Fri Feb 15th - At sea, heading back to Galveston

Friday Feb 15^{th At sea} 

We spoiled ourselves with a balcony champagne breakfast with smoked salmon, fresh fruit, fresh pastries, quiche, bacon and half bottle of French champagne. It was wonderful.  Forgot to take photos.. having too much fun.

Enjoying the last day. On the balcony of our cabin

We enjoyed a day at sea.  The weather got much cooler and windy as we headed North back to Galveston. Day of rest reading, packing, eating… lovely. I love cruises that end with a day or two at sea. It gives you time to unwind, reflect, and prepare yourself for the reality of getting back to ‘normal’ life. Although ours is far from normal at the moment.

 Our cabin B752

Our cabin

Thursday Feb 14th - Valentines in Cozumel

PHOTO OF OUR FORMAL PHOTO! Valentines night.

Thursday Feb14th

Kinda tacky port statue!!

Basic training on the Stars and Stripes Yacht

The competition "True North"

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE. We docked in Cozumel and joined our excursion. We chose to go on the Americas Cup Yacht “Stars and Stripes” which won the race in 1987. It was a small group and we were divided into 2 groups. One group went on the yacht “True North” from Canada and one (ours) on The Stars And Stripes. We were all given jobs to do, although Janice opted to hold on for dear life and cheer !! Derek was one of two “Main Grinders”. After a short training stint, we had a shortened Americas Cup race. It was absolutely amazing, scary and exhilarating.  A once in a lifetime experience. The yacht tilted so much, one side was dragging in the water, then one flip of the sails and we were over on the other side. A good time had by all, with rum punch on shore to celebrate.  We had lunch at a small restaurant on the pier before getting back on board.  Late afternoon we popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and totally enjoyed sitting on the balcony for a couple of hours reading, chatting and sipping as we left Cozumel and headed on our last leg of the cruise back to Galveston.

Taking a break from working the grinders

It was ‘formal’ night so we got all dressed up again.  Dinner in the dining room was wonderful . Lobster and giant shrimp for Janice, steak for Derek… feeling very privileged. We were both tired, so after the main show we walk around the ship for a while then headed back to the room and sat on the balcony.

It was scary at first... but so much fun!

Derek (blue shorts) Working hard at the main grinder

Quite the lean!!

WE WON!!!

SIGN IN BAR ON SHORE!

PORTA MAYA, COZUMEL Been there, done that.

LUNCH ASHORE!

WAITER CARRYING DRINKS ON HIS HEAD

HEADING BACK ON BOARD

ENJOYING STEVIE WONDER VIDEO AND THE POOL.

THE OTHER MAIN POOL

DO YOU SEE THE DOLPHIN IN THE SKY???

VALENTINES RENEWAL OF VOWS CELEBRATIONS

Wednesday Feb 13th - Belize

Wednesday Feb 13th 2013 - Belize (previously British Honduras)

Leaving ship on power boat to go snorkeling

 

Belize is not able to handle cruise ships, so they all anchor about 15-20 minutes from land.  A flotilla of local boats of all shapes and sizes came to ‘tender’ passengers ashore. We booked a snorkel trip in a high speed power boat, so we were picked up directly from the ship and sped off to a reef by a beautiful island (think Robinson Crusoe, or Treasure island). The seas were quite rough so it was hard going snorkeling. Derek was tired and finished a little early, he went to the island and sat  sipping rum punch. The group leader told him that he was tired due to the effects of the diving yesterday. Using the compressed air apparently messes with your body’s nitrogen levels.  Janice snorkeled for as long as possible. Saw lots of big colourful fish, coral, eel, and starfish.

Post snorkeling rum punch on the island

Such a beautiful place

It's like the desert island we only dream of.

After lounging on the island for an hour we were taken back to the ship. We had lunch then jumped on a tender and went ashore to Belize and pottered around the shops, bought some aloe for Janice’s sunburn and another cowboy hat.  Had a couple of beers (2 for $5) at a bar near the dock and chatted with a couple of people. Tender back to the ship at 3:30 and relaxed, had dinner, show and a quick dance before heading to bed ready for another exciting day tomorrow. 

Happy to be here

We really should ask people to take our pictures together LOL

Tuesday Feb 12th 2013 - Roatan

First sight of Roatan 7am

Tuesday Feb 12th 2013 - Roatan, Honduras

Derek, Pat and adorable George

Heading for coffee shop (Mandy on left)

'Downtown' West End, Roatan

Very excited to get off the ship and meet up with our friends Pat and Doug who were in Roatan for a couple of months visiting their daughter (Mandy), who is a dive instructor. She met a Honduran (Rino) and opened a dive shop with him. They have a beautiful baby (George).  We went straight to the dive shop to see it and work out a plan to go scuba diving. Went for a coffee at a local coffee bar and then headed back to go scuba diving. After a training session on land, then in shallow water, we got on the boat and headed out into the ocean, stopping at a dive location. We donned our tanks and equipment, flipped backward off the side of the boat and headed down the rope into the sea. It was so much easier than either of us thought it would be. Unfortunately Janice couldn’t get the pressure in her ears equalized and the pain was too much for her to continue down, so she came to the surface while the others went down 40 feet. She was a bit disappointed but still proud that she did it. Later, on land, we went with Pat and Doug to a couple of local bar/restaurants and had lunch at one. Also had a ‘Monkey La La’ (drink)…. Wow…!!! not sure what was in it, but it was white, creamy and delicious. We spent our time catching up on family and learning about life in Roatan. It is a beautiful island and one I would DEFINITELY want to re-visit. Slow pace of life, sandy beaches, palm trees and lots of snorkeling/scuba diving. Mandy took us back to the ship and it was hard saying goodbye to everyone…ESPECIALLY little George, who I wanted to steal!!! 
We loved Roatan and would love to go back and stay longer. It is a beautiful place. It is generally poor, and supported by tourism. Because it is an island it is a different community than mainland Honduras and the people who live here consider themselves totally different from main-landers. 

Mandy and Doug outside Dive Shop (Scuba Roatan)

Taken from side of dive shop

Derek in his wet suit with Doug

Training on land with Katie our instructor

This is gonna be fun

Tanks are heavy

Heading for shallow water training

And down we go

Fully 'trained' and ready for deeper waters

Heading back in after deeper dive.

Post dive - lunch and Monkey La La's

View from table at lunch

After Monkey La La!!!!!

Little fella climbing out of the beer bottle - just noticed him!!!

Heading into second beach bar. Pat and Doug come here often to watch sunset

Back to ship - Our cabin is second row down at very back .. 3 from left

Leaving Roatan

Sunk in the bay, Mahogany Bay, Roatan

Hanging out on our balcony after a fabulous day

Another great sunset

Sunset from Balcony