Cruise 2015

We took our second annual cruise with the Howells this month.  This time, it was a 7 day Western Carribbean Cruise to Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel.  Ladd and I needed a break from reality and we had  great time!

Our Cruise left from Houston, and because of the way the flights worked we decided to get there a day before the cruise left and stay the night in Houston so we wouldn't be rushed to get to the ship from our flight.  We went to the Lyndon B Johnson Space Center in Houston.  It was pretty cool to see where NASA currently works and tests out all their Space stuff.  Here are a few pictures from where they actually work:

 These life-like robots were pretty amazing...

Here is a rocket that is housed on the campus there.  It was REALLY big.

 And the inside of a space shuttle that is now retired.  That's a lot of buttons!  Good thing I am not in control of driving one of these babies!

We were hoping to get some good Texas BBQ but after flying all morning and learning about space all afternoon, all we wanted to do was hit the sack!  We were so tired!

The next day we took an hour bus ride from Houston to the port of Houston to get to our ship.  Ladd liked seeing some of the Texas staples, like HEB Markets and Whataburger Restaurants, that he frequented on his mission as we drove. So many churches and beautiful brick homes in the Houston area!

Here is our ship.  It looks like it's on grass in this picture, but it actually is in the water in the port!

Here we are on our balcony.  We upgraded to the balcony room this year and I am so glad!  Last year the crashing of the waves into the hull of the boat kept us up at night, but this year we couldn't hear a thing except the light breeze and rolling sounds of the ocean!

We took a tour of the spa.  This was the sauna room and those chairs are hot.  I thought it was a miserable place to be and can't imagine why anyone would pay to sit in a sweaty room like that when they weren't even getting a workout!  Needless to say, we did not pay for any spa treatments!

Ladd loved the outdoor theater that showed football games and movies.  

On one of our days at sea, there was an announcement from the captain at about 7:30 am.  There was a small vessel that looked like it was in distress in the ocean.  According to maritime law, we were expected to stop our ship, turn around, and go investigate.  So that's what we did!  We were 23 miles off the coast of Mexico at this point.  

Here is the boat:  It had a makeshift sail, was very small, and looked like there was a lot of people on it!

 Our ship sent out this little motor boat to go investigate:

All the curious passengers who made their way on deck to watch were wondering what would happen.  We were all a little nervous about bringing these random people on board especially with all that is going on around the world right now.

When the little orange boat came back, another announcement was made.  This tiny little boat had 12 refugees from Cuba.  They had left Cuba 30 days ago and had been floating in the Caribbean trying to get to Mexico.  They were hungry, thirsty, and had a few minor medical concerns that needed to be met.  I immediately felt a a wave of gratitude for living in a country that I do not need to risk my life to escape.  These Cubans must have had a pretty miserable life to go through all that just to try to get to Mexico!

Our ship sent food, water, and a medical team out to their boat to give them a hand.  You can see the speck of the white refugee boat, the orange boat from our ship, and a rainbow in the background.  We then had to wait for an hour or two for the Mexican Coast Guard to come and take these refugees back to land.  I hope the best for them, although I do worry that Mexico will just send them back to Cuba!

After they loaded onto the Mexican Coast Guard boat, they just let their little dingy float aimlessly in the ocean.  Goodbye little boat!

Formal Night.  Thanks to Michelle who took this poor formal-less girl shopping, I had a beautiful gown for formal night.  

Our first stop was the Island of Roaton, which is part of Honduras.  It was about 100 degrees with 100 per cent humidity and there was no electricity on this quaint little island.  Our tour guide said it costs more to pay for electricity here than it is to pay rent.  It was pretty sad to see the poverty as we drove from our port to our snorkeling excursion.

A store...

A neighborhood.  There were lots of half complete homes and roofs made out of tin.  Again, I felt grateful for where we live.

When we got off the bus, this little guy was there to meet us.  He was pretty curious about our group and decided to hop on Ladd's shoulder.   Ladd wasn't too sure about him, but he stayed on as we walked through a hotel, out to the ocean.  The tour guide wasn't too worried, so neither were we!  

Here is the beach we got to hang out while snorkeling.  Beautiful!  If you are going to live in 100% humidity, you better have a beautiful beach nearby!

In California we have seagulls at the beach, in Honduras there are monkeys and chickens.  This little chicken was very interested in me as I soaked up some sun on the beach!

We took a boat to the second largest coral reef in the world.  We had a great time snorkeling!

Our second stop was Belize.  We had another bus trip-this time air-conditioned, and learned a lot about this little country.  So many cultures and languages spoken here.  I was surprised to see the strong Mennonite culture that has settled there!  Who knew Mennonites live in the Caribbean! Still a lot of poverty here, but much more built up than Honduras.

Here is a picture of their money.  Queen Elizabeth is still on their currency as they have only been independent from England for 30 years and still see her as their queen, although they have their own government.  

We went Kayaking and this pregnant lady got a good workout!  We went kayaking through a rain forest and it was beautiful.  There wasn't a lot of wildlife out, aside from a few bats that flew right over our heads, but it was still nice to see all the foliage.  The guides kept talking about how the week before everything was flooded and so the water was much higher than usual and not as clear as usual.  We still had a great time though.

Ok, so we didn't get any good pictures from Belize, so I stole these from the website of where we kayaked!  This is what it looked like, just imagine Ladd and I, and Mike and Michelle in the kayaks!  And, I can see what they were talking about flooding.  Imagine the water coming up about 3 feet on the tree trunks, all of that brush was covered with water!

The food in Belize was amazing.  Beans and rice made with coconut milk and some yummy chicken.  It was a real treat after eating ship food for days!

Our final stop was Cozumel, Mexico.  We actually took a ship off of Cozumel, which is an island, to Playa Del Carmen.  It was so beautiful there and very touristy.  It's just south of Cancun, where we went on our honeymoon!  There was a lot to do in this area and we are considering coming back here for a family vacation at some point in the future!  

There we took another bus trip to the Mayan ruins of Tulum.  It was such a beautiful location and I can see why these ancient Mayans set up a city-state here!  Now, just a lot of iguanas live here!

Here is the main temple in the background.  You can also see my belly is getting bigger each day!

I think this was the Moon temple, which was the only one dedicated to women.

This picture shows a little bit of the red paint that still exists.  In its day, these temples were all very brightly colored!

This is the background, a beautiful look out!

This was a fresh water spring that they would've used for water.

A beautfiul, interesting place and we are hoping to see more ruins on another vacation!

 This was a great week and we are happy to have such fun cruising friends!  We relaxed, laughed, danced, karaoked, and ate a lot!  We look forward to more cruises in the future!  Don't worry mom, thanks to this little baby who is on her way, we are taking next year off!