Caribbean Cruise

Ladd and I had a break from reality for a week!  We took a cruise to the Caribbean!  We went with our friends Mike and Michelle.  It was so nice to get away and enjoy being spoiled for a week!

We stopped in the Bahamas and enjoyed snorkeling on this beautiful reef…

Mike took these pictures with his underwater camera, the water was so clear and beautiful!!

We went to Jamaica where we took an ariel lift through the Rain Forest…

 These giant spiders were everywhere in the rain forest!  We saw quite a few capturing and eating their catches in their enormous webs.  I asked the locals what they were called, but couldn't get an answer that I can repeat...

We climbed Dunn's River Falls…

This was a highlight!  We were laughing the whole time all the while enjoying the beautiful surroundings!

and experienced a little Jamaican culture!

We are sitting at the table having lunch at a restaurant in Ochos Rios, and on the side walk just in front of us, we saw 2 drug deals go down!  The best part is that a Jamaican cop walked right up to them and said, "Stay out of the street" and kept on walking. Apparently they don't see selling illegal drugs as dangerous as standing in the street in Jamaica! 

We enjoyed our two days at sea by relaxing and taking advantage of the onboard activities…

 We ate way too many calories at the Michelangelo Restaurant.  I will miss the LoveBoat Mousse that I ate every night for dessert!

 The cruise photographer was very serious about our head placement when he came to our table.  He must have got his photography skills from Deb on Napoleon Dynamite!

Here is Mike and Michelle with our favorite comedian on the cruise.  He had us cracking up with his clean comedy!

 We were up way too late a few nights talking nonstop!

I love this picture!  Peter was our cruise entertainment director and had some very entertaining mannerisms and an awesome English accent!

We learned the Merengue, Cha-Cha, and Salsa from our new Brazilian friend, Ali.  Ladd, as always, was the hit of the dance floor and had some old guys in tears with laughter!

Our final day we spent some time exploring South Florida…

a fan boat ride through the Everglades!

We seriously got way to close to some wild alligators!

Here is a baby alligator we all got to pet.  He was actually pretty cute, but I did not appreciate our guide pretending like he was dropping it on me!

Laddy got to hold this 3 year old alligator.

We had lunch on the Florida Keys!  I think we are on Islamorada here.  We don't go all the way down the Keys because it is a long journey...

We saw something called "Star Island" in Miami and decided to check it out.  We had no clue what it was.  We drove onto the island and was stopped by a gate and security guard.  We quickly realized this was a private island with gorgeous mansions.  Mike told the security guard we were there to check out some property.  I think he had pity on us in our small little rental Hyundai, so he gave us 5 minutes to drive around.  Thanks to Siri, we learned that Shaquille O'Neill, Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Combs (Puff Daddy), and none other than Miami's greatest, Gloria Estafan own homes on this quaint little island!  And thanks to Zillow, we learned that we could by some property here for anywhere from $22 million to $91.2 million.  So, now we know where to move too!  Glad we were allowed to check out some property on Star Island!

We spent some time walking on Miami Beach, which is totally different than Cali's beaches!  No waves, people were swimming in warm water in November, and there were lawn chairs set up all over the beach to rent! Very cool!

We had a great time and want to make it an annual thing.  Mike and Michelle were so fun to hang out with all week.  We are already thinking about where to go next...