Saturday January 25th Sea Day

Today was a sea day. Our last day on the boat. We did a lot of sleeping and eating and laying around. It was a great relax day. We took some group pictures before our last dinner together.

Friday January 24 Cozumel Mexico

Half of us rented jeeps and half of us rented scooters and drove around the island for the day. We rented and shared a jeep with the Millers.

We stopped at a few beaches.  The beaches had all of these jagged rocks which created tons of tide pools.  It was fun to walk around and discover things in the tide pools.  Here is a mini jellyfish.

Raul and Brett exploring the rocks

Holly, Bridgette, Tammy, Me

We stopped at an ancient Mayan ruin and were tricked into paying 3 dollars for this iguana to sit on my shoulder. 

It was a beautiful island and we really enjoyed just taking our time and exploring the island.

Cruise: January 23rd

Today we stopped in Costa Maya Mexico 

When you get off the cruise ship at each port there are many people standing around with vans and buses and they try to get you to hire them for the day.  There is a lot of bargaining and sometimes anger if one business gives a lower bid than another.  That happened today, but we were able to get a good deal on a van, driver, and snorkeling for the day, and get out of there before the other guy could freak out too bad.

We took a couple of boats out on the ocean.  The water was very choppy and it took a lot of energy to swim against the big waves.  We wore out pretty quickly, but we saw a lot of beautiful ocean life.  

I also braved underwater pictures again.  On the last cruise I used an underwater case and it leaked.  I decided to try again and it worked just fine. 

Snorkels are really flattering.

These conch shells were all over the ocean floor.

Our friend Corey is not afraid of anything and is a master snorkeler.  He dived down to the ocean floor and found all kinds of things.  He was also able to take some cool pictures of this sting ray because he dived down close.

Sarah, Brett, Corey, Kim, Coby

After snorkeling we walked down the beach to find somewhere to have lunch.  I had to stop at the Canadian flag, even though we were in Mexico.

During lunch a 14 year old kid accidentally drove a golf cart into another table of people having lunch.  No one was hurt, but everyone was a bit shaken up.

This guy makes bracelets with names on them right in front of you.  We had him do our kids names.

Today was an Elephant

Cruise: January 22nd

Today we stopped in Belize 

We rode a bus for over an hour to a remote part of the island to go cave tubing.   Another poor country.  The places people live are eye opening. And the roads leave something to be desired.

The cave tubing was a fun adventure.  All of the tubes were hooked together and our guides walked/swimmed us through the tunnels.  It was beautiful. 

Ashley and Josh, Holly and Marc, McKenzie and Mace, Bridgette and Craig, Kim and Coby, Sarah and Brett, Tammy, and Raul.  (Josie and Corey are taking the picture so they are not pictured in this one).

On the boat taking us back to the cruise ship

 

Penguin 

 

Cruise Jan 21st

Today we made port in Hondoras.

We rented a large van and driver for the day.  They took us to a private beach for the day.

Getting our snorkeling gear on.

We love snorkeling.

Ashley and me

Cool Tiki dude

We rented a couple of Kayaks and kayaked around for a couple of hours.

Ashley and Josh, Brett and Sarah, Raul and Tammy, Josie and Corey, Bridgette and Craig, Kim and Coby, Holly and Mark

Honduras was a very poor country.  After we visited I found out it is one of the biggest crime capitals in the world.  Glad I didn't know that ahead of time.  Places like this make me really appreciate all that I have, and the safety and security my kids get to grow up with. 

We got a frog today.