and Greg and Conor shared a two-person one.
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