Haiti was interesting. The stop in Haiti is actually a private resort leased by Royal Caribbean. So the place was safe and somewhat inflated from the rest of Haiti, however, you could still see the sadness and desperation and all the people. Every Haitian working at the resort was looking for a tip for the smallest of tasks. That being said, apparently the cruise stop here adds a lot of money to local economy. So there was a give-and-take here. It was a beautiful place and the beach was fantastic.
This Is Our Ship, the Freedom Of the Seas. In 2006 it was the biggest cruise liner in the world. It is cool and has a rock climbing wall, a surfing simulator, a mini golf course, and even ice skating rink (on which you will see some of Brett's sweet moves later).
At the resort they had an "artisans market". This is where the locals sold you garage sale fodder. The sad thing is, the stalls in which they sold their products (which were undoubtably built by the cruise company) are a far better construction than their houses probably are.
I think the locals got to a number of the cruisers because by about 3 PM the beaches were pretty empty. It made for a good time for Adrienne and I to pose for some cool shots.
This is about as cool as I get. Adrienne looking pretty cute as usual.
Another cool shot of Adrienne and I in front of our ship at the pier in Haiti.
After Haiti, our next stop was Ochoa Rios, Jamaica. It is a tourist town on the north side of the island. We plan a couple of our own church versions. We hiked that Dunn's River Falls. It was really cool. A local guide to take about 50 people hand-in-hand up this waterfall. We didn't have a waterproof camera this day, but fortunately the cruise line in the local tour took a couple photos for us and magically 20 bucks later we have a couple good pictures of us.
An observation on Jamaica: where would their culture be without Bob Marley? Every single torus shop and every guide was Bob Marley-themed. Hiking the false, the guide sang Bob Marley. Floating the river on inter-tubes, the guide sang Bob Marley. A guy try selling you a painting of Bob Marley, he sings Bob Marley. I will say I'm grateful that it was Bob Marley and not Barry Manilow who is Jamaican. If I had to spend the whole day listening to Copacabana I might've jumped off the falls.
Our next stop was Grand Cayman. If only bought a waterproof camera, but the pictures are still sitting on it because he did not finish the whole role. The old days of film photography, I don't miss them. We did some great snorkeling on the island. We found this amazing reef with a 30 foot drop-off with thousands of fish and coral all over areas it was fantastic. There is also an old shipwreck you can snorkel over and see the ribs of the old ship that is rotting away. It was really neat.
Our last stop was Cozumel Mexico. We booked a Razor ride through the jungle. I forgot to bring my drivers license, they let me drive anyway but admonish me to be very careful. The White tried to be careful, the leader of the tour was driving like a maniac and was difficult to keep up with them. They took us to the uninhabited east side of the island where we drove up through the jungle dodging on off of the beach. It was totally gorgeous.
This is Adrienne I on our sweet ride. Another photo that cost us 10 bucks.
After zipping through the jungle for 30 minutes both Adrienne I are pretty muddy.
She looks pretty good with little mud on her face.
We also stopped by some old Mayan ruins or at least ruin. It was pretty cool, but the beachside location was the best part.
They also stop by a small resort to see us lunch after the Razor ride. I mistook the green hot sauce for guacamole. A big, big, big mistake. My blue eyes almost burst from my skull. I was pretty much done after the first bite.
As a mentioned above, our ship was really cool. I tried my hand on the surf simulator at the back of the ship I wasn't too bad, but I sure needed a few times. The simulator also had a tendency to rip off your swimming suit. What was writing, I noticed that there were three or four older men with cameras taking pictures somewhat indiscriminately. I did notice that whenever a woman showed up in a bikini top, without the recommended over shirt, they started firing away. The cameras went silent when I went up.
I also found out later that you could watch a live video feed of the simulator from your state room. I wonder how many other creepy dudes were watching that day.
Having become an avid (though rather untalented) pond hockey player, I relish the chance to ice skate in the middle of the summer. I showed Adrienne some of my totally cool moves.
I am sure she was impressed because she accepted my invitation to dinner that night.
We had a couple of formal nights on the cruise ship as well. As usual, Adrienne turned a lot of heads. I forgot to bring the shirts that matched my ties. So I went for the cool man no tie-look.
One of the best places on the ship, but right at the bow we could watch the water below you. I like to get up in the morning and watch the sunrise from there.
[Note: I dictated this entire Blog entry on Dragon, so sorry for any mistakes, but it was fast]
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